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Mr. Rochester vs St. John

Once finishing the novel, I noticed there were some obvious similarities and differences between the characters Mr. Rochester and St. John. Starting off with the similarities, Mr. Rochester and St. John both asked Jane to marry them and Jane ended up declining the proposals from both Mr. Rochester and St. John. At each time she was proposed, Jane declined because she wanted to preserve her own self worth. Jane knew that if she married Mr. Rochester, she would lose passion to create her own future and she would disappoint herself because she knew that was not what she wanted. Jane also knew that if she married St. John, she would lose her self-value because she would be giving herself away to someone who doesn’t actually love her. Even though there are very obvious similarities between Mr. Rochester and St. John, there are also many differences. Mr. Rochester is a rich and secretive man while St. John is a more careful, religious, caring man. Mr. Rochester and St. John have almost completely opposite characters, mainly because they grew up in different lifestyles. However, both of these characters played essential roles in Jane’s life and ultimately helped form Jane to be who she was.

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“Can I receive from him the bridal ring, endure all the forms of love, and know that the spirit was quite absent? Can I bear the consciousness that every endearment he bestows is a sacrifice made on principle? No: such a martyrdom would be monstrous. I will never undergo it. As his sister, I might accompany him-not as his wife” (Bronte 386).

This section first begins with a major event. St. John decided he would propose to Jane and hope that she would join him on his trip to India. Jane once again demonstrated strength as she stood up for herself for what she truly wanted, and that is something that is not always easy to do. Jane knew she was finally at a comfortable place in her life because she had a family (that were newly discovered), friends, and money and she realized that if she married St. John, she would lose all of the happiness that she had been looking for her whole life. I truly do believe Jane made the right decision in this situation because I could predict that her marriage with St. John would be very damaging to her. St. John never honestly loved Jane, so obviously the marriage wouldn’t be a good thing in the first place. This decision was the right decision also because Jane was able to realize that she loved Mr. Rochester and she wanted to be with him. Jane kept her own personal freedom from St. John and chose to live the rest of her life with Mr. Rochester.

Jane happily with Mr. Rochester

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Janes selfless character

“I have intimated my view of the case: I am incapable of taking any other. I am not brutality selfish, blindly unjust, or fiendishly ungrateful. Besides, I am resolved I will have a home and connections. I like Moor House, and I will live at Moor House; I like Diana and Mary, and I will attach myself for life to Diana and Mary. It would please and benefit me to have five thousand pounds; it would torment and oppress me to have twenty thousand” (Bronte 369).

In chapter 33, Jane received a letter from her uncle who passed away and learned he had left her a fortune of 20,000 pounds. Later on in the chapter, Jane discovered that the people who she had been staying with (St. John, Mary, and Diana) were actually her unknown relatives. Jane was a bit overwhelmed with the huge amount of money she had just obtained, however, she knew exactly what she was going to do. Jane made a quick, but easy, decision that she was going to divide the money between her newly discovered family members. I think this action really demonstrated Jane’s selfless and generous character. Jane didn't want to keep all of the money to herself because she would feel guilty that she would have lots of money while others struggled. I think there may be more reasons for Jane's decision to divide her newly acquired money. Maybe she didn’t want to become rich because she didn’t want to be associated with that upper class of Victorian women. Jane had a clear view of the way upper class women acted and treated others from the treatment of Jane’s aunt and Jane’s surrounding society. Jane was a victim of bullying from rich women and she knew she would never want to treat others the same way or put anyone through the struggles she underwent as a poor woman.

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Jane’s perseverance

I really admired Jane’s decisions of leaving Mr. Rochester and the city of Thornfield in this section of the novel. After everything Jane has been through with Mr. Rochester and learning about his past, Jane still was able to see what was best for her, and that is something I find really inspiring. I think it's sometimes easy just to go along with things and not stand up for yourself for your own better good, however, Jane had the strong mindset and the power to do what was right for her. Although Jane has lived a lonely life, from being an orphan and having little family who cared about her to not having many friendships or relationships, she gave up her chance to be with Mr. Rochester by marrying him so that she could maintain the respect she has always had for herself. I believe Jane’s actions can be described as sort of rare because in the Victorian era, it was very uncommon for a woman to stand up for herself and from this I can distinctly understand why Jane is such an admirable character within the literary world.

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Gothic Elements seen so far in Jane Eyre
Many supernatural events and mysterious occurrences can be seen so far throughout the book Jane Eyre. To start off, Mr. Rochester’s house, located in Thornfield, is a huge, remote house and sort of castle-like. One of the most well known gothic elements is having a huge house/castle-like setting, and that is exactly Mr. Rochester's house. Secondly, the first night Jane arrived at Thornfield was the night when she began to hear mysterious laughter, although she did not know who or where it was coming from. When she questioned the laughter, Mr. Rochester denied that she heard anything, which is most likely false, and Mr. Rochester could be hiding something dark. Thirdly, dark secrets were very apparent as well, mainly coming from Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester was a big contributor to the mysteries occurring in Thornfield. One of his darkest secrets involved his wife, Bertha, who he hid from the public for 15 years. I believe as the chapters proceed, Mr. Rochester will only become more mysterious and more supernatural events will occur involving him in some way.

