The Fire and the Hearth: An Exploration of Gender Reversal and Early Feminism through Pyrocentric Symbolism in Jane Eyre

This research looks at the symbolism of fire and hearths in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and argues that Mr. Rochester is the embodiment of unrestrained passion (fire) while Jane is the embodiment of restrained passion tempered by logic (the hearth). The research makes the overall claim that Brontë reverses traditional gender roles in the story to support feminist ideology through representing Jane as a woman who brings the man into domestic bliss by tempering his passion with her reason. The research draws mainly upon the primary source of the novel Jane Eyre but also references two articles from peer-reviewed journals.