THEMES
Journey
Several themes are present in "Jane Eyre". One of the most predominant is Jane's journey. Jane's journey is physical as well as mental. The journey is based around her desire to find a sense of belonging anywhere she really can. In chapter eight, Jane is quoted as saying to Helen Burns, “to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest”.

Religion
Another theme in Jane Eyre is religion. The three characters that embody religion in this book are Mr. Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, and St. John Rivers. As she encounters each of these characters, Jane finds flaws in all three methods, and rejects their perception of religion.
According to critics, Mr. Brocklehurst illustrates the dangers and hypocrisies that Charlotte Brontë perceived in the nineteenth-century Evangelical movement. Mr. Brocklehurst adopts the rhetoric of Evangelicalism when he claims to be purging his students of pride, but his method of subjecting them to various humiliations, like when he orders that the naturally curly hair of one of Jane’s classmates be cut so as to lie straight, is entirely un-Christian. Of course, Brocklehurst’s prescriptions are difficult to follow, and his hypocritical support of his own luxuriously wealthy family at the expense of the Lowood students shows Brontë’s wariness of the Evangelical movement.
Helen Burns’s meek and forbearing mode of Christianity, on the other hand, is too passive for Jane to adopt as her own, although she loves and admires Helen for it.
Many chapters later, St. John Rivers provides another model of Christian behavior. His is a Christianity of ambition, glory, and extreme self-importance. St. John urges Jane to sacrifice her emotional deeds for the fulfillment of her moral duty, offering her a way of life that would require her to be disloyal to her own self. [1]
Even though Jane ends up rejecting all three methods of religion, she does not entirely give up on religion. In chapter 26, she prays to "God" for comfort when she learns of Rochester's existing wife, and in chapter 28, she believes that "God" will get her through the time when she has to beg for food.

Social Class
Another major theme in Jane Eyre is social class. Throughout the novel, Jane is divided into two areas of social class. Jane often speaks out against the prejudice created by the divisionof class. For example, in Chapter 23m she says to Rochester, “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you—and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you.” However, it is also important to note that nowhere in Jane Eyre are society’s boundaries bent. Ultimately, Jane is only able to marry Rochester as his equal because she has magically come into her own inheritance from her uncle.



SYMBOLS
The Red Room
In the beginning of the novel, Jane is put in a "red room" by her Aunt Reed, as a punishment for fighting against her cousin. It is in this room that Jane falls ill and sees the "ghost" of her UncleReed. This room symbolizes the life that Jane leads under the care of her Aunt Reed, where she is constantly trapped and tortured.

Fire
Fire is a symbol in this novel that is typically associated with Rochester and Thornfield. Rochester symbolizes the fire in Jane's life, because he is who Jane feels passionate toward, and passion is generally associated with fire. Rochester is also associated with fire because of the obvious occurances in the novel in which his first wife, Bertha attempts, and finally succeeds, to light Thornfield on fire. The first fire that Bertha lights symbolizes the dangers of letting passion get out of hand.

Ice
St. John Rivers is generally associated with ice, and winter in this novel. Ice is usually associated with dispassion and, obviously, coldness, which St. John seems to represent. Jane also draws a winter scene in her artist portfolio, which she associates to death. Because of the time in which she drew this piece, it is thought that Jane associated St. John Rivers to death, or at least, the death of Jane Eyre as we knew her.

Eyes
In Jane Eyre, Jane is very attracted to the eyes of the people that she encounters. This is seen with Helen Burns, but also very much with Rochester. Jane describes Rochester's eyes as "black and brilliant", which many critics translate to symbols of temper and power. After Rochester loses his eyesight in the second fire that Bertha lights, Jane becomes his eyes. Reversely, Bertha Mason has bloodshot eyes, which translate to symbols of violence. Portraits and Pictures Through dreams and drawings, Jane visualizes her deepest feelings. Jane’s artist's portfolio contains drawings that symbolize her life. Jane compares her portraits of herself and Blanche Ingram, which mirror the differences in the two women’s personalities and social class. In each case, the visual picture takes on a new reality.

[1] Jane Eyre: Charlotte Brontë
[2] http://www.litcharts.com/lit/janeeyre/symbols