The Significance Of Namein Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre

Abstract

The objective of this work is to explore the significance of the names given by Charlotte Brontё to the characters, places and animals in her masterpiece, Jane Eyre. These names may suggest different connotations when taken at face value, but the reader will not be able to understand the full significance of the names unless he obtains a good idea of the way Brontё uses the four natural elements of air, fire, earth and water and the way she associates her characters with them. The significance of these names crystallizes when the reader knows with what characters the writer’s sympathy lies, and how the action develops to suggest in a way what she means by connecting or associating certain characters with certain earthly elements. This method of naming characters, places and animals in the novel goes beyond the convenient way of knowing things and it enriches the names, as their meaning and significance become clearer with the development of the action and the roles of each character, especially as they are seen from the point of view of the heroine who is herself the narrator of the story.