Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre - Fire and Ice in the Characters

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Fire and Ice in the Characters of Jane Eyre

Two of the main characters in Jane Eyre have a sense of fire and ice in their

personalities, which is displayed through their emotions and their actions. Although, Edward

Rochester seems cold and icy in the beginning of the book, his true trait of fire is reveled

throughout the book as we get to know him better. St. John Rivers, who isn't introduced

until the late chapters of the book, plays a important role of contrasting Rochester by way of

ice.

In the first chapters where Rochester was introduced, he seemed cold and icy both

in his personality and his appearance. The first time Jane meets Rochester, she notices his

coldness; "his full nostrils, denoting. I thought, choler; his grim mouth, chin, and jaw - yes, all

three were very grim and no mistake." (77) As we learn more about Rochester and see

him and his actions around Jane we come to find out that he has the warmness of fire within

himself. After Rochester proposes to Jane he is constantly around her, kissing and holding

her. On the night the terrible storm blew into town and past Thornfield hall, Rochester went

to Jane's room, more than once, to check on her well being. Rochester wanted Jane to

know how much he loved her, by buying her beautiful dresses and jewelry. He wanted to

spend every waking moment of the day pampering and loving Jane, and he did.

Rochester talked of all the places they would trav...

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...e personality.

Even though the personalities of Edward Rochester and St. John Rivers are

opposites, they each have something that makes them similar in a way. Throughout Jane

Eyre, we have seen these two characters change from showing one of their traits to

showing a completely different trait. Rochester acted cold and icy when he was first

introduced into the novel, and then his true personality of fire and warmness came out when

he met Jane. St. John acted warm, when he took Jane into his home, but as we got to

know him better we realized that his true trait is coldness. Thus in the novel, Jane Eyre,

Edward Rochester represents fire, and St. John Rivers represents ice.

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