Jane Eyre Isolation

When Jane returns to Thornfield after her first, unofficial, meeting with Rochester, Brontë highlights glass as a border between the inside and outside. In this particular scene, Jane attempts to look into the building as she praises the evening sky. She “lingered at the gate…the shutters of the glass door were closed; I could not see into the interior; and both my eyes and spirit deemed drawn from the gloomy house…” While outside, Jane is unable to look in, which highlights the place of glass as a border between the inside and outside. In addition, the emphasis on Jane’s place outdoors suggests a shift from forced, indoor isolation, to physical engagement with a world she would only look at through glass. Jane’s inability to look inside is
Thus, Brontë establishes a growing comfort with a place that was otherwise marked as dangerous. Furthermore, Jane’s inability to look inside while distracted by the beauty of the outdoors highlights that her movement from the inside to the outside furthers her development from isolation. In addition, the proposal scene between Rochester and Jane evokes the latter’s kinship with the moon. As he proposes to Jane, Rochester calls her “ ‘You–you strange, you almost unearthly thing!...' ” (229). Just like the moon she praises, Jane is also of beyond the earth. Brontë links Jane to a personified celestial object; thus, she implies Jane’s rightful place is outside. Therefore, Jane Eyre suggests Jane’s inevitable shift from social isolation to possessing a deep
She claims that she saw Bertha’s “reflection…and features quite distinctly in the dark oblong glass.” In her childhood, Jane uses the mirror to see her own reflection; yet, in adulthood she sees the image of another individual. She describes the face as “fearful and ghastly…discoloured,” and wished she “could forget the roll of the red eyes and the fearful blackened inflation of lineaments!” Rochester replies, “Ghosts are usually pale…” (254) Despite there being a different individual in the reflection, Jane still uses supernatural terms to describe what she sees. After the encounter, Jane again looks in the mirror, but this time she wears her wedding veil. She remarks that in her reflection, she “saw a robed and veiled figures, so unlike my usual self that it seemed almost the image of a stranger…” (257). Even though she looks at her own reflection this time, she still remarks upon how she appears as an individual unknown to her. Hence, the novel still denotes glass as a border between the worlds of the fantastical and reality, as Jane still uses supernatural diction to describe the visual reflections. However, it suggests Jane’s distance from self-reflection by her finding other individuals in the mirror–marking a shift from mental and physical