Brontes Jane Eyre Essay: Importance of Nature Imagery -- Jane Eyre Es

Importance of Nature Imagery in Jane Eyre      Ã‚  Ã‚   Charlotte Bronte makes extensive use of nature imagery in her novel, Jane Eyre, commenting on both the human relationship with the outdoors and with human nature. The Oxford Reference Dictionary defines "nature" as "1. the phenomena of the physical world as a whole . . . 2. a thing's essential qualities; a person's or animal's innate character . . . 4. vital force, functions, or needs." Bronte speaks to each of these definitions throughout Jane Eyre. Several natural themes run throughout the novel, one of which is the image of a stormy sea. After Jane saves Rochester's life, she gives 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 represents all the forces that prevent Jane's union with Rochester. Later, Brontà « 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 Brontà «'s treatment of Birds. We first witness Jane's fascination with them as 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 ide... ...illiam Hurt, Charlotte Gainsborough, and Anna Paquin. 1996    Jane Eyre. Dir. Julian Aymes. Perf. Timothy Dalton, Zelah Clarke. 1983    Kadish, Doris. The Literature of Images: Narrative Landscape from Julie to Jane Eyre. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1986.    Linder, Cynthia A. Romantic Imagery in the Novels of Charlotte Bronte. London: MacMillan, 1978.    McLaughlin, M.B. "Past or Future Mindscapes: Pictures in Jane Eyre." Victorian Newsletter 41 (1972): 22-24.    Peters, Joan D. â€Å"Finding a Voice: Towards a Woman’s Discourse in Dialogue in the Narration of Jane Eyre.† Studies in the Novel. 23 no 2. (1991): 217-36. Zonana, Joyce. â€Å"The Sultan and the Slave: Feminist Orientalism and the Structure of Jane Eyre.† Signs. 18 no 3. (1993): 592-617   Ã‚  Comments ***VERY WELL WRITTEN PAPER......WHAT ABOUT CITING THE QUOTES USED FROM THE TEXT?***