Vicky Lin

Mr. Clarke
AP Literature Period 5
26 November 2012
Jane Takes Flight
In the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses the motif of a bird in her portrayal of Jane
Eyre as an expression of feminist independence in the Christian Victorian society. Jane begins as
a caged "curious sort of bird" (Bronte 138). Several metaphorical cages surround Jane
throughout the novel, including this one, which is placed by her past suppressions from
Gateshead and Lowood. Another is placed by Edward Rochester, and one is erected defensively
by herself. Although Jane lifts the cage from her past that prevents her from expressing her true
self and passions, she finds Rochester trying to impose his own bars around her. Jane is unwilling
to be caged by him and continually asserts her own individual will, tearing at the confines when
she tries to leave him. As he attempts to keep her from flying away, Rochester finds himself
unable to break down her self-erected protective cage to get to her in fear that then she would
"escape to heaven" (Bronte 318). Jane's ability to take flight reflects her independence; however,
once she does leave Rochester and free herself from the cage he would place upon her, she is
unable to stop longing for him. Jane decides to fly back to Rochester. At the novel's conclusion,
in choosing to marry and bind herself to Rochester, Jane ties herself down to earth and gives up
her ability to fly to heaven and an eternal reward. Although she relinquishes her freedom,
ultimately she, no longer a caged bird, makes her own decision to remain upon earth. Thus
Bronte's motif portraying Jane as a bird struggling to take flight conveys a message of asserting
female independence by making personal choices in the Christian Victorian Society.