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Question: Analyze the development of Jane’s feelings in the extract of Jane’s

coming back to Thornfield

Jane Eyre is the main character as well as the title of the most successful novel by

Charlotte Bronte. In the extract describing Jane’s coming back to Thornfield Hall to

ask for information of her beloved master, the development of Jane’s feeling is

depicted through three stages: before returning to Thornfield, on the way to

Thornfield and when reaching Thornfield.

Before returning to Thornfield, Jane recalled the strange voice that she has heard

which bent her dicision. It is the voice that she heard gives her a strong will to come

back to Thornfield.

“The wonderous shock of feeling had come like an earthquake which

shook the foundations of Paul and Silas’ prison, it had opened the doors

of the soul’s cell and loosed its bands-it had wakened it out of its sleep,

whence it sprang trembling, listening aghast, the vibrated thrice a cry on

my startled ear and in my quaking heart and through my spirit, which

neither feared nor shock, but exulted as if in joy over the success of one

effort it had been privileged to make independent of the cumbrous body”

For Jane, it’s not a superstition, but a hidden nature of her soul. This is the inside

voice, not the voice from outside, external world. It exists in Jane but it hasn’t

wakened up yet until this crucial moment-a turning point in her life comes. This voice

pulls her out of the fog, brings joy to her and leads her to the place where her heart

really belongs to. At this time, Jane is clear and certain about her decision. She has

just overcome herself and decided to come back to Thornfield.

On the way to Thornfield, Jane recalled the day one year before when she ran

away from Thornfield. At that time, “how desolate, and hopeless, and objectless” she

was! Now, in constrast, once more on the road to Thornfield, she “felt like the

messenger-pigeon flying home.” How happy, excited and eager she is! She is flying

with rosy wings and Thornfield becomes the wind beneath her wings. This landscape

“met her eyes like the lineaments of a once familiar face.” She is coming back to her

most meaningful place in this world- a place she feels like home.

When she reached Thornfield, her feeling became complex. It is mixed of

excitement, worrying and fear. Her heart “leapt up” when she reached Thornfield

finally. However, “it fell again, the thought struck it.” Now, her mind takes over her

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emotion. Her thought frightened her that what if she has nothing to do with Rochester,

what if she is an abundant person there, what if there is no place for her at Thornfield.

She dares not to ask anyone there about Mr Rochester. “To prolong doubt was to

prolong hope.” If she asked someone and knew everything about Rochester, she

would have no reason to go to Thornfield and meet her Rochester once. She nurtures

hope through doubt. She walked so fast, ran sometimes to look toward to catch the

first view of the well known woods. She longs for seeing Thornfield as soon as

possible, but she feared “Who would be hurt by her once more tasting the life his

glance can give her?” She is in the mess of her own emotions. Even she just dared to

see Thornfield from behind one pillar at first: “A peep and then a long stare and then a

departure from her niche and a straying out into the meadow and a sudden stop full in

front of the great mansion and a protracted, hardy gaze towards it”. It gives the feeling

that she is afraid her appearance can hurt the mansion. Now looking straight at the

mansion- a blackened ruin, her feeling is described like “a lover thought his love slept

sweetly” but “he finds she is stone-dead”. This scene shocked her, frightened her, and

blew her calm away. She is now just like a bird lost its net. What happened to

Thornfield is the only question weighing in her mind now. She hastened in seeking

information about Rochester. “Her blood was running cold” when she heard “he was

alive but many think he had better be dead”. She is in the urge of rushing to Rochester

when she knows he is a fixture now. She said to the inn host: “I’ll pay both you and

him twice the hire you usually demand.” This detail shows that Jane is eager to rush

to Rochester with all her heart, at any cost, by any mean.

In short, all her mixed, complex feelings demonstrate her love for Rochester. She

is in desire of being with him for the rest of her life. That’s why she can pay any cost

to be just beside him even he is a cripple.