In Jane Eyre, various symbols occur throughout. The symbolism with fire, an element that is uncontrollable like Bertha. Additional symbols such as The Red Room or Seasons changing. However, the symbols that stood out to me were the chestnut tree and eyes. I wanted to look at something others would not take a deeper look at.
The Chestnut Tree in Jane Eyre would be considered a large symbol within the work. It is. As the novel progresses Rochester proposes to Jane underneath the tree. “And what ailed the chestnut tree? it writhed and groaned; while wind roared in the laurel walk, and came sweeping over us” (Bronte 390). After Rochester proposes to Jane, the weather quickly changes and creates somewhat an uncomfortable ambiance. The weather was
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Eyes are said to be the windows to the soul and an insight to how one may feel. Bronte does not shy away from this within her work. She uses eyes to describe a character’s inner ideals and connects it with elements in her story. Rochester does this when he compares his ex-wife versus Jane. “Compare these clear eyes with the red balls yonder” (Bronte 448). Rochester compares Jane’s eyes to Bertha in this scene to different the two. Jane, a woman who is pure, below him, solace, someone he can clearly see himself with. However, Bertha, someone he once enjoyed time with is now dangerous, red, uncontrollable, just like fire. He points out with just this line that the two are different like water and fire, one can he see himself with and one that strikes fear within him. Although, Jane’s eyes are used quite a bit she is not the only character to be used as a catalyst for inner life description. St. John Rivers, a man that Jane finds shelter with has his eyes used to describe his persona and foreshadow what may occur. “St. John’s eyes, though clear enough in a literal sense, in a figurative one were difficult to fathom. He seemed to use them rather as instruments to search other people’s thoughts, than as agents to reveal his own: the which combination of keenness and reserve was considerably more calculated to embarrass than to encourage” (Bronte 526). John like Jane has clear eyes, another way to say
Of all the symbols in The Scarlet Letter, the forest is one of the most important. By providing an escape from the overbearing nature of puritan life, the forest allows characters to be presented in a different backdrop, it can serve as a place of both light and darkness, but above all, liberty. For every character that visits it, the forest is freedom, protection, and peace. Without it, there would be no contrast with the village as well as puritan society, and Hawthorne?s message would not be as convincing.
Throughout the novel, the reader is presented with many different symbols. The symbols are clearly seen by Holden's constant repetition of their importance. The symbols are so important and their symbolism is directly related to the major themes of the novel.
Another prevalent symbol to me is the idea of sin. In The Ministers Black Veil Hooper just suddenly one day shows up to church wearing a veil. At first the people are sort of angered by it. People soon start to flock to his congregation to view the spectacle, and go so far as to test their '"'courage'"' by seeing who will go and talk to him. I think that the veil could represent sin. In The Ministers Black Veil Hooper was either trying to hide his sin from the people so that they could not judge him, which is god"'"s job, or maybe he was trying to protecting his self from the sins of the people. In the end of The Ministers Black Veil Hooper dies, and sees his congregation all wearing black veils, which would probably hint that maybe it represented the sin in all of us. In The Birthmark Georgiana"'"s birthmark could represent, as some religions believe, the original sin which is bestowed on all by the '"'hand'"' of god. But, unlike Hooper, Georgiana could not help her markings.
In literature, authors often use symbolism to give a deeper meaning to their work. A symbol is one thing that represents another. In “Frankenstein”, the author, Mary Shelley, uses symbolism in order to get her audience to think deeper into her story. Fire and light are both reoccurring symbols throughout “Frankenstein”.
If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then where does the door lie? F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a very dense book laden with symbolism. He uses eyes and facial features often in combination with colour to convey symbolism. This has a unique and powerful effect because the eyes and facial features are the first things that one uses in determining another’s character. One important thing to note would also be the lack of facial description in determining a character’s importance. By excluding a detailed facial description and thus a description of a character’s eyes, Fitzgerald suggests the lack of a soul. Eyes also have a very spiritual impact in the book, particularly the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, that watch over the “valley
“She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness, as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest” (Hawthorne 165 ). The forest should be looked at as somewhat of a moral compass, not in its own right, but in the fact that the Puritans used this belief in the forest, that it was haunted by the Black Man, to shy away from sin, stay close to their biblical foundation, and all the while, satisfy their superstitions. In simplest terms, the forest in The Scarlet Letter not only serves as a tangible symbol of coverage, but also as an archetype; a repeated symbol the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses throughout the book to represent how Hester and Mr. Dimmesdale tried to keep their sin hidden.
Some of the main symbols of the novel are The Hanging Wall, the colours of the clothing of the different women and the Eyes. All these symbols add different features to the story which are important. Some add fear, suspense, and overall they all add an important understanding of the story line. Margaret Atwood, was able to successfully create symbols which added depth and helped with the understanding of the novel. With these symbols she used in the novel she proved the importance and the positive effects strong symbolism can have with plot and character
“Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used by the author to represent abstract ideas or concepts.” Symbolism in literature is the depth and hidden meaning in any piece of work. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a powerful and evocative novel laced with symbolism. The most obvious is the symbol of the scarlet letter itself, representing Hester’s sin of adultery. Hawthorne’s other symbols are less obvious and are very often obscured in the novel.
