Shadows: Reflections of the Self
Dreams, as Jung has said, allow us to “gain a ‘self-portrait’ of the psyche” (Lauter 3). In Jane Eyre, her adult dreams not only become prophetic, but also reveal much of her psychological apprehension. Bair has noted that Jung himself has treated patients who have experienced dreams of houses. Bair states, “when patients bright him [Jung] dreams of houses, or even when he himself dreams of them, they were always unfinished” (297). Yet, there is something more interesting about this dream, the entire house falls to ruins and fragments. The dream is also fascinating because it occurs right before Jane and Bertha come face to face.This may directly connect Jane's “psychic wisdom” of Bertha, who ultimately makes her dream of ruined Thornfield become reality (Hall 89).
Jane explains that immediately after having a dream of a ruined Thornfield Hall, she wakes to find “a form emerg[e] from the closet” scanning her bridal wear ( Bronte 241). Jane describes the woman as “tall and large, with and dark hair hanging long down to her back,” and explicates how the figure tried on her veil and looked in the mirror (Bronte 242). It is at this moment that Jane Eyre comes to see the face of Bertha, a “savage face” with “red eyes” and “swelled and dark” lips (Bronte 242). It is at this instant that Jane Eyre gets to see this darkened figure that tramples are her veil. It is with the use of the reflection that can show Bertha has the shadow of Jane Eyre.
This connecting moment between Jane and Bertha can be enhanced by understanding Jung’s principles. Jung explains that the shadow “ is everything that the subjects refuses to acknowledge about himself” (Jung, Memories, 399). And so, when Jane views Bertha in this grotesque description, it can be said she is witnessing her shadow, and viewing all of unattractiveness she has hidden deep within herself that comes to surface through Bertha’s physical form. As found in Young-Eisendrath’s work, the shadow is the “unconscious aspect of the personality” with characteristics the person does know exists in themselves (319).
In the novel, just as it is true in reality, the shadow is considered one of the most dangerous archetypes to have because it is the “source of the best and worst in man” (Hall 48-50). The writer of Boundaries of the Soul, Singer, has stated that the shadow is the “dark side to our personality” (192). The shadow is the part of our personality that is inferior and the side we wish to hide from others (Singer 192). In the novel, there are signs Jane is aware of the presence of her repressed shadow. Since the repressed shadow is moved to the unconscious, it often has to find its own means of expression, perhaps through dreams (Singer 192).
Images taken from the BBC.COM website
Read more:
Introduction to the Dreams of Jane Eyre
Jung's Principles
Mirrors on the Wall: Early Imaginative Unconscious
Awakening the Imagination
Making Meaning of Prophetic Dreaming
Shadows: Reflections of the Self
Afterthoughts
Critics
Further Reading
About the Author