“God will punish her: He might strike her dead in the midst of her tantrums, and then where would she go? Come, Bessie, we will leave her: I wouldn’t have her heart for anything. Say your prayers, Miss Eyre, when you are by yourself; for if you don’t repent, something bad might be permitted to come down the chimney, and fetch you away.” They went, shutting the door, and locking it behind them.
The red-room was a spare chamber, very seldom slept in; I might say never, indeed unless when a chance influx of visitors at Gateshead Hall rendered it necessary to turn to account all accommodation it contained: yet it was one of the largest and stateliest chambers in the mansion. A bed supported on massive pillars of mahogany, hung with curtains of deep red damask, stood out like a tabernacle in the centre; the two large windows with their blinds always drawn down, were half shrouded in festoons and falls of similair drapery; the carpet was red; the table at the foot of the bed was covered with a crimson cloth; the walls were a soft fawn colour with a blush of pink in it; the wardrobe, the toilet-table, the chairs were of darkly polished old mahogany. Out of these deep surrounding shades rose high, and glared white, the piled-up mattresses and pillows of the bed, spread with a snowy Marseilles counterpane. Scarcely less prominent was an ample cushioned easy-chair near the head of the bed, also white, with a footstool before it; and looking, as I thought, like a pale throne.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 2. Jane is threatened with the wrath of God by Miss Abbot after her fight with her cousin John Reed. As punishment Abbot and Bessie imprison Jane in the red room on Mrs. Reed’s instructions. This is the death chamber in which her kindly uncle breathed his last moments nine years before and where she is meant to pray and repent for her misbehavior. But for Jane the red room more signifies hell and divine vengeance. The stern God of the Old Testament and religion are used in this instance to punish children who are seen not to conform. The room has a Gothic spookiness about it. It is red nearly from top to bottom, dark and rarely used, and its tabernacle and pillers conjure up Biblical imagery. The Gothic influences in Jane’s life are foreshadowed here. So too is the fire that Bertha Mason will later start because she is locked away in Edward Rochester’s attic. The red is symbolic of Jane’s fury and passion over her mistreatment and her struggles to find freedom and belonging. The red room is also a symbol for femininity and the more submissive feminine behavior that Jane is expected to adopt.
