Jane_Eyre_Essay_on_Dreams

On Dreams “[A dream is the] royal road to the unconscious.” –Sigmund Freud. Dreams are occasionally seen as projections of parts of oneself that have been ignored, rejected, or suppressed. Charlotte Brontё’s Jane Eyre contains a number of significant dreams. Jane’s dreams serve to foreshadow and caution of future events and to epitomize several noteworthy moments and emotions in her life. When she is only six years old, Jane overhears Bessie tell Abbot that “to dream of children was a sure sign of trouble, either to one’s self or one’s own kin” (p. 235). Jane accepts Bessie’s words as true, most likely because the day after Bessie dreamt of a child, she discovered that her sister was dead. One night in Thornfield, Jane dreams of children and awakens to the murderous cries of Bertha Mason. On the following day, Jane finds out that her malicious cousin John has committed suicide and her Aunt Reed lies on her deathbed after suffering through a stroke. Children continue to plague Jane’s dreams: after she becomes engaged to Mr. Rochester, Jane experiences two symbolic dreams involving children. In the first, she is “burdened with the charge of a little child” (p 303) on an unidentified road while Rochester walks ahead. She tries to catch up to him but her steps are slowed and Rochester “withdrew farther and farther away” (p. 303). The barrier in this dream represents the Rochester’s preexisting marriage to Bertha Mason, a significant fact that legally prevents their marital union. Rochester withdrawing from Jane forewarns of his inevitable separation from Jane. In the second, Jane dreams “that Thornfield [is] a dreary ruin” (p. 304). She wanders around the estate while carrying the unknown child from the previous dream because she “might not lay it down anywhere , however tired [are her] arms—however much its weight [impedes her] progress” (p. 304). As she climbs a wall to get a better view of Rochester, “the child clung round [her] neck in terror, and almost strangled [her]” (p. 304). When she finally reaches the top of the wall, Rochester seems to vanish, the wall collapses, and she and the baby fall as she wakes. Again, in accordance to Bessie’s prophecy, dreaming of children brings trouble. The second dream foreshadows impediments to the marriage of Jane and Rochester. Jane wakes from the second dream to discover Bertha tearing Jane’s wedding dress. Shortly thereafter, as the dream predicted, Mr. Mason will break up Jane and Rochester’s attempted marriage by announcing that Rochester is still married to Bertha. The second dream finally comes true when Bertha burns Thornfield to the ground. Furthermore, when Jane returns to Thornfield in Chapter 36, she describes the estate as “a blackened ruin” and that part of it looks “as [she] had once seen in a dream” (p. 462). Therefore, Jane’s dreams of children served to foreshadow problems and danger to Jane or other characters. Jane’s dreams also work to represent her experiences and emotions in the real world. On the night she decides to leave Rochester and Thornfield, she has another symbolic dream in which she returns to the Red Room at Gateshead. As she “lifted [her] head up to look [at the ceiling]: the roof resolved to clouds” and “a white human form shone in the azure…It gazed and gazed on [her]…it whispered in [her] heart, ‘My daughter, flee temptation’” (p. 345). The dream’s decreased foreboding is representative of Jane’s release from marital trepidation as she resolves to leave Thornfield. In addition, the rising woman foreshadows the spirit that later reunites Jane and Rochester by inexplicably transmitting their messages: “Jane! Jane! Jane!” and “I am coming! Wait for me!” (p. 456). Jane’s dreams also directly portray her emotions; when Jane learns that Rochester may marry Blanche Ingram, she is unhappy and dreams of Blanche “closing the gates of Thornfield against [her] and pointing [her] out another road; and Mr. Rochester looked on with his arms folded – smiling sardonically” (p. 260). In Chapter 32, when recounting her dreams, Jane says, “dreams where…I still again and again met Mr. Rochester…and then the sense of being in his arms…loving him, being loved by him” (p.397). These dreams reveal the love Jane maintains for Rochester, and foreshadow her return and subsequent marriage to him. As her dream of Blanche closing the gates of Thornfield represented Jane’s dissatisfaction with possible marriage of Blanche and Rochester, several of Jane’s dreams cast light on her daily experiences and emotions. Dreams in Jane Eyre thus serve numerous complex functions. They forewarn Jane of trouble or good fortune, and they can serve as interpretations or symbols of Jane’s emotions; Jane’s numerous child-bearing dreams often precede misfortunes. As proposed by Freud, dreams are the pathways to one’s soul; they help understand a person’s subconscious state.