Connection: Lightning Striking Tree

Jane settles down in Thornfield where she resides for a large part of the novel. One night, Rochester, the owner of the residence, asks Jane to accompany her on a walk through the garden. She accepts his offer and Rochester leads her off. In the garden, Rochester confesses his love for Jane and she for him. Soon after a storm breaks out and they are forced to retreat inside the walls of the house in order to escape the rain and lightning that was present. After passing the night, "little Adele had come running in to tell me that the great horse-chestnut tree at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away" (261). 

In the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein witnesses a similar thing occur. He was a man of science and intended to pursue science. After watching lightning crash through a large tree and split it in half he realizes that science is very powerful but can also be destructive. 

This symbol has a similar meaning in both works. In Jane Eyre this lightning bolt represents the destructive force that will eventually split up Mr. Rochester and her relationship as it did the tree. In Frankenstein it represents the destructive consequences that science can have if abused and used wrongly, as Frankenstein uses it.