I told him in a new series of whispers, that he might as well buy me a gold gown with a silver bonnet at once: I should certainly never venture to wear his choice…the more he bought me, the more my cheek burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation…if I had ever so small independecy; I never can bear being dressed like a doll by Mr Rochester, or sitting like a second Danae with the golden shower falling daily round me…He smiled; and I thought his smile was such as a sultan might … bestow on a slave his gold and gems had enriched.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 24. After agreeing to marry Rochester, Jane is uncomfortable during a shopping trip with him as he insists on showering her with luxurious gifts and clothes. She has no wish to be Rochester’s decorated possession and a trophy wife. She uses apt simile images to describe her displeasure – “dressed like a doll” and “sitting like a second Danae.” Jane wants to be free and independent, not a bejeweled slave and second Danae. In Greek mythology Danae was an Argive princess locked in a bronze chamber by her father. He only freed her after Zeus disguised himself as a shower of gold, cascaded through the roof of her prison and impregnated her.