Intro. to Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, and The Burning-Glass

Fire in literature often symbolizes passion. Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea use the same motif, but in different ways. Wide Sargasso Sea explores a life where passion has no outlet, and Jane Eyre explores a situation where passion can be controlled. Both books agree that passion cannot be quenched; they simply explore different situations that allow passion to act in different ways. Antoinette has no way to control her fire; if she walks away from Rochester she will die of the cold, but if she stays she will die in the flames. Jane Eyre has the ability to control her fire; she cannot marry Rochester at first, because the fire would have destroyed her, but on the other hand she cannot marry St. John, because he had no flame. She finds the perfect center the second time with Rochester, because her passion can burn in a controlled way. In terms of fire Wide Sargasso Sea watches a woman trying to control a fire in the middle of a forest, while Jane Eyre observes a woman with a fireplace in which to control her fire. The Burning-Glass still uses fire to mean passion, but it introduced a new way of thinking about it. The speaker uses the glass to represent the "lens" of womanhood that makes him burn with passion for a woman, but then he talks about it as if that same thing that makes him burn passionately for the woman also seperates him from the woman. Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea don't really talk about what ignites the flame or what continues to make it burn. They focus on what the flame does once it is lit, while The Burning-Glass focuses on how the flame is ignited and what seperates the speaker as the flame and the person behind the glass.