Examples Of Courtship In Jane Eyre

To set the stage in “Jane Eyre” our Protagonist, Jane Eyre is deceived by Mr.Rochester, one of the antagonists in order to “protect” his love, Jane. Mr. Rochester’s deception begins

Even though Mrs. Fairfax believes that Rochester will marry Blanche Ingram, Blanche is not the woman of his choice. Blanche’s family believes they are a great match, due to their equal social status. However, Rochester does not have the same plan in mind. Jane is not happy with herself, because she fell in love with a man out of her social reach, but Rochester is not concerned with social status. Both Jane and Blanche Ingram have positive and negative qualities. Rochester prefers Jane based on all of her positive

He is also very much used to getting what he wants. When he orders Jane to play him some piano, he says, “Excuse my tone of command, I am used to saying, ‘Do this,’ and it is done: I cannot alter my customary habits for one new inmate,” (Brontë 123); and although he does excuse his tone, he refuses to change it. Throughout the story, Mr. Rochester falls in love with Jane, and they plan to be married. He insists on buying silk dresses and beautiful jewels, yet Jane only allows him to buy her simple things, saying, “I was glad to get him out of the silk warehouse, and the out of the jeweller’s shop,” (Brontë 274). On their wedding day, Jane discovers that he already has a wife - a murderous lunatic- and runs away, only to return a year later to find out that Thornfield has burnt down, and that Mr. Rochester was blinded and lost a hand in the fire. The reader sees that Mr. Rochester is much humbler, living only with two servants to wait on him. His humbleness shows even more upon his proposal to Jane, for when she says yes, he asks her “A poor blind man who you will have to lead about by the hand?” (Brontë 458) and then again, “A crippled man, twenty years older than you, whom you will have to wait on?”

These include usual depictions of females being dependent on a husband, whom was usually the financial and social superior to the wife. Instead, Jane returns to her unlikely fiancé, Rochester, in a final quest for true love. At this stage, Jane and Rochester were finally equal. Having reunited, Jane regards herself an “independent…as well as rich” woman who is her “own mistress” (p.596). This proves Jane’s defiant belief to unite with whoever she wishes despite class expectations; the marriage between two of the same social class are assumed of this time.

Criticisms of relationships have been addressed in novels throughout our time, but they are central theme in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Specifically, readers can see criticisms of relationships built on passionate love. Example of this are seen through Rochester

Through a close reading of the selected passage of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, a reader can see that Jane attempts to separate herself from her decisions by personifying her emotions and giving them a specific voice, which strongly reflects the societal views of the time. At this point in the story, Jane has discovered, on her wedding day, that Mr. Rochester is still married to a woman named Bertha, and that woman still lives in his house. Distraught, Jane locks herself in her room and tries to decide what she should do. When she wakes up the next day, she is again confronted with what she needs to do in the wake of her discovery.

In Charlotte Bronte’s’ “Jane Eyre”, Rochester uses disguise and duplicity to achieve his desire of marrying Jane. By doing so; he defies state law and divine will. Consequently, Rochester suffers physically, emotionally, and financially.

In his quest for self-transformation into a man of purity and harmony, Rochester sets his sights on Jane as the key to his renewal. Wooing her is different from any of his past lovers, though he seems to do so easily, but Rochester struggles to see that as he seduces and nearly marries Jane in bigamy, he is sullying the purity he so greatly craves. He is so blinded by the happiness close at hand, that he fails to realize Jane’s unhappiness and eventual departure. The loss of his physical vision is atonement for his lack of observing the effects of his actions, and consequently, darkens his life permanently without Jane, his moral eyes.

Through the character of Mr. Rochester, Charlotte Bronte reveals the impact that beliefs have in a relationship. Rochester fantasizes of being with Jane; viewing her as an angel that he needs to survive. Even with the age and wealth gap, Rochester desires to have Jane as his wife. After proposing to her, Rochester states: “It will expiate at God’s tribunal. I know my Maker sanctions what I do. For the world’s judgement-I wash my hands thereof. For man’s opinion-I defy it,” (Bronte 260). Both the reader and Jane are confused on what Rochester is talking about, but eventually his previous wife Bertha and his bigamist ways are revealed. The words “expiate” and “tribunal” are used in different subject matters that reflect Rochester’s view on the situation. “Expiate” means to atone for one’s guilt, while ‘tribunal” is a court of justice. Rochester believes that this action will be cleared through law and atonement in a court-like processing, where the evidence will be used to determine the conclusion. Rochester’s necessity of Jane and Jane’s purity appears as evidence compensating for his immoral actions. Jane appears as a reward for his miserable life and failed relationships. Rochester tries to say God will

