The Language of Eyes: A Literary Analysis of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Throughout Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester frequently speaks of the power that eyes have when attempting to judge people, relationships, objects, and the world as a whole. He regularly articulates to Jane, not only what it is that he sees, but how he sees it based on his perspective and experience, often in contrast to how Jane sees the same thing. Alternately, while Mr. Rochester is prone to deliberately articulating how he visually perceives the world in speech, Jane often does the same thing in thought-in a dissimilarly intuitive manner - rather than dialogue. It is arguable that one of this novel's motives is to portray the shift of the power dynamic from Mr. Rochester at the beginning of their relationship to Jane towards the end of the narrative by depicting the maturation of Jane's world view through her visual cognition. Bronte accomplishes this by constructing a sort of internecine struggle within Jane; her childhood experiences tugging at one end, and the influence and agency of Mr. Rochester's adult experience coupled with the complicated romantic relationship that she has with him tugging at the other. Literary aesthetics and themes of power dynamics relative to gender and social relationships are evident in the passages that discuss the significance of the two characters' visual perception. This claim is most strongly supported by the ironic incident that occurs after Jane leaves him that causes Mr. Rochester to lose his eyesight - especially after the many conversations that they have had with each other on the topic; furthermore, by the fact that Mr. Rochester eventually regains his eyesight overtime when Jane returns to him. 

The first mention of eyes between Jane and Mr. Rochester is a brief description when they first meet during the horse episode; Jane says "...his eyes and gathered eyebrows looked ireful and thwarted just now..." (Bronte 134). Her initial impression of him is articulated in a tone which suggests that Jane believes she has made an accurate judgment of the man's character, yet the reader is left with the impression that her judgment is not as accurate as she thinks. An explanation of Jane's confidence in her judgment of character is that since Mr. Rochester was in a position of vulnerability in this scene, Jane was the one who had the power and as a result gave her a false confidence in her judgment. However, soon after this event, a more thought out description is given by Jane during their first formal conversation together, she says: 

There was a smile on his lips, and his eyes sparkled, whether with wine or not, I am not sure; but I think it very probable... Still he looked preciously grim... and receiving the light of the fire on his granite-hewn features, and in his great, dark eyes; for he had great, dark eyes, and very fine eyes, too - not without a certain change in their depths sometimes, which, if it was not softness, reminded you, at least, of that feeling. (Bronte 153) 

By presenting description and interpersonal dialogue simultaneously, the reader is given the opportunity to examine the undertone of the conversation, instead of what is simply being spoken. Jane no longer possesses the same confidence in her impression of Mr. Rochester that she initially had on their first encounter. She notes that although he is smiling, she remains skeptical about his disposition based on the contrasting impressions given by his features. This encounter most definitely confuses her by her use of the contradictory words, such as: "precious" with "grim," "granite-hewn" with "softness," and "dark," "great," and "fine" suggesting that she is questioning her initial, less contradictory thoughts of the man being "ireful" and "thwarted." Her struggle to read him signifies a partial loss of Jane's power in the relationship, but does not yet show Mr. Rochester's gain of it. 

Moments later, during the same encounter, after the conversation had been going back and forth (in a rather amusing manner), Mr. Rochester explains to Jane that "Nature meant me to be, on the whole, a good man, Miss Eyre; one of the better kind, and you see I am not so. You would say you don't see it: at least I flatter myself I read as much in your eye (beware, by the bye, what you express with that organ; I am quick at interpreting its language)" (Bronte 159). This statement makes it explicitly evident that Mr. Rochester can easily read Jane, but she cannot so easily read him - granting him a sort of magical or telepathic power over her that she cannot, at the moment, counter. Not only can Mr. Rochester tell what she thinks of him, but he knows what Jane's response is without her even saying it. Additionally, Mr. Rochester's acceptance of himself as "not a good man," and consequently not bound by the virtues of one presents another source of his power over Jane. His warning contained in the parenthesis foreshadows that the significance of each other's eyes will remain relevant "by the bye." 

Later in the novel, in a scene that is more invested in the differences of aesthetic interpretation in the couple than the power dynamics, Mr. Rochester responds to Jane after she calls their mansion "splendid" saying "The glamour of inexperience is over your eyes... and you see it through a charmed medium: you cannot discern that the gilding is slime and the silk draperies cobwebs; that the marble is sordid slate, and the polished woods mere refuse chips and scaly bark." (Bronte 249). He labels her as "inexperienced" and calls her vision "charmed" possibly connoting that she still views the world through a child's eyes, and pessimism inevitably comes with age and signifies experience. In a sense, his choice of words in the description of the house is contradictory in much the same way that Jane's description of him was contradictory. Yet, the use of definitive descriptors, such as: "the gilding is slime,” “the silk draperies [are] cobwebs," and "the marble is sordid slate" imply that Mr. Rochester has a deep understanding of what it is that he is describing; conversely, Jane's descriptive rhetoric implies that she does not understand the object of her description. 

There is undoubtedly more to the power dynamic between the couple than just what they communicate to each other with their eyes, but it nevertheless remains a significant element to the workings of that dynamic. Likewise, the reality of Mr. Rochester's vision of the world and the power it had over her is possibly a part of what drove Jane away from him because it was coupled with the harsh realities of her own coming of age. Throughout her life, she often experienced another internal struggle between society telling her that the only way for a woman to live happily is to accept her position as subordinate and her own conscience telling her that she can only be happy in circumstances where she is seen as an equal. She was forced to leave Gateshead because of her inability to accept her subordination, she despised Lowood because of Mr. Brocklehurst and only remains because he is removed from position then decides to leave when she deems it suits her, and finally she leaves Thornfield because she perceives herself to be an equal with Bertha, and thus an obvious subordinate to Mr. Rochester. Bertha and his apparently mystical sense of sight were two major things that Mr. Rochester possessed power over Jane. Now, with both gone Jane can finally view and be viewed by Mr. Rochester as an equal. When Jane goes to Ferndean, she describes Mr. Rochester as "The caged eagle, whose gold-ringed eyes cruelty has extinguished, might look as looked that sightless Samson. And, Reader, do you think I feared him in his blind ferocity? - If you do, you little know me" (Bronte 498). By comparing him to an eagle and Samson, she infers that he was once the epitome and source of his own power, but now needs an external source to depend on. Lastly, by saying that she did not fear him, Jane has finally found herself on equal footing, because he needs her as much as she once believed she needed him, but realizes that she no longer "needs" anything.