“To the soul made of fire ... I am ever tender and true”: The Foreshadowing Role of the Fire Motif in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre

Abstract

The literature concerned with the interpretation of the fire motif in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is largely unsatisfactory, since most critics fail to address its function as a foreshadowing device. This study provides an original interpretation that concerns itself with highlighting the key role of fire in the signalling of Jane and Mr. Rochester’s union, and celebrating Brontë’s scrupulous writing style that greatly influenced the tradition of the romance novel. By collecting and analysing more than a hundred fire -related passages within Jane Eyre, this study reveals how they take on significant patterns throughout the novel. By exploring these patterns, this study traces the correlation between the novel’s fire-related passages and the development of Jane and Rochester’s budding romance, thus revealing how the fire motif sustains the notion that these lovers are destined for each other. Such patterns include the physical mirroring of fire, the portrayals of Jane’s inflammable personality, the descriptions of Rochester’s “fiery” gaze, and the significant recurrence of fire in the novel’s key events. Since the notion of destiny is a crucial convention of the romance genre, Brontë’s manipulation of the fire motif as a foreshadowing device is not only remarkable but significant in the understanding of how successful romance novels operate. Thus, this research demon strates Brontë’s innovative use of figurative writing in Jane Eyre, which not only presages the novel’s romantic conclusion, but heavily influences the works of such authors as Jean Rhys and Tessa McWatt.