The Mystery Of The Wedding Veil

In the penultimate chapter of Charlotte Brontë's novel 'Jane Eyre', the protagonist Jane has disturbing dreams and visions on the night before her wedding to Mr Rochester. In one dream, she carries a small child who cries piteously in her arms. In another, she climbs a wall to catch a glimpse of Rochester, only to fall and drop the child. Upon waking, she sees a strange woman in her room, who gazes at herself in the mirror wearing Jane's wedding veil. The woman then tears the veil in two and tramples on it. The next morning, Jane finds the veil on the floor, confirming that the episode was not merely a dream. Rochester dismisses the incident, attributing it to Jane's nerves, but promises to explain everything after they have been married for a year and a day.

Jane's dream of a child

Jane Eyre has a series of dreams about a child in the lead-up to her wedding to Edward Rochester. Jane believes that dreaming of children is a "sure sign of trouble, either to one's self or one's kin".

In the dreams, Jane carries a crying child, who is too young and feeble to walk. She follows Rochester, who walks ahead of her on a road, but she cannot catch up to him. She feels fettered and inarticulate and is unable to speak to him.

In the second dream, Jane imagines the destruction of Thornfield Hall. She wanders the ruined estate, still carrying the child, and climbs a wall to get a better view of Rochester. However, the wall crumbles, and she falls, dropping the child.

These dreams may reflect Jane's fear of losing her identity within her marriage. The child could represent Jane's immature self, her orphan childhood, or her love for Rochester. The dreams give her an intimation of what it would be like to become other than herself.

The dreams also foreshadow future events. Jane wakes from the second dream to discover Bertha Mason, Rochester's mad wife, tearing her wedding veil. Shortly after, Jane and Rochester's wedding is broken up by Richard Mason, who reveals that Rochester is still married to Bertha.

Jane's dream of Thornfield in ruins

Jane Eyre dreams of Thornfield in ruins the night before her wedding to Mr Rochester. In the dream, she carries a small child and is trying to catch up with Rochester, who is riding away on horseback. She climbs a thin wall to get a final glimpse of him, but the wall crumbles, causing her to fall and drop the child.

Jane interprets the dream as a foreboding of the destruction of Thornfield, which later comes true when Bertha Mason burns down the estate. The child in the dream may represent Jane's fear of marriage and childbearing, or her orphan childhood—an alter-ego that she cannot shake, even with marriage. It could also be a symbol of her love for Rochester, or her new identity as "Mrs Rochester", which she will assume after the wedding.

Jane's dreams are often prophetic, and they serve as warnings of future events. They also reveal her suppressed emotions and give an insight into her unconscious mind.

Jane meets Bertha Mason Rochester

Jane Eyre, the protagonist of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name, has a chance encounter with Bertha Mason Rochester, the first wife of Edward Rochester, whom he keeps locked away in an attic room in Thornfield Hall. This encounter takes place on the night before Jane's wedding to Edward, and it is a significant event that foreshadows the impending disaster.

Jane, while preparing for her wedding, comes across a gift from Edward—an expensive veil from London. She goes to bed thinking about the veil and has a series of disturbing dreams. In one dream, she sees Thornfield Hall in ruins and herself unable to catch up with Edward, who is walking ahead of her. She also dreams of a feeble child in her arms, who cries and whom she accidentally drops while trying to get a glimpse of Edward.

When Jane wakes up, she finds the mysterious Bertha Mason in her room. Bertha is described as having a "savage" and "vampirish" appearance, with dark hair and a discoloured face. Bertha gazes at herself in the mirror with Jane's veil on her face, then tears the veil in two and tramples on it. Jane faints at the sight, only to wake up and find the torn veil on her bedroom floor, confirming that the experience was not just a dream.

Bertha Mason is the only daughter of a wealthy family from Spanish Town, Jamaica. She is of Creole heritage on her mother's side, and her father is implied to be white. Edward Rochester is persuaded by his father to court Bertha because of her wealth and beauty. However, he later learns that insanity runs in her family, and her mental health deteriorates quickly after their marriage. Edward brings her to England and imprisons her in Thornfield Hall, where she is looked after by Grace Poole, a hired nurse.

Bertha's existence as Edward's first wife is eventually revealed, preventing his marriage to Jane. Bertha's tearing of Jane's wedding veil symbolises her revolt against the institution of marriage and hints at her awareness of Edward's plan to remarry. Bertha's character and her confinement in the attic have been interpreted as a critique of the confining and repressive aspects of Victorian wifehood and the cultural and economic exploitation of colonial subjects by the British Empire.

