Comfortable Liminality; Societal Identities and the Natural World in Jane Eyre


In a world subjugated by rigid codes of conduct and social structure, Jane’s position in Brontë’s Jane Eyre provides a neutral vantage point from which to observe and describe the oppressive social ideas and practices of such society. Mirrored by and mirroring nature herself, Jane is able to become an embodiment of the “new woman”, finding a balance between nature and society. Drawn to one another through their appreciation for the Thornfield landscape, Jane and Mr. Rochester’s retreat to nature is the means by which their contrasting Victorian gender and social identities are leveled out and their relationship flourishes. The director of BBC’s Jane Eyre, Susanna White, shows how a genuine engagement with Romantic, transformative landscapes can not only dissolve Victorian gender and social class identities, but maintain a sensible reconciliation between such social constructions and the natural world in order to establish a real love with Mr. Rochester.
The function of nature in Jane’s being is evident in her psychological and emotional connection to the landscape. In fact, Jane even seems to possess natural characteristics herself. On numerous occasions, Rochester refers to Jane as a swallow who, when inquisitive, “opens [her] eyes like an eager bird” (Brontë 405) and when otherwise, “a wild frantic bird that is rending its own plumage in its desperation” (Brontë 330). Brown University scholar, Lauren Smith, comments on Brontë’s ability to “not simply enumerate individual objects in nature without relating them to her protagonist”, but in addition to her taking on such naturalistic qualities, she “consistently interpellates Jane into carefully constructed scenes that elicit specific emotional states, depending on events in the plot and Jane's psychological and spiritual development” (Smith 3). Jane has an “aesthetic appreciation of natural forms and forces in all their terror and beauty” and often experiences “the heights and depths of nature (Millbank 145; Alexander 417). As Smith points out, Jane reads the landscapes just as she might “read a vignette from Bewick's History, acknowledging the transportation she feels from their visual and metaphoric power” (Smith 4). For instance, after her first months at Thornfield Hall she discloses her sentiments:
"[e]xternals have a great effect on the young: I thought that a fairer era of life was beginning for me, one that was to have its flowers and pleasures, as well as its thorns and toils. My faculties, roused by the change of scene, the new field offered to hope, seemed all astir. I cannot precisely define what they expected, but it was something pleasant: not perhaps that day or that month, but at an indefinite future period" (Brontë 83).
Beyond the comfort she finds in nature's metaphoric "pleasures" and "toils," Jane finds her faculties elevated and her senses heightened through her engagement with the external world.
Such ties to nature justify and embolden Jane’s embracement of radical ideas that challenge the Victorian prejudices against women and the poor. From the beginning scene of the book, Jane is seen wandering in an exotic desert Sahara, only to find she seeks this landscape as an escape from a mundane and harsh reality. Yet, it is here that she is able to gain the sense of autonomy and freedom that she lacks, due to her social and gender positions. Her development as a character becomes, as Rochester remarks, that of one “refined by nature, but absolutely unwed to society” (Brontë 409). Thus, her opposition to the inequality of rigid social codes is progressively grounded in her connection to the leveling ground that nature provides for her and all who engage with it. While nature mirrors Jane, she also mirrors nature in her passionate artistic expression. Her drawings encapsulate her embodiment of the “new woman”, as she is breaking free from rigid gender roles by means of expression.
Jane, however, is not the only character in the novel with such ties to nature. Rochester’s need for the “freshness” of the external world is exemplified when he asks Jane to stay outside of the house with him for a few moments:
“’stay awhile outside with me. This house is a dungeon. It’s a prison…you cannot see that the gilding is slime and the silk draperies cobwebs; that the marble is sordid slate, and the polished woods mere refuse chips and scaly bark. Now HERE’ (pointing to the leafy enclosure [they] had entered) ‘all is real, sweet, and pure.’”(Brontë 280).
It is not only Jane’s deep connection with nature that is conducive to her relationship and connection with Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Hall, but also the leveling ground that nature provides for a pair of socially unequal individuals. This is exhibited through the stark contrast between their interactions indoors and outdoors. Within the social system, while Jane is Rochester’s intellectual equal, the aristocratic Mr. Rochester is Jane’s social and economic superior. When within the walls of Thornfield, such class distinctions must be adhered to; passion and emotion is repressed. Mr. Rochester must assert his aristocratic power over her, even in his evidently high regard for her. When in want of her company, he demands her acquaintance immediately, and almost amusingly gives her no choice but to obey unquestioningly. At one point, Rochester employs a gypsy to read Jane’s thoughts. In answer to Jane’s chastisement, Rochester replies, “Jane, how else was I to know what you were thinking?” (Brontë 262). As many tactics as he may employ, he is unable to determine her feelings toward him when indoors. Thus, their relationship is stifled and stunted within the interior of Thornfield.
