Charlotte Bronte makes frequent use of symbolism in jane eyre. Various repeating images are used, partly as a means to piece together a narrative of immense generic variety. The following analysis focuses on Bronte’s use of the images of fire and ice, exploring the symbolic attributes of these images and how they are employed in various scenes throughout the text. The excerpts are from the Oxford World’s Classics 2000 edition of the novel.
There is a dichotomy in the narrative between the representations of fire and ice. Fire is frequently associated with passion and rebellion, which becomes evident in the following excerpt, where the young protagonist reflects on the state of her mind after having protested against her aunt’s mistreatment: “A lighted briar ridge , alive, watching, devouring, would have been an emblem worthy of my mind when I accused and threatened Mrs. Reed” (1, 4, p.37). However, when the fire has been extinguished, the same crest is described as “black and burned after the flames are dead” (1, 4, pp. 37-8). Coldness is often associated with isolation and desolation in the text.
Jane feels angry with her aunt because of the woman’s unfair treatment of her. From the first chapter, she is shown to be isolated from the Reed house. Images of fire and ice are invoked in this scene where the protagonist sits alone in her casement window. She is shut out from the rest of her adoptive family and from the warmth of the fireplace. Bronte describes only panes of glass “protecting, but not separating” (1.1, p.8) his heroine from the cold, windy November afternoon.
The ‘white as death kingdoms’ depicted in Bewick’s illustrations history of british birds, which Jane is reading, serve to exemplify the icy images and deepen the theme of coldness. These images are also significant in that they foreshadow certain events much later in the story, including Jane’s lonely wanderings across the Yorkshire moors after her escape from Thornfield. The “desolate regions of dream space” (1, 1, p.8) amplify the protagonist’s own sense of desolation and her desire for an accepting home.
While the ice imagery is used to symbolize Jane’s own inner sense of loneliness and desolation, the fire is used figuratively to illustrate the heroine’s anger at her mistreatment. When she is locked in the red room, Jane notes how the room is cold due to the fireplace being rarely used. She describes herself cooling “little by little like a stone” (1, 2, p.16). When she wakes up in the nursery at the beginning of the next chapter, she tells the reader “a terrible red glow, shot through with thick black bars” (1, 3, p.18). Although it appears this is just the nursery fire, when this section is viewed in conjunction with the previous scene, where the protagonist reflects on her situation inside the Reed house, it becomes apparent that this is an early instance of Bronte using footage from fire to portray the anger of his heroine.
In Gateshead, Jane’s anger culminates in her outburst against Mrs. Reed, before being sent to Lowood School, and although she subsequently learns to control her fiery nature, the theme of anger against injustice and its expression through Fire continues throughout the narrative, albeit at a more moderate level. When Jane works as a governess, a major section recounts her pacing up and down the third floor of Thornfield, reflecting on her restless disposition. In this scene, the fiery images are associated with ambition, as Jane feels constrained by her current calling.
The nature of Bronte’s descriptions of his heroine’s environment is often determined by Jane’s emotional states. A scene that aptly illustrates this quality occurs after Jane learns that Rochester is already married. Gazing out the midsummer prospect from her bedroom window in Thornfield, she recounts how “frost glazed the ripe apples, rain crushed the roses; in the fields of hay and corn lay a frozen shroud” (2, 11 , p.295). The heroine’s dejected state of mind is outwardly represented through Bronte’s winter symbolism. The descriptions of her are reminiscent of the snowy wastelands of the Arctic in Bewick’s book.
Various readings of Bronte’s novel, especially those that have taken a feminist point of view, have identified a thematic connection between the heroine and Rochester’s crazy wife. They see Bertha as the physical manifestation of Jane’s psychological rage. Bertha’s deranged violence is expressed literally in fire, both when she attempts to set fire to Rochester’s bed and when she burns down Thornfield. This is in stark contrast to Jane, whose anger is expressed through figurative depictions of fire.
As the narrative unfolds, it becomes apparent that there is a juxtaposition of passion and reason. The images of fire and ice play a symbolic role in representing these qualities. Jane’s two potential suitors, Rochester and St. John, are juxtaposed in the qualities they embody. Rochester is closely related to fire, with his passionate and reckless nature, while St. John is compared to ice, with his cold reasoning disposition and emotional detachment.
Jane suffers from intense mental confusion regarding her feelings for Rochester after finding out that he is already married. As she agonizes over accepting her offer as her lover or leaving Thornfield, she describes how she felt like “a hand of burning iron seized my insides. Terrible moment: full of fight, blackness, burning!” (3, 1, p.315). At this stage in the story, Bronte implies that it would be inappropriate for Jane to accept Rochester’s current proposal. The narrative suggests that Rochester must redeem his dissolute position if he and Jane are to marry. The physical damage he suffers through his attempts to save Bertha could be seen as a baptism of fire. Thus, the final union of Jane and Rochester could be seen as a resolution of passion and reason.