Motifs In Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre: Motifs Sight and blindness are two opposite motifs that speak volumes on the topic of the theme throughout Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. This contrast is what adds to the author’s ability to convey meaning through her characters such as Mr. Rochester, Jane, and others. Bronte’s main focus on this motif is to bring more awareness to her theme that one can gain wisdom by opening oneself to opportunity. Jane is a character in Bronte’s novel who experiences and eye-opening experience which ultimately makes her a stronger person. Her transition from being at Lowood to then moving to Thornfield because she realized she didn’t want to be a teacher was a new and exciting adventure. This led to her meeting with Rochester and developed much

Bronte illustrates Mr. Rochester’s triumphant return to the present by giving him his sight back by the end of the story. The theme of coming terms with oneself in society is greatly explored in this sense and through the use of the sight motif. There are other important pieces of work that have characters that are blind but gain insight through the use of their mind. One certain example is Tiresias as described in Oedipus the King. He is an ancient Greek prophet that is unable to see with both of his eyes, however, he has the extraordinary ability to foresee the future in detail. This can be compared to Mr. Rochester because as soon as he lost his sight in the novel, he came to terms that he needed to be away and eventually get married to Jane Eyre. This was not a sudden conclusion but it was a conclusion that he made without the use of his sight. Bronte uses this motif in a different way to express the theme that the regaining of sight is a symbol for the accumulation of wisdom. Rochester’s insight to wisdom is night and day when compared to when he could see and when he could not. This is reminiscent of the author’s use of a character to express the motif of sight and blindness to convey the theme of the

One could assert that Helen Burns had blind faith in god and his all-knowingness while Jane was more based off of life and how it affected her. Belief in religion is an insight to life that Bronte explores through the motifs of sight and blindness. Helen Burns is a person who experiences great pain in her life, yet she ignores what god has given to her and continues to have faith. Jane sees god in a different view and is confused by Helen’s attitude towards his omnipotence. This is expressed from Jane inquiring, “But where are you going to, Helen? Can you see? Do you know?’ ‘I believe: I have faith: I am going to God.’ ‘Where is God? What is God?’ ‘My maker and yours, who will never destroy what he created. I rely implicitly on his power, and confide holy in his goodness: I count the hours till the evening arrives which shall restore me to him and reveal him to me." Helen’s faith in god is a concept that Bronte utilizes in order to express the contrast in ideas towards religion between different characters with different experiences. Her beliefs are not dependent on sight yet she has an inclination to love those she has never met. This displays how the theme of wisdom is gained through sight has thorough ground to hold in the novel by Charlotte Bronte. Sight and blindness in relation to religion and the different characters in Jane Eyre are motifs in