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

Charlotte Bronte makes use of nature imagery throughout Jane Eyre, and comments on twain the human relationship with the outdoors and human nature. The Oxford Reference Dictionary defines nature as 1. the phenomena of the physical world as a whole . . . 2. a things indwelling qualities a persons or animals innate character . . . 4. vital force, functions, or needs. We will see how Jane Eyre comments on all of these. Several natural themes run through the novel, unity of which is the image of a stormy sea. After Jane saves Rochesters life, she gives us the following metaphor of their relationship Till morning dawned I was tossed on a buoyant provided unquiet sea . . . I thought sometimes I saw beyond its wild waters a shore . . . now and then a freshening gale, wakened by hope, bore my spirit triumphantly towards the bourne but . . . a counteracting breeze blew off land, and continually drove me back. The gale is all the forces that prevent Janes union with Rochester. Later, Br ont, 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 purposeless 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. some other recurrent image is Bronts treatment of Birds. We first witness 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 snicker. For her it is a diversity of bunk, the idea of flying above the toils of every day life. Several times the narrator talks of feeding birds crumbs. Perhaps Bront is telling us that this idea of escape is no more than a fantasy -- one cannot escape when one must return for basic sustenance. The lin k between Jane and birds is strengthened by the way of life Bront adumbrates poor nutrition 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.