I looked up at – a black pillar! – such, at least, appeared to me, at first sight, the straight, narrow, sable-clad shape standing erect on the rug: the grim face at the top was like a carved mask, placed above the shaft by way of capital.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 4. Mr. Brocklehurst appears as an intimidating figure when Jane first encounters him on his visit to the Reed home. The supervisor of Lowood School is not even described as a man, but rather a grim statue. A metaphor compares him to a black pillar and a simile likens his face to a carved mask.