Who loves you best, whom you love best …
The sweet playfulness of Jane's relationship with Rochester, and, finally, the happy ending.
'That depends on circumstances, sir -...
The fore- and after-taste of vengeance
A heady metaphor for the taste of vengeance, followed by the bitter aftertaste. It reminds me of a quotation by...
Busy busy busy
One of the inconsequential but socially better placed characters Jane has to endure, at least until she finds her heart's...
A plain without bounds
Again, a reference to a cramped and constraining existence and her desperate need to escape its shackles. I had remembered...
Close-set bars
The undertow of Jane Eyre is the prising apart of, and escape from, close-set bars: intellectual, spiritual, emotional, social, the...
A cord of connection
Here Mr. Rochester conveys his connection to Jane Eyre and the vulnerability it causes inside. Attachment made physical.
'... it...
As noiselessly as …
How many ways to describe quiet? This is one of the most original I have found, along with another describing the...
Deep-thrilling chord
Jane Eyre knows Rochester has been emotionally overloaded and hesitates to add any more weight to his burdened heart.
'I...
Gold-ringed eyes
Jane Eyre's curious aquiline simile to describe the blinded eyes of the man she loves.
'The caged eagle,...
Fairy-like fingers
Mr. Rochester falls in love with Jane: her excellent mind and independent spirit, as well as her petite proportions, here...
Hill-sent echo
An inexplicable and even supernatural moment in the book that proves a turning point, snapping Jane out of her acquiescence...
Hell and how to avoid it
Brontë's Jane Eyre plumbs depths of emotion both in the child and woman, but there is also a certain wry...
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