РефератыИностранный языкFiFire And Ice Essay Research Paper Charlotte

Fire And Ice Essay Research Paper Charlotte

Fire And Ice Essay, Research Paper


Charlotte Bronte, in writing the novel Jane Eyre uses a great deal of


symbolic imagery to convey various themes throughout the novel. The most


interesting type of imagery is Bronte’s use of fire and ice imagery to develop


the characters of the novel and show the struggle the character of Jane Eyre


goes through. Fire most commonly represents passions. While fire and


passion can provide warmth and comfort, they can also burn. Ice, or water,


symbolizes calm reason, devoid of passion. Ice and reason can provide calm


and soothing comfort, but they to can also burn. Throughout the novel, Jane


goes back and forth between these two temptations, trying to achieve the right


balance between the two, while still preserving her own self.


To develop the character of Jane, Bronte uses a great deal of fire


imagery. This is most evident at Gateshead. The novel opens with Jane


seating herself at the window-seat. She draws shut the red curtains around


her, effectively closing herself off. Jane sees through the window the cold and


gloomy outside world. The winter landscape represents society, cold and


emotionless. The curtains, representing Jane’s passionate nature, symbolize


how Jane’s fiery personality alienate her from society. A short while later,


John Reed, representing a male-dominated society, enters the room in search


of Jane. When John attempts to assert his dominance over Jane, she is unable


to control her passionate nature and retaliates. As punishment for giving in to


her fiery side, Jane is locked inside the red-room. Obviously, the color red is


of importance here. Red is the color of fire and heat, and represents passion


and fury. Jane describes the red room’s, “massive pillars of mahogany, hung


with curtains of deep red damask”(15), which represents her very passionate


nature. At the same time, Jane also describes the red-room as being very cold,


having an icy chill. The cold room, devoid of emotion symbolizes the way


society thinks people should behave. When Aunt Reed locks Jane in the


red-room, she is locking Jane’s fiery nature in with the cold emotion that


would temper Jane’s passionate side. This very effectively demonstrates


society’s response to a female who is not quiet and docile. It also shows that


strict social tenets severely limit Jane in her attempt to express her passion


and her self.


Ice, or water, imagery also plays an important role in defining Jane’s


character. One of the paintings that Jane shows to Rochester is an apt


example of this. The first painting that is described shows death by drowning.


Also, “the swollen sea”(128) in the painting gives the impression of


impending danger. Jane sees the water as a locking out of passion and


emotion. She believes that if she were to follow society by acting docile and


unemotional, it would destroy her true self, her passion and emotion. She


feels that if her passion were taken away, all that will be left is a cold,


unemotional corpse. Jane is intelligent though, and realizes the need to keep


calm and be reasonable, to exert some restraint on her passion.


The two facets of Jane’s character, fire and ice, have physical


manifestations that symbolize Jane’s struggle to bring these two elements into


balance. The first of these manifestations is the character of Rochester, who


embodies the fire in Jane’s spirit. With the introduction of Rochester a great


deal of fire imagery manifests. His mere arrival at Thornfield gives warmth


and life to the cold and silent hall. Jane describes the change in Thornfield


saying, “a warm glow suffused both it and the lower steps of the oak


staircase” and there was “a genial fire in the grate”(120). Rochester’s physical


appearance is described with imagery as well. Rochester is not only the fire


that warms the hall, but he is also the fire that beckons Jane’s passionate side.


Rochester represents the temptation of passion over reason. To achieve


maturity, Jane must exert some control over her emotions. Rochester is a


threat to this. By stirring her emotional desires, he is encouraging her to


unleash the fire that is within her. When Rochester says, “Come to the


fire”(125), and begins to question her at their first formal meeting, it…


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