Once Jane and Rochester come together in the intimacy of the landscape, they find themselves in a liminal space, where identities are up for negotiation. Even their first meeting along the road, with Jane’s spooking Rochester off his horse reigns in his arrogant, aristocratic position. It is within that leveling ground that dramatically stark class distinctions are dissolved. Jane approaches Rochester independently, without need of his summoning. They are able to see each other for what they are, stripped of all social and gender identities. Rochester shares his point of view with her through nature, as they physically engage with the natural world, closely observing dragonflies, butterflies, mushrooms, and various types of plants and species of bugs. Contrary to Rochester’s position on the stairs above Jane indoors, they literally stand on level ground, eye-to-eye outdoors. It is here that both characters drop their defenses, revealing their true nature. Passion, and emotion is let loose, allowing Rochester to recognize her true feelings towards him. This is exemplified in a powerful and poignant scene in which Jane “st[ands] before the heavens and pronounced [her]self [Rochester’s] equal” (Brontë 348). Jane speaks out against class prejudice as she chastises Rochester: “I love Thornfield. I love it because I have lived a full life. I have not been trampled on. I have been treated as an equal. You have treated me as an equal…Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you—and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you”. Jane then diminishes the social differences between herself and the aristocratic Miss Ingram to which Rochester is to be wed, by comparing them on terms of compatibility with Rochester, instead of on terms of social identities: “you have promised to marry to someone who is inferior to you, someone who you have no sympathy with, of course I must go” (Brontë 329). Rochester responds by requesting her not to call him sir, but Edward. Thus, through Jane and Rochester’s relationship, we see that the very elements of nature, perhaps guided by divinity itself, combine to uphold the destruction of Victorian social and gender identities. Or do they?
It is important to note that nowhere in Jane Eyre are society’s boundaries bent. Ultimately, Jane is only able to marry Rochester as his equal because she has almost magically come into her own inheritance from her uncle. Through Brontë’s novel we see not a condemnation of social conventions, but a sensible reconciliation between such construction of identities and the natural world.
Such reconciliation must require both society and nature to meet in the middle. Throughout the novel, we see that nature mimics Jane and Rochester’s relationship and feelings. In the early stages of their relationship, the flowers are in full bloom. When their relationship has reached the apex of growth before she leaves him, Jane notes the sky is “burning with the light of red jewel and furnace flame at one point” (Brontë 316). The sky, like their love, is flaming, glowing with fervent red. The chestnut tree, under which Rochester proposed now ails, “writhing and groaning” in the roaring wind, against the crack and clash of thunder and lightning (Brontë 334). During the night, lightning splits the great chestnut tree, foreshadowing the breach in the relationship that will soon befall Jane and Rochester.
Furthermore, nature not only mimics their relationship, but it also ultimately plays a part in bringing them together. Upon learning of Mr. Rochester’s past and the existence of Bertha Mason, their relationship cannot function successfully. Living with him, unprotected by any true marriage bond would mean the loss of her dignity and ultimately leave her degraded and dependent upon Rochester for love. Jane must leave him. She succumbs to the raw and un-tempered elements in despair, like the ‘half-submerged mast and become “a drowned corpse floating in green water” (Brontë 438), she finds a home away from Rochester. Once she is independent and not influenced by psychological vulnerability or passion, she is ready to return to Rochester. The natural element of fire thus distinguishes the final impediments: Bertha mason dies, and Rochester is blinded, cast into a deep humility. Once both are in the position to come together, his cries for her are translated to her through nature. Through Jane and Rochester’s reunion, we see the significance of the union between and temperance of societal constructions and natural elements.
Susanna White’s film adaptation of Jane Eyre is an intriguing and meaningful projection of the transformative power of the natural world. While physical engagement and intimate connection with nature is a means by which Victorian gender and social class identities dissolve between Jane and Rochester, one is also able to realize the importance of maintaining a sensible reconciliation between such the social world and the natural world. If successful, this reconciliation can be powerful enough to alter the meaning of relationships and life itself.

© 2010 by Secret Life of Daydreams. All rights reserved.

Works Cited

Alexander, Christine. "That Kingdom of Gloom: Charlotte Brontë, the Annuals, and the Gothic." Nineteenth-Century Literature. 47.4 (1993): pp. 409-436.
Milbank, Alison. Daughters of the House: Mode of the Gothic in Victorian Fiction. New York: St Martin's Press, 1992.
Smith, Lauren. “Painting with Words: Natural and Spiritual Landscapes in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea”. Brown University (2004): 1-10.
Talairach-Vielmas, Laurence "'Portrait of a Governess, Disconnected, Poor, and Plain': Staging the Spectral Self in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre." Brontë Studies 34.2 (2009): 127-137. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Dec. 2009.

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