Nature Imagery and Themes in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre :: Jane Eyre Essays

Charlotte Bronte makes use of nature imagery passim Jane Eyre, and comments on both the human consanguinity with the outdoors and human nature. The Oxford prolongation Dictionary defines nature as 1. the phenomena of the physical world as a whole . . . 2. a things essential qualities a persons or animals innate contribution . . . 4. vital force, functions, or needs. We will see how Jane Eyre comments on all of these. several(prenominal) natural accounts run through the novel, one of which is the image of a blusterous ocean. After Jane saves Rochesters life, she gives us the following metaphor of their relationship Till aurora dawned I was tossed on a buoyant but unquiet ocean . . . I thought sometimes I saw beyond its enraged waters a shore . . . now and then a freshening gale, wakened by hope, bore my spirit triumphantly towards the bourne but . . . a counteracting shot blew off land, and continually drove me back. The gale is all the forces that prevent Janes union with Rochester. Later, Bront, whether it be intentional or not, conjures up the image of a buoyant sea when Rochester says of Jane Your habitual expression in those days, Jane, was . . . not buoyant. In fact, it is this buoyancy of Janes relationship with Rochester that keeps Jane afloat at her time of crisis in the heath Why do I struggle to retain a valueless life? Because I know, or believe, Mr. Rochester is living. Another recurrent image is Bronts treatment of Birds. We first go through Janes fascination when she reads Bewicks History of British Birds as a child. She reads of death-white realms and the solitary rocks and promontories of sea-fowl. We quickly see how Jane identifies with the bird. For her it is a form of escape, the idea of flying above the toils of every(prenominal) day life. Several times the narrator talks of feeding birds crumbs. possibly Bront is telling us that this idea of escape is no more than a fantasy -- one cannot escape when one must return for ba sic sustenance. The link between Jane and birds is strengthened by the way Bront adumbrates poor support at Lowood through a bird who is described as a little hungry robin. Bront brings the buoyant sea theme and the bird theme together in the passage describing the first painting of Janes that Rochester examines.