Venice, Italy. Image taken by Hope Smith.

Something that most people don't know about Venice unless they are travel seekers is that Venice is a city which has no roads, only canals. It's a city built on water, many islands, in the Adriatic Sea. It's a place that many people travel from around the world to see because there are rumors that it will not be accessible in the next 30 years as it's been a fight to keep it afloat since 1973. With one of the world's narrowest streets, it is still a destination that people dream of exploring. Although gondolas are popular and a tourist attraction, many of them and those who steer are lessening each year. (Local)

Amid one of the most climactic moments within Jane Eyre, Jane and Mr. Rochester have expressed their love for one another, made the claim of getting married, and are gleeful. In this specific scene, Jane asks Mr. Rochester if she will travel with him. Mr. Rochester responds, "You shall sojourn at Paris, Rome, and Naples: at Florence, Venice, and Vienna: all the ground I have wandered over shall be re-trodden by you: wherever I stamped my hoof, your slyph's foot shall step also…" (274 via Kindle). The significance of this dialogue and comment from Mr. Rochester is because he is bringing in all the sites known to be most beautiful, desired, and dreamed of. The enticement of this for Jane shows her he loves her by wanting to take her all over the land. When Mr. Rochester uses a word like "sylph" it is hard to tell exactly what he means in today's language as that is not a common word. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it looks as though he is saying she is a slender woman who will touch all the soils he has walked.

With this information, it leads one to believe that Mr. Rochester has always been a wealthy man. He has seen more than Jane could imagine seeing. It makes sense that he would want to show Jane these places because they're some of the most beautiful in the world, even to this day, especially in Europe. This impacts the reading because it gives insight to how far Mr. Rochester has travelled in this time considering more than twenty miles is far. It shows the lengths he is willing to go for his love of Jane. Considering this is around 1828-30, it shows that on the becoming of a free port in the 19^th century, Venice is still as desired today as it was then.

Works Cited:

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre, edited by Deborah Lutz, 4th ed., New York, W. W. Norton &

Company, 2016.

The Local Italy. "16 Surprising Facts about Venice to Mark 16 Centuries of the Lagoon City."

The Local It, Local Europe AB, 25 Mar. 2021, www.thelocal.it/20210325/16-surprising-

facts-about-venice-to-mark-16-centuries-of-the-lagoon-city/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2022.