Brontë uses symbolism that is related to the four elements;
fire, water, wind and earth. Fire and water imagery symbolizes
the two competing forces that cause a internal conflict
in Jane on a personal and spiritual level.
Source: Google Images
Fire represents passions, anger and spirit whereas water
symbolizes emotional isolation, loneliness or even death:
opposing force which tries to extinguish Jane's vitality.
The readers come to know Jane's spiritual character
by seeing a similar link and use of fire by both Rochester
and Jane; “a ridge of lighted heath, alive, glancing, devouring”,
she says as we read of Rochester’s “flaming and flashing” eyes (Bronte, 25). After he has been blinded, his face is compared to
“a lamp quenched, waiting to be re-lit” (Bronte, 37).
A metaphor of Jane's love for Rochester is her fire, when
she agrees to marry Rochester she says: "a hand of fiery iron grasped my vitals".
symbolizes emotional isolation, loneliness or even death:
opposing force which tries to extinguish Jane's vitality.
The readers come to know Jane's spiritual character
by seeing a similar link and use of fire by both Rochester
and Jane; “a ridge of lighted heath, alive, glancing, devouring”,
she says as we read of Rochester’s “flaming and flashing” eyes (Bronte, 25). After he has been blinded, his face is compared to
“a lamp quenched, waiting to be re-lit” (Bronte, 37).
A metaphor of Jane's love for Rochester is her fire, when
she agrees to marry Rochester she says: "a hand of fiery iron grasped my vitals".
Source: Google Images
Throughout the novel, Jane describes her inner spirit with words
related to the four elements, particularly fire;
she describes it as fiery and her inner landscape as a "ridge of lighted heath (Bronte, 4); Bertha, Mr. Rochester's wife,
expresses the emotions that Jane must suppress and
thus becomes the physical manifestation of Jane's interior fire
she describes it as fiery and her inner landscape as a "ridge of lighted heath (Bronte, 4); Bertha, Mr. Rochester's wife,
expresses the emotions that Jane must suppress and
thus becomes the physical manifestation of Jane's interior fire
whereas Jane is only the hidden manifestation of it.
Source: Google images