Passion in 'A Doll's House' and 'Jane Eyre'
Passion in ‘A Doll’s House’ and ‘Jane Eyre’ Passion is a deep, overwhelming emotion which can be expressed in several ways. In the world today, freedom of expressing passion is deemed common. However, during the nineteenth century, where ideologies and behaviors were much more constricted, this seldom occurred and when it did, conflict and disorder resulted. The nineteenth century world created in ‘A Doll’s House’ and ‘Jane Eyre’ by Henrik Ibsen and Charlotte Bronte respectively, portray this view. By analyzing both works, one can realize how both Bronte and Ibsen have similarities and differences in their view of Passion as well as the literary techniques they adopt to evoke this expression of immense Passion. The Passion expressed by Nora and Jane reflect their oppressed emotions. Jane expresses her first outburst of emotion in the form of anger, towards her cousin John Reed when he throws a book on her head, “"Wicked and cruel boy!" I said. "You are like a murderer – you are like a slave-driver -- you are like the Roman emperors!" ” (P5).In this part of the novel, Bronte skillfully uses the outburst of passion in terms of characterization. Passion can be described as genuine or an inner true
feeling. By Jane comparing John Reed to a Roman emperor, Bronte portrays that Jane already has a potential of knowledge, which in the nineteenth century was abnormal for a Victorian girl (and later a women) to posses. Not only this, these lines also foreshadow Jane’s curiosity to learn and not to be treated unfairly. Taking this into account, Nora’s first outbreak of real passion came in the part of the play where she practices the tarantella while Torvald watches. Nervous as she is, Nora “violently” (P61-L635) and “wildly” (P61-L641) performs the tarantella much to the disappointment of Torvald. Nora is ...
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feeling. By Jane comparing John Reed to a Roman emperor, Bronte portrays that Jane already has a potential of knowledge, which in the nineteenth century was abnormal for a Victorian girl (and later a women) to posses. Not only this, these lines also foreshadow Jane’s curiosity to learn and not to be treated unfairly. Taking this into account, Nora’s first outbreak of real passion came in the part of the play where she practices the tarantella while Torvald watches. Nervous as she is, Nora “violently” (P61-L635) and “wildly” (P61-L641) performs the tarantella much to the disappointment of Torvald. Nora is getting ever closer from being caught by Torvald for her alleged ‘wrong doings’; hence, she expresses passion (in this case, fear) in the form of dancing the tarantella. Ibsen’s evocation of this outburst of passion can be seen by his brief yet cunningly detailed stage directions. The play reveals to the reader that Ibsen wanted Nora to be “engrossed in the dance” (P61-L645) and for “her hair” to fall “over her shoulders” (P61-L643). The structure of speech at this point of the play is very fast moving and abrupt. Ibsen does this to illustrate the tension and to develop a short climax; Helmer: Slower, Slower. Nora: This way. Helmer: Not so violently Nora: Yes. Yes. Helmer stops playing Helmer: It isn’t right. Nora: (laughing, swinging the tambourine). I told you. (P61-L633-638) Furthermore, Torvald went on to comment that Nora danced the tarantella as if her “life depended” (P61-L649) on it. One of the uses for Ibsen doing this is to further highlight the degree in which Nora was expressing passion through the tarantella. With this in mind, one can clearly make a connection between the uses of passion in both situations. While Jane expresses her passion much more directly and clearly, Nora conveys her passion indirectly through her dramatic dancing. One may state that these are differences, and they are, however both authors have successfully used other characters as a foil for the expression of passion. The comments that Torvald makes about Nora’s dancing gives the reader a better insight of how Nora’s passion is being expressed. In Jane’s case, John Reed is needed to provoke her to break loose the anger she has kept inside. Both Ibsen and Bronte have trapped the passion inside Nora and Jane, but at the same time created situations where they were needed to be expressed. For Jane, it was the continuous unfairly treatment by her professed ‘family’ that caused her to react in such a way, but for Nora, it was the potential of a secret being let out that would cause her family to be torn apart which made her dance as passionately as possible. Ibsen uses staging to greater effect to portray Nora’s passion while Bronte uses character foils to much more use for Jane. As we as readers observe Jane’s growth throughout the novel, her passion evolves from anger to love. The part in the novel where Rochester presents his first signs of affection towards Jane is where the reader can observe an outburst of passion stronger than that of anger previously described. “'I saw it in your eyes when I first beheld you: their expression and smile did not (again he stopped) did not (he proceeded hastily) strike delight to my very inmost heart for nothing...My cherished preserver, good night' Strange energy was in his voice, strange fire in his look” (P158) Bronte uses structure as well as punctuation in this passage so well that the reader can almost hear Mr. Rochester stagger, hesitate and stutter as he tries his best to let out all the emotions he has for Jane. Mr. Rochester is used by Bronte as a foil for the passion withheld inside of Jane. Bronte has now created a situation for Jane to respond passionately towards. Unlike her response to John Reed when Jane was young, this reaction was one of a grown, matured yet inexperienced woman expressing a different type of passion; “I regained my couch, but never thought of sleep. Till morning dawned, I was tossed on a buoyant but unquiet sea, where billows of trouble rolled under surges of joy. I thought sometimes I saw beyond its wild waters a shore, sweet as the hills of Beulah; and now and then a refreshing gale wakened by hope, bore my spirit triumphantly towards the bourne; but I could not reach it, even in fancy, a counteracting breeze blew off land, and continually drove me back. Sense would resist delirium, judgment would warn passion”(P159) This passage is one that indicates Jane’s strong passion towards Mr. Rochester. Bronte affectively displays this to the reader by using a metaphor. She compares the uncertain voyage and tossing of the ship to that of the exultant yet confusing feeling she is being put through. The metaphor serves to intensify the significance of how Mr. Rochester’s comments affected Jane’s reaction. In the passage, Jane’s heart and mind seems to alternate from delight to self-doubting and back again just like a ship rocking back and forth in the sea. According to Bronte’s view of true passion, this intense passage portrays that Jane’s love for Mr. Rochester seems unquestionable. In the view of Bronte, the passion expressed by Jane justifies her love for Mr. Rochester. No longer must Jane oppress her emotions or be worried about what her expression of passion will result to. Similarly, Nora finds herself in somewhat the same situation when she has her final argument with Torvald at the end of the play.
