Jane Eyre by Ch. Bronte - Essay Example

JANE EYRE by Ch. Bronte: IMPORTANCE OF NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE TECHNIQUES IN THE NOVEL 2006 JANE EYRE by Ch. Bronte: IMPORTANCE OF NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE TECHNIQUES IN THE NOVEL The use of visual imagery and picturesque landscapes has always been an artistic technique authors employed to intensify the reader's emotions and set up certain background to emphasize meaning of various scenes throughout the novel. Whereas this is a common technique for many novelists, Charlotte Bront takes this even further by using visual imagery as more than mere embellishments in her story. Distingue imagery used by Bront in her most famous novel Jane Eyre is intimately linked to the main character herself: it reveals self-development of Jane and functions as a channel through which Bront presents the major themes underlying the novel. In the novel, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bront introduces readers to Jane, its narrator and protagonist, on a 'drear November day', which Jane describes as a 'leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning', where 'the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating' (7). Told from the first person perspective, Bront foreshadows both the enduring mood of Jane's childhood and emotional state, which is both 'dreadful' and 'saddening' (7). Readers are also introduced to the primary underlying themes of the novel, particularly dealing with class distinctions and gender biases that necessarily disadvantage women of Jane's status during the Victorian age. Thus, it is not surprising to find themes of oppression, equality, and the search for love and belonging in while Jane laments her 'saddened heart' and the 'consciousness of [her] physical inferiority' from her cousins (7). Therefore, Bront sets the beginning of Jane's self-development as she overcomes these conflicts and draws certain meaning from what she describes as an 'insignificant existence' (155). As mentioned, Bront is an intensely visual writer. Hence it is not surprising to find in Jane Eyre vividly described settings whose development is just as important as developments in the plot itself. This is evident in the first scene where Jane spends the morning reading Bewick's 'History of British Birds'. Jane narrates; it was the pages that depict picturesque landscapes and panoramic scenes that have always interested her; such that it is through this visual imagery that she 'gave significance' to the vignettes contained in her book (Bronte 9). Hence, Bronte emphasizes that like her, Jane is a visual person intimately aware of her environment, forming ideas by relating them to the visual. Moreover, the picturesque landscapes described also parallel Jane's current situation, such that she herself is an isolated rock (9), estranged from family and 'dispensed from joining the group' by her own aunt (7). Hence, Bronte's purposive use of visuals to highlight Jane's emotional state is evident. Furthermore, the setting also illustrates Jane's inner struggle between her passions and desires on one hand, and her morals on the other by the contrast between fire and ice. As Jane describes herself while reading, she is seemingly trapped between the 'scarlet drapery' to her right and the 'clear panes of glass' to her left that is 'protecting, but not separating [her] from the drear November day' (8). Hence, this metaphor of imprisonment not only foreshadows Jane's physical imprisonment in the 'red room', but also the restraints imposed on her by Victorian society and her love for Rochester. However, while the visual imagery in Jane's childhood at Gateshead has always been associated with colds of winter and the drear of November, her adolescence at Lowood marks a stage of emotional and intellectual development. In this respect, Bronte once again uses visual imagery to emphasize a shift in both Jane's state of mind and in the mood of the novel, such that according to Jane, 'the frosts of winter had ceased; its snows were melted, its cutting winds ameliorated' (140). Jane's self-development can also be illustrated with the way she interacts with her new visual environment. She has began to notice how 'the flowers peep out among the leaves', as well as the 'snowdrops, crocuses, purple auriculas, and golden-eyed pansies' from which she experiences 'great pleasure, an enjoyment' (140). Furthermore, the contrast from her life at Gateshead is also illustrated by her description of a big hill-hollow, which appears differently under the 'iron sky of winter,' but 'restored to majestic life' by the coming of spring (141). Aside from providing a transition between scenes, visual sceneries also affect Jane by affecting her senses. Jane explains, '[e]xternals have a great effect on the young' such that her faculties can be 'roused by the change of scene' (185). This illustrates a deep connection between Jane and her external world, which becomes more evident during Rochester's first proposal. As Jane describes the scenery of that night, it was an 'Eden-like garden full of trees, separated 'from lonely fields' by 'a winding walk, bordered with laurels and terminating in a giant horse-chestnut' (472). This reference to the Garden of Eden highlights the metaphor of the horse-chestnut tree, representing the 'Tree of Life'. Hence, the tree, which witnesses their union, also symbolizes the same temptation brought by the Tree of Life that Jane must resist in the form of Rochester's proposal. Furthermore, Jane's relationship with her visual environment is also emphasized as 'a waft of wind came sweeping down [] and trembled through the boughs of the chestnut' (483), during the proposal signifying a bad omen, as if the wind was warning Jane not to accept. Jane herself noticed this asking herself, 'what ailed the chestnut tree' (487). Furthermore, the significance of the tree being 'struck by lightning' with 'half of it split away' also foreshadows a crisis that will split the union between Jane and Rochester, highlighting the scene's dramatic element with the foresight of a tragedy. The symbolic interpretation of the lightning as it strikes the horse-chestnut tree and splits it into half is realized on Jane's wedding with Rochester as she learns about Rochester's wife, Bertha Mason. Jane describes this scene in retrospect as likened to a 'Christmas frost' that 'has come in Midsummer', which has once again left alone with her hopes 'all dead-struck with a subtle doom, such as, in one night, fell on all the first-born in the land of Egypt' (564). Once again, Bronte contrasts the metaphors winter and summer to illustrate the change in her emotional state, which just recently was filled with happiness. This was made even more dramatic with the reference to the Passover in the time of Moses where all the first-borns of Egypt died in one evening. This is further intensified with references to 'livid corpses', 'suffering child' and 'anguish and sickness' all of which defeat Jane. Thus, readers cannot help but feel the depths at which Jane's emotional state has sunk to. The use of visual imagery to heighten the novel's dramatic effect is also evident in the later part of the novel where Jane is reunited with Rochester. As Jane describes the scenery, she was 'in the twilight of close ranked trees' where 'the darkness of natural and sylvan dusk gathered over [her]' from which she found 'no opening anywhere'; illustrating both Jane and Rochester's suffering and gloom apart (826). Using illustrations of darkness, desolation, and barrenness to describe the manor, one can't help but imagine the lifelessness in the manor and with Rochester, setting the mood for the dramatic meeting between the two. However, unlike the prior scenes where Jane experienced either the extreme suffering of winter or the extreme happiness brought on by spring, this last scene between Rochester and Jane is balanced by the radiance of the following day such that as Jane exclaims, '[i]t is a bright, sunny morning, [] 'The rain is over and gone' (842). In this respect, by striking a balance between the darkness of the previous night and the brightness of the following day, Bronte illustrates the fulfilment of Jane's self-development. Thus, Jane's self-development has been intimately connected with the visual scenery she is at. Bronte illustrates this by placing Jane in a visual environment of 'cheerful fields', adorned by brilliant greens and refreshing flowers and set overlooking a 'sparklingly blue' sky at the end of the novel in Ferndean Manor, where she finally fulfils her self-development and finds meaning in her existence (843). Placing Jane in this situation, Bronte therefore illustrates how the setting itself can play a role on both Jane's action and state of mind. WORKS CITED Bront, Charlotte (1847). Jane Eyre. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001. Read More