Jane_Eyre_Imagery

Jane’s account of her visit to Mrs Reed (ch. 21) Pattern of imagery Mrs Reed continues as “icily” and “stony” towards Jane as ever, but tries later to explain to Jane her shock at her niece breaking out all “fire and violence”. Mrs Reed’s “ice-cold and clammy hand”, her “eye of flint”, and “cold lid” are consistent with a corpse or the form of someone fast approaching death. They also establish a clear contrast of character and values between herself and Jane: Jane passionate, forgiving and with a lot of feeling; Mrs Reed hard, with no good emotions, revengeful. These contrasting images do not automatically define fiery characters as good, and icy characters as bad. The terms “flint” and “stony” are also used in respect to Mr Rochester: “His whole face was colourless rock: his eye was both spark and flint.” (Ch 26.) Neither passion nor cool reasoning is in itself totally desirable or undesirable: fire warms, but it can also burn; ice freezes, but it also soothes a fever. * Question: What symbolic implications and suggested patterns of similarity and contrast do you find in the names Burns, Rochester and Rivers' Interesting analysis by David Lodge: “Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Brontë’s War of Earthly Elements.” He says Brontë uses a system of “objective correlatives” (a term coined by T.S. Eliot for concrete objects or situations in a literary work to arouse a specific emotion required by the author), both literally and metaphorically. Central to this system are the four elements – earth, water air and fire. So when the author refers to fire, its meaning is therefore defined by its position within this system of opposing forces: where the love between Rochester and Jane is expressed in fire imagery, images of earth and water are used in relation to those things that threaten it, separation or St John Rivers. Extremes of heat and cold are potentially fatal to Jane, both literally and figuratively. Traces back to her experiences of overwhelming passion in the Red Room, and to the chill, emotionally repressive worlds of both Gateshead and Lowood. Her development involves a compromise between conflicting elements in herself – the opposing demand of passion and reason. At the same time her horror of being consumed by fire or drowned by flood is a metaphorical expression of her fear of threats that come from Rochester and Rivers. They are external forces that threaten the balance she is trying to achieve internally. Not only people are threatened by fire. When Jane agrees to marry Rochester, the horse-chestnut tree is struck by lightning and split in half, symbolizing the separation to come as well as the destructive power of passion. Thornfield itself is destroyed by fire. This was started by Bertha Mason, in whom passion has grown into madness. People and places are presented within the same figurative patterns, relating internal and external reality. Read this extract: My pulse stopped: my heart stood still; my stretched arm was paralysed. The cry died, and was not renewed. Indeed, whatever being uttered that fearful shriek could not soon repeat it: not the widest-winged condor on the Andes could, twice in succession, send out such a yell from the cloud shrouding his eyry. The thing delivering such utterance must rest ere it repeat the effort. It came out of the third story; for it passed overhead. And overhead – yes, in the room just above my chamber-ceiling I now heard a struggle; a deadly one it seemed from the noise; and a half-smothered voice shouted:- “Help! help! Help; ”three times rapidly. “Will no one come'” it cried; and then while the staggering and stamping went on wildly, I distinguished through plank and plaster: - “Rochester! Rochester! For God’s sake, come!” (Ch. 20) 1. What striking features of the language do you notice' 2. What images are used' 3. Does it contain any distinctive vocabulary' 4. Are there any examples of unusual or striking syntax' 1. Use of emotive adjectives and adverbs: fearful, deadly, wildly, adding sense of intense feeling and drama in the narrative. The use of three short clauses, each slightly longer than the preceding one adds drama to the opening. 2. Condor living high up in the mountains image of the inhabitant of the third storey (eyry = eagle’s nest) of Thornfield (Bertha Mason), being a wild creature, predatory, possessed of powers far beyond those of ordinary men and women, belonging to an alien and hostile world. 3. Archaic us of “ere” for “before”. 4. Inversion - poetic effects are often used by Brontë in her prose: “not the widest-winged condor on the Andes could” and “a deadly one it seemed”. Read this passage. My hopes were all dead (…) that I perceived well. Questions: 1. Who or what does Jane perceive to be controlling events' 2. How does Jane represent her feelings' Personification: wishes are corpses, her love is a suffering child, as it were existing separate from herself. “It could not seek Mr R’s arms.” Instead of “I could not seek”. > detachment > above level of self-pity. It say also convey a lack of control. “My hopes were dead” i.o. “I hoped”: they are concrete presences, separable from the character rather than inherent. They also suggest inactivity: Jane is the agent but does not say “I”. Relatively few sentences in which Jane, the narrator is the subject. She is mostly the object, whereas she is describing her own feelings.