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Chapter 26: "what this lawyer and his client say is true: I have been married, and the woman to whom I was married lives! You say you never heard of a Mrs. Rochester at the house up yonder...I now inform you that she is my wife, whom I married fifteen years ago- Bertha Mason by name" (Bronte 283).

A lot has happened involving Mr. Rochester and we have seen his character develop greatly throughout these chapters. Mr. Rochester has always been a mysterious character within the whole book, however, he was the most secretive in chapter 26 after we discovered that he had a wife, Bertha, who he married fifteen years ago and nobody knew about it (including Jane, who he just got married to). It was revealed that Mr. Rochester had been hiding Bertha from the outside world and locked her up, however, Mr. Rochester acted surprised and claimed that everybody should have known he had a secret wife since he had made it so obvious, which we all know is false. Discovering that Mr. Rochester had a wife, who was not Jane, was surprising, however, not totally unexpected. Mr. Rochester has had very secretive tendencies in the past, for example, pretending to be a gypsy woman. I predicted that something big would surface involving Mr. Rochester, and it turns out I was correct. Mr. Rochester can be characterized as untrustworthy and deceitful and I don’t know what Jane sees in him.

Bertha has been hidden from the outside world by Mr. Rochester

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Who is Mr. Rochester

After reading this section of the book, Mr. Rochester turns out to be a very confusing character who can’t seem to make up his mind about what he wants. It seems like when he is in a situation where he needs to make a decision, he doesn't use his rational mind, however, his senses make the decisions. It seemed like each time after I read a new chapter, I learned something new about Mr. Rochester. The thing that surprised me the most was when I reached chapter 19 and Jane was getting a fortune telling. A gypsy woman began reading Jane’s thoughts and future. She seemed to know a great deal about Jane, which kind of unsettled Jane because she had never met the gypsy woman. As the fortune telling proceeded, the gyspy woman’s voice got deeper and that was when Jane realized that it was Mr. Rochester who was pretending to be the gyspy woman. This was one of the most prevalent examples of how Mr. Rochester hides truth about his identity. Mr. Rochester is an unpredictable character in this book and I'm wondering what he will do in the next section.

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Chapter 18: “Why can not she influence him more when she is privileged to draw so near to him? Surely she cannot truly like him, or not like him with true affection. If she did she need not coin her smiles so lavishly, flash her glances so unremittingly, manufacture airs so elaborate, graces so multitudinous” (Bronte 185).

Jane made her opinion of Blanche very clear in chapter 18 of the novel. Jane predicted that Rochester would end up marrying Blanche because of her natural beauty and social position in society, not because they actually love each other. And as seen above, Jane stated that Blanche would take advantage of Rochester’s money and wealth. Rochester straight up ignored the feelings Jane had towards him and chose how he was viewed by others over his own happiness, and I believe this goes to show how impactful social positions were on people's life decisions. Although this act performed by Rochester seems ruthless, I think this is a very common action through the Victorian era. The concept of social status was praised by the people of the Victorian era because the way people were viewed by others dominated their lives. After reading this chapter, and specifically this passage, I just find it so interesting how people in the Victorian era could sacrifice their own lives just to marry someone who would make each other look more powerful. However, I admire Jane because she realized this situation was not okay, despite the fact that she was a woman who grew up in the Victorian era.

Jane vs Blanche

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Friendship
As we see in chapter 5, Jane met a young, genuine girl named Helen who really cared about Jane and a strong friendship soon formed between the two as they bonded at school in Lowood. With all of the rough events that have been occurring in Jane's life, Helen was always there for Jane. Even when Jane felt lonely from being judged or looked down upon by the people around her, Helen always had Jane's back through the good and the bad and it was so inspiring to see their relationship strengthen through each chapter. I came to the conclusion that Jane and Helen's friendship became the definition of the dream best-friendship because of their fast proceeding friendship and trust they had within each other. This idea of friendship seen in Jane Eyre can similarly be seen in this New York Times article Heart and Soul, I Fell in Love With You by Jennifer Finney Boylan. Both Jane and Boylan had best friends who they thought would last a lifetime, however, that didn't turn out the way they expected. Jane's best friend Helen died after becoming very sick and Boylan lost her best friend after he moved schools and lost communication. Even when everything seems to be great, life always changes paths.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/opinion/childhood-piano-lessons.html?searchResultPosition=6

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Chapter 4: "Have mercy! Have mercy, Aunt Reed! And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy struck me- knocked me down for nothing. I will tell anybody who asks me questions, this exact tale. People think you a good woman, but you are bad; hard-hearted. You are deceitful!" (Bronte 42).

As I continued reading through the chapters of Jane Eyre, I became very surprised when I stumbled upon this one passage. The first thing that stuck out to me was the fact that Jane spoke out about how she was being treated by her family. Jane clearly was not being treated fairly as a human nor as her Aunts "own child", which was what Jane's mother wanted, and she decided to speak up about her situation. Jane was looked down upon by her Aunt and cousins because she was an orphan  and Jane's family used that to justify their immoral actions. It is not so common where we see a young girl speak out against poor treatment and I found this quality within Jane to be very inspiring. Another aspect about the passage that was surprising was the tone that Jane used when speaking against her Aunt about her Aunts evil actions. Jane used powerful words, such as "mercy" and "suffer", which made Jane's Aunt feel bad about herself. The use of those strong words helped deliver a tone that positively aided Jane's argument.

Jane arguing with her Aunt