Savino Brusco
AP English Period 3
December 10, 14
Jane Eyre Watercolor Paintings
The first painting Jane Eyre shows to Mr. Rochester embodies hidden meanings allowing the audience to see Jane’s personality from another angle. The sea, representing Jane, shows how she is calm and consistent, while the clouds, Jane’s hardships, hovering over the sea make the painting dark and gloomy expressing Jane’s tough life of suffering and misfortune. The “half-submerged mast” (Bronte 118) indicates that a boat has sunk. The boat signifies all of Jane’s hopes and dreams in life, such as having supportive parents, riches, and freedom, which were slowly shattered through dreadful events early in her life. The cormorant sitting on the mast represents Mr. Rochester, as he is currently the one who is in control of Jane’s sunken ship. Mr. Rochester as a cormorant is described as dark and large because he is a rich and powerful person, yet mysterious in the eyes of Jane. Blanche Ingram is the corps in the picture; she is depicted as dead because neither Jane nor Mr. Rochester is very fond of her.
The gold bracelet in the bird’s mouth shows that Mr. Rochester refuses to be partners with Ingram and thus he has taken bracelet from her. The bracelet represents the one thing that Jane longs for that has not sunk with the ship of her dreams. The bracelet is Jane’s longing to open up herself to someone who she is equal with and feels passionate about. Conveniently Mr. Rochester is in a similar situation, he longs for a decent wife and will hold the gold bracelet until he finds the right woman. As it is early in the story, before Mr. Rochester and Jane develop feelings for each other, the link has not yet been made involving Mr. Rochester giving the bracelet to Jane, which is why Rochester currently holds the bracelet alone.
Jane’s first
