Passion and Motherhood:
Since Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre in a first person narration she had to use a lot of symbolic imagery to show the hidden emotions of other characters and the relationships between them. The imagery in relationships is particularly interesting because of the symbolic context that it gives to characters. The relation ship between Helen and Miss Temple is a combination of passionate love and motherly love. Bronte uses fire to represent passion and images of the moon to represent motherly love. She also gives the characters symbolic names that indicate the roles they play in the novel. Fire is used to depict the passion of Helen and Miss Temple's relationship. As Helen and Jane are in Miss Temple's room the fire that the three are seated around controls the atmosphere of the moment, the fire becomes an extension of Helen's passion, and more specifically her love. "...The brilliant fire, the presence of and kindness of her beloved instructress...had roused the powers within her. They kindled at first, they glowed in the bright tint of her cheek...then they shone in the liquid luster of her eyes..."(Pg 85). Through the short time Helen is in the novel she is always shown around small subdued fires, glowing embers or c
They kindled at first, they glowed in the bright tint of her cheek. When Jane asked Helen about the different teachers at their school, the only one to receive any praises was Miss Temple: "She is full of goodness; it pains her to be sever to any one, even the worst in the school: she sees my errors, and tells me of them gently; and, if any thing I do is worthy of praise, she gives me my meed liberally. "(Pg 67) The very saying of her name is enough to make Helen smile: "After the utterance of Miss. Temples are also holy places that are to be respected and worshiped, and this is true of how Helen feels about Miss Temple. "Some heavy clouds, swept from the sky by the rising wind, had left the moon bare and her light streaming through a window near, shone full on both of us and on the approaching figure, which we at once recognized as Miss Temple. It seems that Helen almost burns inside for the attention of Miss Temple, and when she receives it the fire inside her burns brighter. Helen Burns name is symbolic because she is dying of an illness that is probably tuberculosis, but was often referred to as Consumption because the disease consumed a person from the inside, just like a burning fire consumes fuel and air. Tuberculosis was viewed as a passionate and romantic disease because the victims often experienced fervent outburst of passion. Throughout time the moon has been regarded in a motherly protective way, and in the novel Jane refers to it as "mother" (Pg358) and addresses it as a person. Helen feels safe with Miss Temple whose maternal nature causes her to fret over Helen's disease and to give her special attention.
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Acceptance Essays
