In the “Red Room” there is also a lot of mention of strange and unusual creatures or spirits that to Jane seem real. These “spirits” are mentioned again and again throughout the text of the book.
The way in which fire can symbolise warmth and happiness is shown when she had just arrived at Thornfield, after her long journey from Lowood. She was welcomed into the house by Mrs Fairfax, and led straight away into a small room.
“A snug, small room; a round table by a cheerful fire;”
This is the first item that she describes when she enters the room. The author has personified the fire; making it seem positive and the use of the adjective “cheerful” makes you think that she will have a good life at Thornfield, in the years to come.
However, when she was at Lowood, she mentioned how there were only a few occasions on which a fire would be lit for the younger girls. She describes how the young girls would have to walk to church and back in their few, ruined and ripped clothes, in the freezing conditions of the harsh winter months. These clothes were not enough to keep the children warm. She describes how they used to wish they had fires:
“How we longed for the light and heat of a blazing fire when we got back.”
As Jane mentions that only the older students at Lowood were allowed, to gather around the fire, it can be seen as prejudice against the younger students. When she uses the verb “longing” it makes it seem that these girls would have given anything to have had a fire, and that it is only a fire that they truly longed for. This emphasizes how cruelly they were treated and how they were denied basic human comforts.
After Mr Rochester has just proposed to Jane Eyre, the chestnut tree, which he proposed under is suddenly split in two by a terrible storm.
“The great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the garden has been struck by lightning.”
This within the story shows potential for bad things to come in their relationship. As though the lightning, which caused the tree to, spilt, is also going to have a part to play in, splitting up the couple of, and destroy Jane’s own heart by spiting it in two. This use of fire, also helps to prepare the reader for the more significant and life changing experiences that the lightning seems to point towards.
There are two very significant events, In ”Jane Eyre” that can be seen as being connected by an event of fire within the novel.
The first is when Bertha Mason, sets fire to Mr Rochester’s room. This is almost what I would consider a warning to Mr Rochester that he will have to come clean about his wife, before his relationship with Jane can go anywhere.
When Charlotte Brontë describes the fire she writes: “Tongues of flame darted around the room,” this gives you the impression that the fire is in fact a spirit, very much like the one that was mentioned I the “Red Room”.
This fire has a great impact on the storyline. On the night of the fire, Jane Eyre saves Mr Rochester from almost certain death, and so Mr Rochester believes that he is now indebted to her. To the reader, this seems like he is becoming closer to Jane and he has feelings for her, that before he didn’t have. And thus their association becomes stronger and their relationship also develops, into slightly more than friendship. This is also an unusual event as; the gender roles have changed as Jane has saved Rochester’s life. “You have saved my life”
At this time in history though, it was unusual for a girl of a lower class, to marry someone who was in a higher class, as it was thought that classes could not be mixed. This was mainly because those in the higher classes thought that the lower classes were only marrying for money and status, and not for love. Thus a dramatic event must happen, to get the couple together.
And like in many romantic novels it did, and in the form of a fire. The second incident with fire is of course the most important, within the novel “Jane Eyre”. It is when none other than Bertha Mason burns down, “Thornfield Hall”. This comes after Jane run away left Mr Rochester after their wedding was interrupted, with the news that he was already married. She eventually finds refuge with the St. John Rivers household, where she stays until she is feeling better.
After Jane has left the house, Rochester becomes very depressed and misses Jane terribly. After Jane left, Bertha Mason attempts to burn down the house, in revenge against her husband. This fire has dramatic repercussions on Rochester’s life.
Charlotte Brontë comes up with an amazing way of getting the couple back together. She has shown through the story that Mr Rochester has become particularly fond of Jane, but he needs to change his ways before they can marry.
As the fire spread through the house, Rochester tried to save his previous wife, Bertha Mason, but the flames killed her as they engulfed the house. By trying to save her, he proved he still cared for his wife and that he hadn’t wanted her to die. After she had died, he would now be legally able to marry Jane, if she agreed to his proposal. After the fire, Rochester is left badly burned and blind, thus the fire that has killed Bertha Mason is like a personal hell for Rochester as he lost his sight and fears he will never have Jane back again. The fire also “cleanses” him of his sins and so Rochester and Jane’s love can grow.
When Jane was staying at St. John Rivers house, she was slowly able to recuperate. After she had stayed there for many months, it was as though she was called back to Thornfield, by supernatural “voices”, this makes the reader consider that there could be spiritual telepathic links between Rochester and Jane. These supernatural events, link in with those spirits that she felt in the “Red Room”.
When she arrives back at Thornfield she does not know that Bertha Rochester has died, or that there has been a fire. She only finds out when one of Rochester’s servants tell her when she arrives. She is then sent onto Ferndean, where Rochester is staying. When Jane first saw Rochester again, Charlotte Brontë mentions fire again, “a neglected handful of fire burnt low in the grate.” To me this is, as though he has given up hope and like the fire, he is slowly becoming nothing.
The last mention of fire is when; Jane and Rochester are discussing his sight. She asks him “Can you tell when there is a good fire?”
“Yes; with the right eye I see a glow – a ruddy haze.”
I think this represents hope for the future; the fire is now a positive sign, and a sign of optimism as there is now a chance of his sight being fully restored.
In some ways I believe Rochester is similar to the tree in the orchard that was struck by lightning, as when the tree was split, it began to die as it needed to be together to survive. Likewise with Mr Rochester he needed a dramatic event to show him just how much he needed Jane, so that he could live on.
Throughout the book, fire has been mentioned on many occasions, and it seems that by using fire, as the reason that Jane and Rochester can now be together, is a good way of summing up everything, that fire has played apart in. The theory that fire has control over the story, and that without it, nothing would be possible, is a very convincing method, of creating fire to become personified. Personification of fire is used over and over again in the book, and there are several links, that connect the “Red Room” of her aunt’s home, to her new home of “Thornfield Hall” and the fires that occur here.
Generally I believe that fire plays a very important role, in controlling what the characters do in “Jane Eyre”. Without fire it is unlikely that Rochester and Jane would have become married. It acts as link between the different sections of the book, and it acts as a sign, of love and danger/despair, two completely different aspects of emotion. As well as being seen as fire, it is also there as a spirit that is present with Jane Eyre throughout the book, as though it is her guardian, watching out for her, making sure she doesn’t make a silly mistake, with her life. In the end fire can be seen as “holding the story together” without it, Charlotte Brontë would have been unable to link the story together in the effective way that she achieved.
