Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester…. Love? No…
More like
love triangle! So as I am writing this blog I am fighting the urge to rip open
the book and finish it. But I am only blogging from chapter 13 to chapter 28 so
I will have to fight this urge.
One of the
most interesting things to follow throughout Jane Eyre is the relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester.
Honestly, when he was first introduced I thought she would fall in love with
him. However, I thought he would secretly be one of her relatives she always
wondered if she had. Maybe that’s due to all the poems and stories we’ve read
about incest or maybe I’m just a pervert, who knows. I think the first warning sign
Jane should have seen with Mr. Rochester was when he fell off the horse. He pretended
to be someone else to see what opinion she had of him! What a strange thing to
do. His desire to know what people think about him becomes more apparent (and
creepy) when he dresses up as a FEMALE fortuneteller to find out if Jane truly
loves him. How did she not even question how weird this was!?!? All he asks is
if she forgives him, and of course eventually she does.
Jane of
course still thinks he has no feelings for her. This has much to do with the
idea of wealth and ranking. She even tells herself “He is not of your order:
keep to your caste” (138). This difference in wealth and social standing starts
to affect them more and more. When Mr.
Rochester comes back to Thornfield with his fancy friends, you can tell it is
ripping Jane apart. She feels secluded and believes he will go off and marry
one of the wealthy, fancy ladies. So Jane does what she knows best… sits in a
small space and watches people. I saw an
interesting character development for Jane in these chapters. At first she is
very jealous of Ms. Ingram because she believes she will steal Mr. Rochester’s
affection. However she soon sees just how dull of person she truly is. My
favorite line is when Jane says, “But I was not jealous…Miss Ingram was a mark
beneath jealousy: she was too inferior to excite the feeling” (158). Jane finally sees herself as superior due to
her intellect and wit, rather than inferior due to her lack of fortune. Miss
Ingram gets screwed over anyway though (thankfully). She reminds me of the
mother from “The Woman of Colour.” I wanted to punch her every time she spoke
for her ignorant comments. But it turns
out Mr. Rochester was only using her to make Jane jealous, and he gets her to
leave him by pretending he has less money than he actually does. Because… dun
dun dun… Mr. Rochester loves Jane!
Once they
develop an intimacy (only took until page 216 for them to finally kiss) Jane
thinks it is too good to be true. Even Mrs. Fairfax who has always been kind to
Jane tells her he cannot possibly have true feelings for her. Once he proposes
marriage, Mr. Rochester wants to shower her with gifts and expensive items.
Jane shows her feelings in a powerful, yet slightly annoying way when she
expresses she does not want money thrown at her. She shows that she is not a woman
who wants expensive things because it is not who she is. I valued her opinions
but she also was very consistent in not accepting anything. She even talks
about her self as “two different Jane’s” when contemplating who she will be
after the wedding. HOWEVER, Mr. Rochester is a nut. So this section ends with
the wedding, where someone comes and OBJECTS.
Let me tell
you I did not see this coming at all. However, she did have weird dreams and
started pacing back and forth the night before so I should have seen something
terrible coming. So… the vampire/walking dead like person who has been biting
people is not Grace Poole, but none other than HIS FIRST WIFE who is a zombie-like
crazy person he has been hiding in the attic… There were super awesome gothic
moments all throughout these chapters. I’m
still in shock. I thought Jane was too in love to leave him. Mr. Rochester
seems pretty pathetic at this point as he begs her to stay and for his
forgiveness.
He tries to justify the lies saying this woman is not his
wife because they do not love each other and she has no human like qualities. Apparently his family lied to him so he would
marry her for her money. Of course… because everything bad in this book has to
do with money and class. This section ends with Jane leaving and getting on
some random carriage going somewhere unknown. I am proud she was strong enough
to leave but I have no idea where she is going to go. I could ramble for days
but I want to finish this book. Adios fellow 206ers.
You had me laughing out loud with this post.. but thanks for mentioning the fact that he dressed up as a FEMALE fortune teller, when I read that I was totally grossed out. Right then and there I hoped that Jane would realize how creepy he was. But anyways, I also realized a real character development in Jane through these chapters. It seemed almost inevitable to me, considering how much Jane watches people, that she would be good at figuring people out. I know that when I people watch, I always learn something new about human behavior. Plus, she is definitely witty and intelligent. What I found extremely commendable was how Jane decided to deal with the differences in their financial statuses. Even though Mr. Rochester had more money, and Jane had to constantly deal with the fear of a more wealthy women sweeping him away, she never let it get to her head. The only reason that the class difference bothered her was because she loved Rochester so much, and she feared this factor would destroy her chance of being with him. And even now, you can see the insecurity within her. But, when she finally ends up with him, she sticks to her roots and doesn't dote over all the expensive things. Like you said, she was very consistent in not accepting anything..
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post! As far as Mr. Rochester showering Jane with gifts, on one hand I agree with you because I like the way that she tries to maintain her true self even though she is finally with Mr. Rochester. I can commend Jane for upholding her values and admiring others things besides material items and money (which we all know has been the root of all problems in this novel anyways). However, I think it’s still kind of sad that she is unable to enjoy good fortune when it finally comes into her life. I also think it’s sad when Jane talks about becoming a different version of herself in marriage. I think that in a marriage you should be a able to feel completely like yourself, and not have to conform to what the other spouse wants of you. I think Jane’s idea of marriage at this point in the novel really reflects society's view of marriage during the Victorian Era because she thinks that it is all about women molding themselves to fit the expectations of the husband. Seeing how feisty and independent Jane has been throughout the novel, I think this is why she has some reservations about getting married.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you, I really liked the way Jane kind of mentally talked through her jealousy in her mind. Jane it seems does not do anything too rash, except for loving Rochester - and thats only because everyone, even good ol' Mrs Fairfax told her to be careful. And then! Here it comes - he was a zombie wife that is locked away in the attic! But I did like how you pointed out that in two instances he did try to get Jane's opinion of Rochester when he wasn't actually Rochester - first when he fell off the horse and second when he played the role of the female gypsy. Maybe he is self conscious like we discussed in class. And if he is, I believe that Jane's demeanor makes him even more self conscious because he can never tell what she is feeling. This is perhaps why he was driven to the gypsy role - or maybe he secretly enjoys dressing up as a woman! Who knows - Rochester is a very strange Byronic hero.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with the view that Rochester is self conscious, especially when I remember that he is twice Jane's age. Before the garden scene, Jane is very careful about her words and actions when she is around him. If just reading the conversations, she usually seems cold and disinterested. Since we get more of an intimate understanding of what is happening inside her head, we can interpret her words to realize that she loves him. However, Rochester does not get this privilege. I imagine that his side of the story would be extremely self conscious and uncertain. I mean, just the fact that he goes through all these complicated plots in order to make sure that Jane has feelings for him, instead of simply revealing his love, shows how insecure he is. Yes, this also reveals his manipulative side. But all good love stories must include at least some manipulation, I believe.
ReplyDeleteTeam Rochester 4eva!