I did not like re-entering Thornfield. To pass its threshold was to return to stagnation; to cross the silent hall, to ascend the darksome staircase, to seek my own lonely little room, and then to meet tranquil Mrs. Fairfax, and spend the long winter evening with her, and her only, was to quell wholly the faint excitement wakened by my walk, – to slip again over my faculties the viewless fetters of an uniform and too still existence; of an existence whose very privileges of security and ease I was becoming incapable of appreciating.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 12. Jane is restless and feels imprisoned in Thornfield, where she speaks of a life of “stagnation” and the “lonely little room” she lives in. The passage paints a picture of Jane feeling trapped in a life of uniformity and yearning to break free from her fetters to experience freedom and opportunity.