Symbolism in Charlotte Bronte´s Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontё`s Jane Eyre is a real masterpiece read by thousands of children, students and grown-ups all over the world. Some of its readers consider it to be a children’s novel, others appreciate it because of the romantic love story of Jane and Mr Rochester. But in fact the author is writing about the “woman question”, about the possibilities for women to be happy, about the disentanglement of a woman’s personality, about the struggles she has to fight in order to preserve her real ego. But this is not the only reason to attract us readers: the symbols used in this novel are also very interesting and that is why I have decided to try to “solve the mystery” of some of these symbols.

The plot of the novel does not take place at a certain place, but there are five important stations in Jane Eyre`s life. First of all these five places or stations play a symbolical role in Charlotte Brontё`s masterpiece. All of these five places have worthy of note names which spontaneously make us think of what they mean, why they were used in the novel and what the author wanted to express by them. The first such decisive place in Jane’s course of life

While living at Gateshead, Jane finds a hiding-place in the house – and that is detached from the outer coldness by the window and by the curtains from the inner world. This place may symbolise her position in the house, that she does not belong anywhere, to anybody, that she has no one in the world to care for her.

To Ferndean she goes in search for her love. This is her final station in the novel and this part is something like an epilogue. With the word Ferndean I associate calmness, silence and rich vegetation. But it is also true that fern is a flowerless plant and maybe it symbolises simplicity – that neither Jane, nor Rochester was handsome and that they lived a modest life without any parade. So that they lived simply but happily. At Ferndean the grown-up Jane can prove that she is a mature, independent woman, who is just as able to give as she is able to accept.

It is in the middle of summer that Jane arrives at Marsh End which can symbolise that she is already near maturity. But the summer at Ferndean already evokes a positively autumnal feeling.

At Thornfield we follow Jane’s development throughout all four seasons, but the height of this episode is laid in May – in the month of love and lovers. The beautifully depicted nature is a faithful reflection of Jane’s feelings, of her love, her hopes and of her spiritual rebirth. But it is worth of interest that the day before the wedding is a very cold , a very strange one. The weather is just like Jane’s feelings: she is afraid of something and she is unable to explain what that thing is. “I sought the orchard, driven to its shelter by the wind, which all day had blown strong and full from the south, without ... bringing a speck of rain. Instead of subsiding as night drew on, it seemed to augment its rush and deepen its roar ... the clouds drifted from pole to pole, fast following, mass on mass : no glimpse of blue sky had been visible that July day.”

So, the importance of nature does not only lie in making the novel more colourful. The author sometimes expresses such things throughout natural descriptions, which the characters cannot guess or which they just cannot express. Maybe this importance of nature is emphasised because Charlotte has been brought up in a close contact with the natural world.

was Gateshead where she spent her childhood and where she had to experience much cruelty from her aunt, Mrs Reed and her cousins. She was persecuted and neglected by them. This place name can be translated as the gate, the source or the begging of something; it is like a spring. It can be the beginning of the little orphans life, the beginning of her psychical development or the beginning of her fight against the oppressors who try to be masters

Some topics in this essay:
Finally Jane, Lowood Institution, Charlotte Brontё`s, Thornfield Jane, Thornfield Hall, Jane Rochester, Miss Ingram, Gateshead Jane, Jane Eyre, Thornfield Gateshead, charlotte brontё`s, jane’s feelings, jane’s life, brontё`s jane eyre, symbols novel, miss ingram, importance nature, mental sufferings, little orphans, house �, charlotte brontё`s jane, five stations,