Topic > Images of fire and water in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Images of fire and water in Jane EyreIn Jane Eyre, the use of images of water and fire is very linked to the character and/or mood of the protagonists ( e.g. Jane and Rochester, and to some extent St. John Rivers) – and also serves to show Jane in a sort of intermediate position between the two men. However, it should also be noted that the characteristics attributed to fire and water have alternatively positive and negative implications: to cite one example among many, towards the beginning of the novel reference is made to the devastating effects of water ("incessant rain sweeping away wildly ", "white kingdom of death" [i.e. of snow]), and fire is represented by a "terrible red glow"; later, fire is depicted as comforting in Miss Temple's room, and it is the water that saves Rochester from the first fire. These literal associations with fire and water become, however, increasingly symbolic as the novel progresses, where the imaginary fire/water/(ice) becomes a representation of the emotional and moral dialectics of the characters, and also always becomes more evident that the positive aspect and negative potential of fire and water also show the positive and negative potential of the characters they represent. Rochester is much associated with fire, with the "strange fire in his appearance", and in particular with his "flaming and flashing fire". eyes". By extension, so is everything associated with him (e.g. his first wife and Thornfield). Jane's first reaction to Thornfield herself, destined to fall victim to the fire, is to be "dazzled " by the "double illumination of fire and candle", as it will then be "dazzled" by Rochester's own fire. On the one hand, this "fire" is the romantic fir tree... in the center of the card... Bronte, Charlotte . Jane Eyre. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1991David Lodge, Fire and Eyre: The War of the Earthly Elements, Barbara Timm, ed. Critical Essays on Charlotte Bronte. Boston: G. K. Hall. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsborough and Anna Paquin.Lodge, Scott. the war of the earthly elements by Charlotte Bronte." The Brontes: a collection of critical essays. Ed. Ian Gregor. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970. 110-36.McLaughlin, MB “Past or Future Mindscapes: Images in Jane Eyre.” Victorian Newsletter 41 (1972): 22-24.Solomon, Eric. "Jane Eyre: Fire and Water." University English 25 (1964): 215-217.