Nature in Jane Eyre

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  • Created by: Pip Dan
  • Created on: 09-04-16 15:14

Pathetic Fallacy is used throughout the novel to reflect different themes, moods and foreshadows events to come.

Birds

  • Jane is associated with birds, Bronte uses bird imagery to reflect Jane's mood
  • Birds themselves are associated with freedom, vulnerability, beauty and the need to soar/be free
  • Rochester is also described as a bird in chapter 24 “a royal eagle, chained to a perch, should be forced to entreat a sparrow to become its purveyor” (pg 389) – the imagery here is used to reflect Rochester's injury
  • In chapter 28 Bronte uses bird imagery to reflect Jane's broken heart “impotent as a bird with both wings broken” (pg 286)
  • St. John describes Jane as being a “half-frozen bird” (pg 308) when they take her in

Weather

  • In the opening of the novel there is a “cold winter wind” with “clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating” (chapter 1) –reflecting Jane's miserable and lonely mood
  • At her arrival to Lowood there is “rain, wind, and darkness filled the air” – the weather both reflects Jane's mood and foreshadows events to come
  • Jane even says in chapter 24

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