Tongues of flame darted round the bed: the curtains were on fire. In the midst of blaze and vapour, Mr. Rochester lay stretched motionless, in deep sleep.
Chapter 15 · Narrator
Context
Jane discovers that Rochester's bedroom is on fire. She describes the scene as she enters.
Analysis
The personification of flames as 'tongues' that 'darted' makes the fire seem animate and predatory, a living threat encircling Rochester. The juxtaposition of 'blaze and vapour' (violent action) with Rochester 'stretched motionless' (passive stillness) heightens the danger and casts Jane as the active agent—she is awake and mobile while he, for once, is helpless. This is a rare reversal of their power dynamic, and it is no accident that Brontë gives Jane heroism at the moment Rochester is most vulnerable.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that the fire scene inverts the novel's usual gender roles—Jane becomes Rochester's rescuer, and the physical act of saving him literalizes her moral position: she will not let him be consumed, whether by flames or by his own secrets, and this moment of equality through action prefigures the terms on which they will eventually reunite.