just an english project- if it can be called that
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting of Elizabeth Siddel represents Jane Eyre’s rational and intrinsic behavior and thoughts towards the tumult of her engagement to Mr. Rochester while expressing the sorrow that she is feeling. Represention of Emotional Feelings: The painting represents Jane Eyre the night after what was to be her wedding contemplating what has happened to her marriage. Jane Eyre reaches a critical point at this moment because she must decide how to process all of the information that she has been given in the past hours. She learnt from a stranger that her husband was already married, and later witnessed his wife attack her lover. She is left to sit and think of what her next move will be, which is what the picture portrays. The woman’s downcast eyes show her sadness and disappointment that resonates throughout her face in her pursed lips and blank stare. She does not show signs of distress but instead shows placidity in her expression. She is deep in thought, and focusing all of her attention onto solving the problem that she has been presented with. Details of Painting: The style of her hair shows her simplicity because even on her wedding day it is held back loosely from her face and tucked under itself. She looks like an unconventional bride, free from the jewels and silk chiffon that her fiancé wanted to buy her. Her necklace is the only sign of decoration on her wedding day. Her clear complexion shows her simple nature and allows the viewer to see her for what she truly is. 'Fair as the moon and joyful as the light...Not as she is but as she fills his dream.' Meeting Lizzie for the first time in March 1854, Christina had written: 'She listened like a cushat dove That listens to its mate alone; She listened like a cushat dove That loves but only one. And downcast were her dovelike eyes And downcast was her tender cheek Her pulses fluttered like a dove To hear him speak.'