Nature Provides a Constant Backdrop to the Events and Emotions in the Novel. Discuss Some Examples of This Which Seem Effective to You.
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Charlotte Bronte makes use of nature imagery throughout the novel.
Several natural themes run through the novel, one of which is the image of a stormy sea. after Jane saves Rochester's life, she gives us the following metaphor of their relationship: "Till morning dawned I was tossed on a buoyant but 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 Jane's union with
Rochester. Later, Bront, 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 Jane's relationship with Rochester that
keeps Jane afloat 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."
Another recurrent image is Bront's treatment of Birds. We first witness Jane's fascination when she reads Bewick's 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 bird. For her it is a form of escape, 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...
Several natural themes run through the novel, one of which is the image of a stormy sea. after Jane saves Rochester's life, she gives us the following metaphor of their relationship: "Till morning dawned I was tossed on a buoyant but 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 Jane's union with
Rochester. Later, Bront, 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 Jane's relationship with Rochester that
keeps Jane afloat 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."
Another recurrent image is Bront's treatment of Birds. We first witness Jane's fascination when she reads Bewick's 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 bird. For her it is a form of escape, 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...