Symbolism in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre

In January I caught the BBC re-run of Jane Eyre which I really enjoyed (again … OK, call me sad). One of the strengths of any filmed version is that it can make visual the images and symbols which run through texts such as Brontë’s novel.

In this adaptation

• Jane and Bertha were linked by the flowing red robe which swathed Jane in her imaginary desert and was hung from Bertha’s window: red for passion, red for danger, both ideas brought together with Jane’s incarceration in the Red Room as a child.
• The natural contrasts of harshness and comfort, cold and warmth, winter and spring, exposure and cosy firelight glow were emphasised via effective scenic photography and clever lighting of interiors.

To look at how Brontë used these ideas in more detail, the Imagery and Symbolism in Jane Eyre section on Crossref-it.info provides a discussion of Nature and Fire and light More difficult to convey is the symbolism associated with the central text Brontë could assume all her readers recognised – the Bible. Today many students aren’t familiar with the allusions and they are even harder to communicate on screen.

Click here for an explanation of the relevance of Adam and Eve to Jane Eyre, or investigate the following religious / philosophical context articles on Crossref-it.info and consider how Brontë drew on these ideas through the novel:

• Temptation
• Penitence, repentance, penance
• Parents and children
• Mission, evangelism, conversion
• Lost, seeking, finding, rescue
• Judgement
• Journey of faith, Exodus, pilgrims and sojourners
  
• Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve
  
• Forgiveness, mercy and grace
  
• Apocalypse
  

If you were a TV producer, how would you ‘show’ these concepts?

Also, for an excellent discussion of the show, take a look at this blog.