“Two barge windows, with their blinds always drawn down, were half shrouded in festoons and falls of similar drapery”. This description of the ‘red room’ shows how closed in Jane feels. It also gives the ‘red room’ the impression of secrecy and mystery, not to mention a light sense of foreboding. It suggests to the reader there is something hidden that Jane will have to work out.
Jane Eyre is very cut off from everything going on at Gateshead and from Gateshead itself. She does not fit in there because her uncle paid more attention to her than to his own kids. This infuriated her aunt, and when her uncle died there was no-one to protect her from her aunt’s wrath or the hatred of her cousins. Charlotte Bronte often describes the weather in a dark/gloomy fashion, to help the reader get a better idea of how negative Jane’s situation is wherever you are in the book.
“I studied the aspect of that winter afternoon. Afar it offered a pale blank of mist and cloud; near a scene of wet lawn and storm beat shrub, with ceaseless rain sweeping away wildly before a long and lamenting blast”(Pg.2).
This quote shows just how cut off Jane is from Gateshead. Rather than participating in Gateshead life, she is always observing. This shows her loneliness and also the storm to come. The mist emphasises that Jane has little knowledge of what is going to happen to her.
Lowood
Jane Eyre’s next destination is a girls school/orphanage, Lowood. She is sent there by her aunt. At Lowood there is a terrible disease going around, and Jane only has one friend.
Jane is a strong willed character and does a lot of soul searching and self-discovery in different settings throughout the novel.
“Thus was I severed from Bessie and Gateshead; thus whirled away to unknown, and, as I then deemed, remote and mysterious regions”(Pg.38).
This shows that the story is a quest or a journey into the unknown where Jane must discover about the world herself.
Even though she does not belong at Gateshead, it is still her home and she felt anxious when leaving it for the first time. Bronte uses weather to express these feelings of Jane’s.
“The afternoon came on wet and somewhat misty: as it waned into dusk, I began to feel that we were getting very far indeed from Gateshead”
Here Bronte describes Jane’s journey to Lowood which to Jane feels a great distance away from Gateshead. Bronte is using setting to show that a new stage of the story is about to begin.
Bronte uses negative description of weather more often than she uses than positive, this is probably because Jane Eyre goes through a lot of pain and sorrow before anything good ever happens to her, and Bronte probably wants to make this clear.
“Great grey hills heaved up round the horizon: as twilight deepened, we descended a valley, dark with wood, and long after night had overclouded the prospect, I heard a wild wind rushing among the trees”(Pg.39).
Charlotte Bronte uses negative description of the surroundings to show that Jane is very lonely and scared ( i.e. surrounded by intimidating hills.) and it’s cold and dull. The “wild wind” shows that a new event will occur, whereas the “rushing” sound “among the trees” brings about a sense of foreboding.
Jane Eyre’s feelings or views on a particular situation are often expressed through setting and description of buildings and the surroundings.
“The garden was a wide enclosure, surrounded with walls so high, as to exclude the glimpse of prospect”(Pg.45).
This quote gives the impression that Lowood is a prison. The description of the walls “so high” and the fact that the girls can’t see over them, suggests that the girls lives at Lowood are completely controlled.
Thornfield
Jane is now an adult… a governess, a teacher, and a gifted artist. She has been offered a job at Thornfield, the home of the very wealthy Edward Rochester and his daughter Adele.
At this point in story, things are looking up for Jane Eyre and as usual, her feelings are reflected in the description of Jane’s surroundings.
“It was a fine autumn morning; the early sun shone serenely on embrowned and still green
fields.”(Pg.101).
Bronte uses weather to create a pleasant atmosphere. The description is of a calm and still place, which suggests that Jane is content and optimistic.
Bronte also uses colour to describe settings and to create atmosphere and create imagery.
For example, “The attic seemed black as a vault compared with that arch of blue air to which I had been looking up, and to that sunlit scene of grove, pasture, and green hill… over which I had been gazing with delight”(Pg.108).
The word “black” is associated with fear and is contrasted with the pleasantness of “blue” sky and “green” hill. Green suggests innocence or nature; blue sky suggests optimism.
“Eventide is as pleasant to him as it is to me, and this antique garden is attractive; and he strolls on, now lifting the gooseberry-tree branches to look at the fruit, large is plums, with which they are laden; now taking a ripe cherry from the wall; now stooping towards a knot of flowers, either to inhale their fragrance or to admire the dew-beads on their petals”(Pg.260).
Here, Bronte’s description of the antique garden reminds the reader of the garden of Eden - Jane and Mr. Rochester are in their own natural world which is like paradise. Bronte uses a description of the two of them in this setting to suggest how alike they are and how simple their love is.
“Must I move on, Sir?” I asked, “Must I leave Thornfield”(Pg.62)
Bronte’s heroine, Jane, often speaks of Thornfield in the book, when she means Rochester. Thornfield is symbolic of Rochester.
This is an example of Bronte using metaphoric language.
…Moor House
Jane is truly at home in nature. “I touched the heath: it was dry and yet warm, with the heat of a summer day. I looked at the sky: It was pure: a kindly star twinkled just above the chasm ridge. The day fell, but with propitious softness; no breeze whispered. Nature seemed to me benign and good: I thought she loved me, outcast I was”.(Pg.341).
Bronte uses description to show how it “whispers” and “twinkles“, healing Jane’s feelings and providing a guiding light to tell her what to do next. Her short stay Outdoors represents how Jane is starting to become more independent.
In conclusion, I think Charlotte Bronte uses setting and weather very effectively to help the reader in getting mental imagery throughout the story for and to help the reader get clear glimpses of the story from Jane Eyre’s point of view.
