Use of Allusion in Jane Eyre - 2589 Words

ALLUSION IN JANE EYRE This paper will focus on the use of allusion that Bronte has made in her novel Jane Eyre. The novel is written in first person. The novel has in it elements of the gothic. The gothic novel is an amalgamation of romance and terror. The tradition started with Horace Walpole’s novel ‘the castle of Otronto’. Bronte uses elements of this tradition in Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre digresses from the other novels, written over a four-year period, largely because of Brontes use of images, symbols, and allusions. In marked contrast, Jane Eyre is filled with allusions and citations: thirty-seven from the Bible, eleven from Shakespeare, and references to or†¦show more content†¦The scene, then, is set: a man and a woman alone in a garden, a singled-out tree, and even a hint of sexual confrontation in the perfumed scent of Rochesters cigar which follows Jane through the garden( 311-12).This gardens scene and the proposal of marriage precipitate the downward ac tion of part two-Jane will be driven by conscience from this paradise-an action foreshadowed by the shattering of the giant horse-chestnut by lightning. At the end of part three Jane and Rochester are again united in a garden, this time at Ferndean where reference to the horse-chestnut ties the two scenes together. The language now echoes Genesis. Rochester says: We must become one flesh without any delay, Jane (570). She later reflects: No woman was ever nearer to her mate than am I: ever more absolutely bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh (576). Rochester compares himselft to the shattered horse-chestnut at Thornfield and Janes response ties in another edenic theme, one derived from Paradise Lost. She consoles him by telling him he is still strong: Plants will grow about your roots, says Jane, and your strength offers them a safe prop (568). Yet at the end, as they wend homeward through the woods Jane says: I served both for his prop and guide (573). This echoes the scene in Milton where Satan sees Eve working alone, Herself, though fairest un supported Flower / From her best prop so farShow MoreRelated Biblical Allusions i n Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay1007 Words   |  5 PagesBiblical Allusions in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre One Sunday evening, shortly after Jane arrives at Lowood School, she is forced to recite the sixth chapter of St. Matthew as part of the daily lesson (70; ch. 7). 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