Bertha tears the veil

In the penultimate chapter before Jane's wedding, Charlotte Brontë devotes a full chapter to the 36 hours before the wedding, during which a significant event takes place: Jane Eyre comes face to face with Bertha Mason Rochester.

Jane's trunks are packed for her honeymoon journey. Their tags, ready to affix, bear her new name. Once again, Jane muses on the strangeness of applying the name "Mrs Rochester" to herself, and insists on thinking of "Mrs Rochester" as someone else... at least until after the wedding.

Jane describes the white wedding gown and veil hanging in her room as "wraith-like apparel". She goes outdoors, feeling feverish. Seeking shelter from the wind, she goes into the orchard and speaks aloud to the two halves of the tree, telling them that despite their hopeless case, "You did right to hold fast to each other."

Looking up, she sees the moon as a blood-red disk, and hears a "wild, melancholy wail." She brings some apples back to the Hall, and checks to see that a fire has been laid against Rochester's return. At ten, he is still absent. Jane decides to wait for him at the gate. Outdoors, it begins to rain.

Impatiently, Jane sets out in the rain to meet Rochester, who appears at last. Jane promises to tell him all after they get back to Thornfield; for now, she is content, and Rochester is delighted at her demonstration of need for him.

After changing, they meet in the library. Rochester asks if it is the prospect of the journey ahead that has her upset. Jane sits at Rochester's knee, and he reminds her that she promised to watch with him on his wedding night. He keeps probing to find what has disturbed her. Does she fear he will make a bad husband? Is she worried about "the new sphere" she is to enter? Neither. As she begins to explain, the clock strikes twelve.

She tells him that on the previous day, she had been happy: "I think it a glorious thing to have the hope of living with you, because I love you." She examined the wedding veil which Rochester had ordered from London as a gift, and thought about how she would tease him about it. But that night, as a gale blew, she slept fitfully.

Rochester begins to grow concerned at Jane's sadness and asks for reassurance. Jane avows that she loves him with her whole heart. Taken aback at the "religious energy" and "devotion" with which her "upward gaze" meets his, Rochester feels an unaccustomed pain, and begs her to revert to a more playful, "wicked" way of interacting with him. Jane warns that she has still more to tell, and that he may not believe her.

In her dream, Rochester gallops away on his horse as Jane struggles to the top of the wall with the burdensome child, which almost "strangles" her. Straining to see him as he departs, she falls from the wall, and wakes.

Before learning of her Aunt Reed's final illness, Jane had dreamed repeatedly of an infant; according to Bessie's folkloric belief, such a dream was "a sure sign of trouble" to oneself or one's kin. The same applies here, but the dream symbolism seems to go deeper, to Jane's relationship with Rochester. It foretells separation, desolate journeys, and the ruin of Thornfield. But what of the child itself? Like all dreams, this one is open to interpretation.

Jane awakes to find that someone is in her room. At first, she thinks it is Sophie, then Grace Poole. But it is a stranger, "a woman tall and large, with thick and dark hair hanging down her back."

Jane says that the apparition reminded her of "the foul German spectre, the Vampyre." She describes how "it" removed the veil from "its gaunt head", tore it in two, and trampled on the pieces.

Bertha Mason, Rochester's wife, has torn Jane's wedding veil in two.

Jane asks Rochester for an explanation, but he can give none. He suggests that it was the product of sensitive nerves or another bad dream. Jane counters that when she awoke, she found the torn veil on the floor.

Rochester insists that the visitant must have been Grace Poole, whether or not Jane recognised her. He promises to reveal why he keeps such a woman in his house, when they have been married a year and a day. Rochester asks Jane to sleep in Adèle's room that night and to lock the door; she agrees.

Rochester's promise to explain

Jane dreams of a child, too weak to walk, who cries in her arms. She sees Rochester in the distance but is unable to reach him. She then dreams of Thornfield Hall, now a ruin, and climbs its wall to get a final glimpse of Rochester. As the wall collapses, she falls and drops the child. When she wakes, she sees a woman in her room, someone she doesn't recognise. The woman has a "savage" and "vampirish" appearance and throws Jane's wedding veil over her own face. The woman then gazes at herself in the mirror, takes off the veil, rips it in two, and tramples on it. Jane wakes again to find the veil torn in two on the floor.

Rochester attributes the incident to Grace Poole, a servant, and promises to explain everything in "a year and a day" after their marriage. He asks Jane to sleep in Adèle's bed that night and to fasten the door securely.

Jane is left feeling uneasy about the promise, unsure if she will ever get the explanation she seeks. She worries about losing herself in the relationship and becoming a "costumed ape" or a "doll", as Rochester seems intent on transforming her into the ideal object of his affection. She wants to maintain her personality and independence, reminding him that she simply wants to be herself.

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