Paranormal Elements in Jane Eyre and the Realm of the Feminine












By Ian Coleman




















From the onset of Charlotte Bronte’s, Jane Eyre the title character of Jane Eyre is challenged by obstacles to her personal happiness that occur throughout the story. Such obstacles are products of attempts by oppressive individuals to enforce their will upon Jane, or others who undermine her sense of self respect by making her out to be a plaything. Although Jane’s constant struggle to free herself from the grip of these oppressions is a very concrete one, it also has a basis in the supernatural elements that creep up in various points of the novel. These instances of paranormal visions and perceived ghostly encounters underscore Jane’s oppression by the individuals she encounters and her struggle to maintain the sanctity of the personal realm of her mind.
Jane Eyre’s consciousness can be personified as an extension of heavenly forces. Although her resistance against individuals working against her is established in the very first chapter, it is not until the formation of her friendship with Helen Burns that her sense of personal sanctity constructs itself. Helen acts as a mirror image of Jane; a young girl deemed unfitting to function in society due to her unconventional mannerisms. Jane’s concept of God at this point, unlike Helen’s, is not completely formed. This changes upon Helen’s death however, when Jane becomes acquainted first hand with the benevolence she comes to believe has been bestowed upon her. After Helen tells her that she “will come to that same region of happiness” as her and “be received by the same mighty, universal parent” (Bronte 83), and dies, Jane assimilates her sense of belonging ordained by a divine presence and bases her subsequent actions on what she views as God’s will.
Existing in opposition to the light and virtue of Heaven, there is the darkness and fire of Hell. The struggle between these forces plays out in Jane Eyre through the macabre encounters and visions the title character experiences. The first, and perhaps most significant of these encounters occurs in the second chapter, in which Jane is sent to a room in her home of Gateshead she refers to as “the Red Room”. In the red room, her uncle, John Reed, had died and consequentially, her childish mind associates the room with supernatural forces and perceives the moonlight entering it as “a herald of some coming vision from another world” (Bronte 16). It is after this vision and the panic that ensues as a result that Jane yearns for a change, a chance to escape from her imprisonment by her relatives. Unfortunately, she continues to come upon others who belittle her, and such oppression is accompanied by macabre visions and encounters. It is Jane’s experience in the red room that sees her first traumatic experience with harsh constriction of her will and the paranormal phenomena that accompany this constriction as an extension of the red room’s perceived underlying malevolent will.
Even after escaping to “freedom” and finding love in the character of Edward Rochester, Jane still continues to be haunted by the specters of repression. Rochester’s estate of Thornfield Hall, which at first seems a place in which Jane can pursue a fresh start, is painted as an extension of the malevolence following Jane. This is most clearly conveyed in her first meeting with Rochester. Although he quickly establishes himself as Jane’s object of affection, her first meeting with him carries an eerie air. Jane first spots Rochester riding toward Thornfield and the image springs a memory of a creature called the Gytrash a spirit “which, in the form of horse, mule, or large dog, haunted solitary ways” (Bronte 114). Rochester’s initial association with this evil spirit carries over to certain aspects of his character. Although he loves Jane dearly, his conduct toward her is characterized by a severe lack of respect, fooling her with false stories of plans to marry another woman and after his first marriage proposal, treating her as a child and undervaluing her self respect. Rochester in truth, carries but a hint of menace; the true evil will present in Thornfield is personified in the character of Bertha Mason.
Much of the paranormal intrigue of Jane Eyre revolves around Rochester’s insane wife, Bertha Mason. Although her character is a physical presence, her appearances, or traces of such, are decidedly like a specter. Sneaking around Thornfield and menacing its inhabitants, Bertha most often leaves naught but a horrific trace of her presence, ranging from a bite mark to flames; remnants of a creature who seems driven by nothing more than evil itself. The eventual description of her physical appearance too, evokes horror of a demonic nature: mangy, animal like, and possessing red eyes that conjure an association with Jane’s red room. This metaphorical affiliation paints the ghostly, devilish Bertha as Jane’s polar opposite; the physical manifestation of all she opposes. Were she to stay with Rochester even after the ghoulish revelation of his wife’s identity, she would be casting herself into Bertha’s negative ground. Thus, Jane decides to leave her love behind.
At the conclusion of Jane Eyre however, the supernatural elements that before carried a sense of doom, ends up working to Jane’s advantage.