Mirrors on the Wall: Early Imaginative Unconscious
With knowledge of Jung’s dream theories, one can better understand Eyre’s first pivotal vision, which occurs when an incident with cousin John Reed forces Jane to a punishment in the Reed’s “red room.” The room was once inhabited by her dead uncle, and was covered with red festoons, and a crimson bed (Bronte 10-11). Jane crosses about the room, and peers into the “looking glass” which reveals a vision of a “strange little figure […] gazing a [her] with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear” with “a real spirit,” like a phantom, being “half fairy, half imp” (Bronte 11). This is a moment where her imagination, strengthened by the frequent perusal of books in the seclusion of the Reeds’ library, is initially seen at work.
As Polly Young-Eisendrath and Terence Dawson, writers of The Cambridge Companion to Jung have suggested, all significant images are considered part of the person’s subjective relationship to the object (106). And so, Jung would probably assert the looking glass is symbolic because Jane has some concern or problem with her physical body. Growing up in a house where she was simply disregarded as plain, and going through her life looking almost like a child could show its impact on her psyche (Bronte 363). In addition, Jung confirms, an “individual is not conditioned by himself alone but just as much by his collective relationships” which is fitting since her family has such poor perceptions of her physical attractiveness and social decorum (Jung, Dreams, 43). And so, the looking glass becomes an archetypal figure objectified in Eyre's visions because she has a personal reaction to it. The mirror becomes the outlet where Jane sees how other people view her, and transforms into how she perceives herself.
Additionally, the visage of the wild creature follows her to her adulthood (Jung, Memories, 392). Jane not only sees the image of an unfamiliar imp when she looks are her reflection in the mirror in the red room, but she also feels separated from herself at other times during the novel. For instance, she says on the day before her wedding that not she, but a Jane Rochester she has not met, will be her way to London (234). Jane continues to say that Jane Rochester has not been born yet. In addition, Jane experiences disconnectedness when she stares blankly in the mirror at a stranger when she puts on the veil before her wedding. Jane says, “I saw a robed and veiled figure, so unlike [her] usual self that it seemed almost the image of a stranger (Bronte 244). The looking glass plays a large role in Jane Eyre’s self-perception. She can look at the glass, and it is ultimately when she looks into herself, but she can not recognize a familiarity between the external and within. The looking glass is also the place of her encounter with Bertha Mason. She does not actually meet Bertha’s face directly, but rather through a reflection in the mirror. The mirror is the medium that presents Jane Eyre to her prospective shadow, Bertha Mason.
Photo of Eyre in mirror is shared from the BBC. COM production of the movie.
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