11. Jane Eyre

"The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter...but still a truthful interpreter--in the eye" (365).


All through "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte, eyes are mentioned and each time they portray the inner thoughts and desires of the characters. Mr. Rochester continuously reads Jane's eyes like a book and everything he says is exactly what she is thinking and feeling. It has been said that "the eye is the window to the soul" and through this book it can be inferred that Bronte strongly believes this to be a true fact (The Doorway to Symbolism). Mr. Rochester is able to see right into Jane's soul and knows it like the back of his hand. Bronte may wish she had the chance to behold such a relationship with her master. However, he was married and to have that sort of relationship would have been wrong and would have hurt a lot of people. Bronte most likely included the passage about the eye being the interpreter of the soul to explain that words are not always needed because a look of the eye can sometimes say more than words ever could.

"Symbolic Meaning of Eyes." The Doorway to Symbolism. 28 November 2009. 2009.
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/symbolic-meaning-of-eyes.html

Photo Credit:

"What do you think the eyes tell you when u look into them? lol?." Soda Head. 28 November 2009. 28 August 2009.

http://www.sodahead.com/entertainment/what-do-you-think-the-eyes-tell-you-when-u-look-into-them-lol/question-592111/