What Does Water Symbolize In Jane Eyre

Much of the imagery of Jane Eyre is obvious-the chestnut tree, the grim landscapes, the red room that is like Hell. But two images are so pervasive that they serve as a substructure for the entire novel: fire and water-and their extremes, the flames of lust and the ice of indifference. The fire is in Jane's spirit and in Rochester's eyes. Jane desires "life, fire, feeling" (p. 105); Rochester has "strange fire in his look" (p. 145). If these two are fire, St. John Rivers (note the last name) contains the icy waters that would put out fire, destroy passion. His nature is frozen over with an "ice of reserve" (p. 334); when he tells Jane, "I am cold: no fervour infects me," her reply is, "Whereas I am hot, and fire dissolves ice" (p. 364). From the start of the novel, Charlotte Bronta's fire and water imagery indicates the essential idea. …show more content…
If their bodies burn, their minds must dampen the fires. Jane warns herself that secret love might "kindle" within her life an "ignis fatuus" (p. 153). Yet it is Rochester who is all-fire: when, disguised as a gypsy, he has his interview with Jane, she feels his powerful attraction and says, "Don't keep me long; the fire scorches me." Rochester, for his part, realizes Jane's double quality; she has the fire of bodily love, "The flame flickers in the eye," but also the cool control of the soul, "the eye shines like dew" (p. 190). Earlier, Rochester insists that Jane is cold because she is alone: "no contact strikes the fire from you that is within you" (p. 187). When Bertha, Rochester's old passionate flame, sets his bed on fire, Jane saves him by dousing the bed with