How Does Jane Eyre's View Of Nature

“Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, or creed.

In the novel, ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte, setting is used throughout the novel to illustrate the development in the character. The novel is revolved around five separate locations, ; the Reed family's home at Gateshead, the wretched Lowood School, Rochester's manor, Thornfield, the Rivers family's home at Moor House, and Rochester's rural retreat at Ferndean, these settings all play a very important part in Jane’s life as they all represent the development of Jane’s character and the different period’s of her eventful life.

The link between Jane and birds is strengthened after she leaves Gateshead and moves to Lowood Institution. Bronte foreshadows poor nutrition at the school through a hungry bird whom Jane gives the remains of her breakfast. "My vacant attention soon found livelier attraction in the spectacle of a little hungry robin, which came and chirruped on the twigs of the leafless cherry-tree" (41; ch. 4). This description of a hungry bird allows the reader to understand Jane’s compassion for others, and her willingness to give. It also seems to foreshadow Jane’s struggle at Lowood with poor nutrition and moreover how she is forced to share her meals with other students:

Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre incorporates vibrant descriptions of nature and weather, which intertwine literally and metaphorically throughout the novel to reflect the protagonist’s state of mind. Furthermore, Bronte’s meticulous description of everyday objects and experiences provide a world that is both real and tangible to the reader. The novel defies the expectations of social-class, and gender, and transcends various literary genres, while the setting purposely enhances the characters inner feelings and emotions meritoriously, allowing more freedom for commentary, and the expression of taboo topics than solely through the dialogue of the characters.

Jane Eyre is the story of a girl 's life from age 10 to about 19 she starts out living as an orphan with her aunt and her cousins. And like any other orphan her in pretty much sucked.

It instead shows Jane’s inner struggle to do what is “right” versus what she desires. The separation between the voice of herself and her thoughts exhibits her helplessness to change her path from what her mind has already decided. This displays the heavy influence society has on Jane, which is further proven by the personification of Jane’s two strongest rivaling emotions. The heavy influence of a patriarchal dominated society is evident in her “Conscience” being a strong male figure, whereas her “Passion” is a weaker, feminine figure. Similarly, the strongest reasoning for Jane to leave Thornfield is driven by the patriarchal demand for a female to remain “pure” until holy marriage, rather than Jane’s own desire to leave, further solidifying the idea that the voice given to her mind is not just her own internal thoughts, but also the demands and expectations of

In the first few opening chapters Jane Eyre is seen as a mentally and physically abused child, during her years at Gateshead Hall. John Reed displays violence towards Jane in the first chapter. He punishes and bullies Jane; it is not known why the Reed family resent her so much. Her situation is seen as desperate within the first few paragraphs. Her cousins and Aunt make her life impossible and unbearable, she is not seen as a member of the family. Jane is simply seen as ‘’less than a servant’’ as she does ‘’nothing for her keep’’.

How can a girl, who started out with nothing, blossom into a well educated, generous, blissful woman? Well, in Jane Eyre, the main character overcomes all obstacles thrown at her and makes a great life for herself. From a miserable, orphaned young girl to a happily married, well educated woman, Jane Eyre transforms immensely throughout the novel. Through her many experiences in essential locations, she grows significantly at Gateshead, Lowood School, Thornfield, Marsh End, and Ferndean.

Bronte uses recurring literary devices throughout 'Jane Eyre' to emphasise her isolation and neglect. Such as; pathetic fallacy as well as repeated juxtaposition between Jane and birds. This can be seen in; "The great horse chestnut at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night." this can be symbolic of the solitary Jane, and the stormy weather. This not only reflects what is to come with the reveal of Bertha - but also symbolic of herself and how she is 'struck' by the discovery on her wedding day. This is important because she is neglected, and isn't given enough respect by Rochester to tell her what she deserves to know.

    Charlotte Bronte makes extensive use of nature imagery in her novel, Jane Eyre, commenting on both the human relationship with the outdoors and with human nature. The Oxford Reference Dictionary defines "nature" as "1. the phenomena of the physical world as a whole . . . 2. a thing's essential qualities; a person's or animal's innate character . . . 4. vital force, functions, or needs." Bronte speaks to each of these definitions throughout Jane Eyre.

Jane is filled with passion, however, and her willful disobedience is often her attempt to explain her feelings.  We see her passion find its fulfillment and understanding in Rochester.  When they meet, we see Jane's all-consuming passion and not much less of a fire in Rochester, "'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" (Bronte 133).

While at Gateshead, Jane is trapped by her relationship to the Reeds, which is reflected in the environment around her. At the beginning of Jane Eyre, Jane states that “there was no possibility of taking a walk that day” (Brontë 6). This beginning immediately puts Jane in her own bubble and exemplifies that she has no other form of positive interaction in her life. Initially, Jane is “[connected to] the natural environment, but also separate[d from it] with an unnatural boundary” (Fuller 152). Thus, this begins the recurring symbolism of how Victorian women were held back by gender roles in society. During her time at Gateshead, Jane is restrained by her

The 1800s experienced a monumental change in the social order of the era. Creation of the steam engine allowed for the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, mankind soon began to take advantage of nature and encroach upon her sanctity through the creation of factories and cities. Similar to the romanticists, Victorian authors soon realized this destruction and attempted to criticize the effects the Industrial Revolution has on nature. Jennifer Fuller successfully analyzes Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre through an ecocritical lens on the power of nature, freedom nature offers, and the comfort nature provides to different characters throughout the novel to demonstrate the importance of nature in humanity.

This novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë is about the life a woman named Jane Eyre undergoing many changes that wound up shaping the person she had eventually grown up to be. This type of novel which accounts for the psychological development of the protagonist as they grow up is known a bildungsroman. One particular moment or action, which accounts for Jane’s psychological development, that is described in this novel is the adoption of Jane by her relatives known as the Reed family (Chapter 3).

In Graham’s Magazine, another anonymous reviewer suggested that Rochester’s character was dangerous and immoral, saying, “No woman who had ever truly loved could have mistaken so completely the Rochester type, or could have made her heroine love a man of proud, selfish, ungovernable appetites, which no sophistry can lift out of lust.” Thus, he intimated that any author who would contrive to have her heroine fall in love with such a total rake would be immoral herself and unknowing of what true love is. He went one step further to say, “We accordingly think that if the innocent young ladies of our land lay a premium on profligacy, by marrying dissolute rakes for the honor of reforming them, à la Jane Eyre, their benevolence will be of questionable utility to the world.” In this, he suggested that the depiction of Jane and Rochester’s relationship would cause young women of the time to emulate Jane’s “romantic wickedness.”