Treating a woman like the ex-girlfriend will never reflect well on a character, especially if the ex-grilfriend is considerably different from the new girl. It seems that Mr. Rochester is yet to learn this fact about women because proceeding his proposal to Jane, he projects his old actions “of love” onto her, causing her to react poorly to his advances. Mr. Rochester’s treatment of Jane reflects on his past experiences with women and his insecurity in relationships.

In the critical essay, “Almost my hope of heaven’: idolatry and messianic symbolism in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre,” Joshua analyzes the theme of idolatry and messianic symbolism in Jane Eyre. Joshua believes that Jane Eyre is a novel that revolves wholly on religion. He argues that, “one of the novel's purpose...is to show that human relationships are successful only if the partners in the relationship avoid the dangers of idolizing each other” (Joshua). I strongly agree with his opinion. One main reason Jane denies Rochester’s proposal is because she does not want to be inferior to him. When Rochester and Jane argue over whether or not Jane is going to let him order her around she says “‘I like to serve you, sir, and to obey you in all that is right’” (Bronte 250). From the beginning, Jane sees Rochester as a sort of messiah. Due to this, she refuses to marry him for she believes they will never truly be equals. However, as the novel progresses, Jane goes through internal developments that enable her to realize that her and Rochester can be equals. She realizes her self-worth and finds a balance between her principles and feelings. In one of the final passages of the novel, Jane says that her and Rochester have been married for ten years and she is “[her] husband’s life as fully as he is [hers]” (Bronte PAGE NUMBER). Here, we can see the Jane and Rochester are equals. This supports Joshua’s claim, for their relationship is only successful because of their equality. Rochester is no longer Janes “master” and she still remains her own-self.

Furthermore, Jane says “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself” (Chapter 27, Bronte.) This statement greatly represents the growth that Jane has undergone. She no longer dreads the solitude that once haunted her because she respects herself enough to realize that she did not deserve to experience such great dismay. Through independence and self-recognition, Jane has discovered the importance of loving oneself. Without the reliance on the thoughts of others, the once extremely troubled girl found bliss through a lack of outside control. In regards to her relationship with Mr. Rochester, Jane understands that she must leave him behind to maintain her own well-being. She does not allow the wealth or proclaimed love from Rochester to skew her decisions and she does not linger to dominate the life of her lover. Instead, she moves forward to continue her endless pursuit of happiness and independence.

Finally, Wollstonecraft admonishes that in a marriage, couples should not continue to be passionate, but should enter a relationship of friendship instead. By doing this, the marriage would tend to be more stable and last longer. This is portrayed in Mr. Rochester and Jane. When Jane and Rochester do marry, the

Jane eyre is a clear example of a bildungsroman because we see how she starts off as a miserable and poor child who is mistreated and ends up as a rich mistress. Jane Eyre’s development through the book helps the idea of the novel being a bildungsroman. In the first chapters of the book we see Jane filled with negative emotions towards the Reed’s because she is badly mistreated and being locked in the red room is the tipping point for jane. Later on when Jane attends lowood her emotions have drastically changed, she know feels some sort of comfort and love. Although the reader might think Jane has been through it all that is not the reality as she will fall in love with a man that will cause her problems but will ultimately reach happiness

In Graham’s Magazine, another anonymous reviewer suggested that Rochester’s character was dangerous and immoral, saying, “No woman who had ever truly loved could have mistaken so completely the Rochester type, or could have made her heroine love a man of proud, selfish, ungovernable appetites, which no sophistry can lift out of lust.” Thus, he intimated that any author who would contrive to have her heroine fall in love with such a total rake would be immoral herself and unknowing of what true love is. He went one step further to say, “We accordingly think that if the innocent young ladies of our land lay a premium on profligacy, by marrying dissolute rakes for the honor of reforming them, à la Jane Eyre, their benevolence will be of questionable utility to the world.” In this, he suggested that the depiction of Jane and Rochester’s relationship would cause young women of the time to emulate Jane’s “romantic wickedness.”