Love of Nature: An Analysis of Nature Symbolism in Jane Eyre
...n flames, he is put out with water, and Jane comments on the event afterwards: “Till morning dawned I was tossed on a buoyant but unquiet sea, where billows of trouble rolled under surges of joy.?(Bronte 147). Water, signifying purity and cleansing, symbolizes Mr. Rochester’s past, consisting of violent events, being washed away and that now there is room for Jane to enter his life. Where both Jane and Rochester struggled from their past, they are now pulling away from it encourage their relationship. In addition to past events, nature symbolism is used to symbolize events occurring in the present time. In fact, whenever Jane sees Mr. Rochester, light and fire is there. After Mason is bitten by the suspected Grace Poole, Mr. Rochester orders Jane to stay with Mason without a word until he returns with the surgeon. As the time passes by, Jane begins to feel frightened, and when she nearly reaches her limit, the candle flame dies out. But eventually, Mr. Rochester enters the room and draws back the thick curtain to which Jane thinks: “I was surprised and cheered to see how far dawn was advanced: what rosy streaks were beginning to brighten the east?(Bronte 214). The sudden introduction of light after Mr. Rochester’s appearance symbolizes the relief of Jane, and her love for Mr. Rochester. Likewise, Mr. Rochester is always near fire when he is thinking about Jane, fire usually implying an overtone for passion. Mr. Rochester once says, “Come to the fire?(Bronte 125) to Jane. This means he holds a passion for Jane. Moreover, through the occurrences of fires in Thornfield, each is significant to testify Mr. Rochester’s passion for Jane. The final and most significant fire, in which Thornfield is engulfed in flames, a manifestation of hell is apparent. Indeed, the tremendous amount of grief Mr. Rochester confronts results in his sort of “hell? which is ultimately caused by his current loss of Jane. Each Jane and Rochester veil their love for each other, yet it still can be traced with Bronte’s use of nature symbolism. Besides providing glimpses into the present, nature symbolism can serve as warnings of future events. When Jane is taking a walk at night and meets Mr. Rochester for the first time, she is “in a lane noted for wild roses in summer?(Bronte 114), which foreshadows a picture of love that will occur. Furthermore, as Jane takes another walk much later during Midsummer, a number of natural elements are described and the time of day: “Where the sun had gone down in simple state…the east had its own charm of fine, deep blue, and its own modest gem, a rising and solitary star: soon it would boast the moon; but she was beneath the horizon?(Bronte 250). In mythology, the moon consists of all female goddesses, and for the sun, the gods are all male. The approaching of evening and the moon symbolizes that something of feminine power is going to occur, and the masculine power is diminishing and of less importance. Consequently, Jane meets Rochester...