In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, the eventual goal of Jane Eyre’s journeys and struggles as a character is for Jane to be strong enough within herself to stand on her own. It is not until she finds this internal strength that she can live as a content individual and weather the distracting demands put on her by the external forces that surround her. Throughout most of the novel, Jane makes the mistake of looking for this internal peace through external forces like Mrs. Reed, Mr. Rochester and St. John. To convey this tendency, Charlotte Brontë constructs her narrative so that, rather than looking within herself to find internal solace, Jane turns away from cold, alien internal imagery, and looks instead to fickle external imagery that is at times a friend, and at times a foe. The internal imagery is reflective of Jane’s own internal state, and the external imagery is reflective of the state of the external forces that surround her; until Jane realizes that she cannot find solace in the ever-changing external forces around her, and must instead look inside herself for this solace, the internal imagery must remain cold and alien, and the external imagery must remain unpredictable in its ability to comfort.
The novel begins as Hazel Motes, the novels key character, is aboard a train searching to find some sort of truth. While on Board the train, Hazel is “looking one minute at the window as if he might want to jump out of it, and the next down the aisle at the other end of the car” (9). This is the first time that eye imagery is brought into play, as not only characters’ eyes are an important feature of the novel but also what they are looking at. In fact the first five paragraphs are filled with a plethora of references to eyes. “Haze looked at her a second,” then, “stared down the length of the car again” (9). Mrs. Wally Bee Hitchcock “turned to see what was back there but all she saw was a child peering around one of the sections and, farther up at the end of the car, the porter opening the closet where the sheets were kept” (9-10). “He didn’t answer her or move his eyes from whatever he was looking at” (10). “But his eyes were what held her attention the longest. Their settings were so deep that they seemed, to her, almost like passages leading somewhere a...
So it is not surprising to find that the Victorians also placed great faith in bodily appearance. To the Victorians, a face and figure could reveal the inner thoughts and emotions of the individual as reliably as clothing indicated his occupation. There is abundant evidence of the pervasiveness of this belief in the literature of the period. According to Reed, "Victorian literature abounds with expressions of faith in physiognomy" (336). He quotes a passage from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre to prove the point: "Jane Eyre, for example, trusts her initial perception of Rochester, whose brow 'showed a solid enough mass of intellectual organs, but an abrupt deficiency where the suave sign of benevolence should have risen'" (146; ch. 14, Reed 336).
In Bronte’s Jane Eyre, nature reveals Jane’s internal emotions and growth that she has difficulty expressing for herself. Bronte utilizes nature as her expression of what Jane has trapped inside. Jane finds her happiness in nature as well as the ability to grow past what she experienced in her troubling past. Nature acts as guidance for the reader to decipher Jane’s complicated emotions that she doesn’t show. Charlotte Bronte uses nature to parallel Jane's emotions as well as her evolution from a small, unhappy child, to a grown, mature woman.
The use of elemental imagery in Jane Eyre, sustained throughout the novel both metaphorically and literally, is one of Charlotte Brontë's major stylistic devices. The natural opposition of the two elements of water and fire ("the war of the earthly elements", as Jane puts it) highlights the need for the titular heroine to find equilibrium between points identified as extremes. However, as David Lodge notes, "we should be mistaken in looking for a rigidly schematic system of elemental imagery and reference in Jane Eyre". Fire and water images in the novel have their shifting associations, which reflect on the characters of Jane, Rochester and St John Rivers. The broad suitability of the images shows that they can be both destructive forces and agents of renewal. Using them as both allows Brontë to show how far the characters have learnt to reconcile the Romantic desire for passion with the need for restraint, for it is only in that way that true personal selfhood can be realised. And this search for a personal selfhood, where one is judged on one's own character, not society's usual manner of judgment based on title, money or beauty, can be said to be the focus in the novel.
Symbols are in which someone chooses to be visualized and the setting within which someone’s portrait is placed can communicate to us about that person’s personality and objectives, how they like to be seen and/or the period in which they lived. Wuthering Heights is a quarantined building on the hills in the West Riding of Yorkshire. “Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling ‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather" (Emily Bronte pg.2). From the beginning of the novel, the description of the house seemed very dark, cloudy and strange. The house was positioned where thunder, snow and rain weather could strike. The setting (including nature) is influential to the reader because it gives an understanding into the characters and the total comprehension of the novel.
In World Book Dictionary, a symbol is defined as something that stands for or represents something else, especially an idea, quality, or condition. Symbols can be objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent ideas or concepts. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are many symbols that are throughout the novel. While symbols can be created, such created symbols are subjective and must be given meaning within their context and because the context is different among individuals and societies and can vary over time. Some symbols that are used in the novel The Scarlet Letter is the scarlet letter, the meteor, Pearl, the rosebush next to the prison door, and the scaffold.