What Does the Color Red Symbolize in Jane Eyre?

In Jane Eyre, what do the colors symbolize? And in particular, what does the color red symbolize? The first color we notice in Jane Eyre is the color red. We are exposed to the this color when Jane Eyre is sent to the dreaded red-room after Jane defends herself from the physical abuse that young Master John bestows upon her. It is referred to by Mrs. Reed as the "red-room." Given the description of the room that Charlotte Bronte gives us, it is easy to see why it is called the red-room. It is one of the "stateliest chambers in the mansion" with a mahogany (reddish-brown wood) bed "hung with curtains of deep red damask"; it is carpeted in red; the accents of the room are in red; the other furniture is mahogany. It is quite simply a red-room. The only other color that Bronte notes being in the room is white, represented by the mattresses and pillows of the bed, as well as an easy-chair and footstool "looking...like a pale throne."

It is in this room that Jane Eyre suffers a panic attack (to use the modern term), and imagines that a ghost is coming to get her. After trying to get out, and being refused exit from the room, Jane passes out. The implication of this event is that red represents uncontrolled emotions, including imaginative fancies. There is also the implication that given this is the room that Mr. Reed died in that red represents death. This latter implication is actually a false one. The next time that we encounter death is at the school for orphans. As Helen Burns lays dying, she is surrounded by white, not red. From this, we must conclude that associating red with death is a figuratively a red herring, and that Bronte has white being the color of death.

(The color black, which is one of the standard colors in our symbolic color vocabulary, usually associated with death by our culture is used by Bronte to symbolize the strictness and severity of tradition and religion. But that is the subject of a whole another essay.)

So is there any other passages in the novel where the color red occurs? Outside of the robin feeding incident where Jane is "red-faced," and the case of musical instruments at the inn, the color red is not mentioned ever again during the course of the novel. The robin feeding incident gives us a clue about why the color is never mentioned again, yet we can still say that the color red is still present in the novel. The robin is sitting on the branches of a leafless cherry tree. Bronte does not mention the color of the robin, and the leafless cherry tree is could hardly be considered red, but both are associated with the color red in the mind's eye of most readers. Here we see Jane acting emotionally, quite out of control, determined to make sure that the hungry robin gets fed before she turns her attention to the adult in the room. This adds weight to the possibility that red represents uncontrolled emotions. The counter-balance to this are the musical instruments seen in the inn in their red case, silent but still a symbol of emotions. The playing of music, though it often looks out of control, is a matter of control and skill. After the robin and the instruments, Bronte expects us to know when something is red, something that most adults should be able to do. It is only in the early stages of Jane's life that we must be reminded of when something is red.

The room at the inn where the musical instruments are stored is also of interest because the room has a fireplace at each end. This is an echo of the two fires that occur at Thornfield Hall. Both were set by the mad-wife Bertha. In the account of the second fire, which informs upon the first, we hear that Bertha was waving her hands and shouting on the roof as the Hall burned before leaping to her death. While we see the turmoil of emotions here, and they are likely uncontrolled, there is another layer to this event for here is where Rochester loses his sight, but he also gains the freedom to marry Jane. This is enforced by the fact that he comes to call her "the apple of his eye"; by losing his sight, he gained the ability to see the world though Jane's eyes. So in the end, while we must conclude that emotions are involved, though the issue of control has been dashed. Now we also must allow an element of sacrifice to be involved whenever the color red is present. Looking back at the red-room, we see the sacrifice of normality that leads Jane eventually to being able to marry the love of her life. As for the official (author approved) meaning the color red in Jane Eyre, we must be satisfied with the possibility that it has something to do with human emotions, though exactly what may always elude us.