Another powerful scene that connects weather and Jane's emotional state occurs when Jane realizes that Rochester is already married. She writes from a forlorn state of mind:
Jane Eyre, who had been an ardent expectant woman-almost a bride-was a cold, solitary girl again: her life was pale; her prospects were desolate. A Christmas frost had come at midsummer; a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hayfield and cornfield lay a frozen shroud; lanes which last night blushed full of flowers, to-day were pathless with untrodden snow... My hopes were all dead... my cherished wishes, yesterday so blooming and glowing; they lay stark, chill livid corpses that could never revive" (324)
Bront successfully captures the depth of Jane's despair with the images of weather. We are presented again with the cold solitary life that Jane lived for so long and we also relate events in her life to December storms and crushed roses. Death and coldness are images that the girl connects to her dying hopes.
Even at the end of the novel, we find that the weather suits Jane just fine. After the terrible events that precede her returning to Thornfield, her reunion with Rochester can be nothing but pleasant. While the two become reacquainted, Jane takes pleasure in describing the environment to him. The grass is brilliant green and the "flowers and hedges looked refreshed;...
It only seems fitting that he story ends with the brilliant green grass blowing in the breeze and the bright blue sky resting overhead. While we have seem so much gloom and despair linked with cold winter days, it is nice to know that Jane does spend all of her days in sorrow. In addition, the pleasant conversation foreshadows the couple's future. They will have a happy marriage and Rochester will see his son. All is good again.
Throughout Jane Eyre, Bront uses the weather to create more than just a setting for her characters. The weather becomes an object by which we can gauge Jane's experiences and her emotional state. The connection is subtle but very real and extremely successful. Bront introduces us to Jane in an environment that is cold and desolate, which describes her emotional state. As the novel progresses, Jane's experiences are directly related to weather. In addition, the weather often acts as an indicator for what will happen next. Foreshadowing is a technique Bront employs to further heighten our experience. Dark and light scenes indicate Jane's mood and emotional state at times and they signify emotional changes within her character. Bront's narrative sequence of weather and emotions adds the perfect backdrop to Jane Eyre.
Works Cited
Bront, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Scholastic Books. 1988.
