How Does Jane Eyre End

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.

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.

Throughout Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre is afflicted with the feud between her moral values, and the way society perceives these notions. Jane ultimately obtains her happy ending, and Brontë’s shrewd denouement of St. John’s fate juxtaposes Jane’s blissful future with St. John’s tragic course of action. When Jane ends up at the Moor House, she is able to discover a nexus of love and family, and by doing so, she no longer feels fettered to Rochester. Moreover, Rochester is no longer Jane’s only form of psychological escape, and thus Jane is in a position to return to him without an aura of discontent. At the end of the novel, Jane is finally able to be irrevocably “blest beyond what language can express” (Brontë 459) because she is “absolutely bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh” (459).

Ultimately, the relationship of Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester consists of each on being the guiding light, or literal sight, for the other. Rochester becomes the happiness in Jane’s life and depends on her to lead him by the hand through his darkness, or actual blindness. Their love together is the bright light in their relationship that will face constant scorn and derision for its age gap, partial disability, and station

In this novel, Jane Eyre finds herself in love and engaged to the male character, Edward Rochester. After finding out that he is already married and she can no longer marry him, she decides to run away because she can no longer live having to look at the man she loves everyday. By throwing herself into this exile we can see herself decide to take this first step into independence and take more power in herself.

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.

On the day of Jane’s wedding during the ceremony, Mr. Rochester’s “wife’s” brother comes and claims that he is already married (Brontë). Mr. Rochester believes he is no longer married because his wife is crazy and it is not a real marriage (Brontë). After this Jane will not marry Mr. Rochester because of the amount of respect she places in herself. Although Jane was aware that she was not beautiful, she refused to sacrifice her self-respect by marrying a man that was already married. Throughout the book the Victorian culture is constantly criticized because of the high value placed in beauty (Triska). In the Victorian era the ideal for women was almost unachievable. To qualify as beautiful you had to have a 12 inch waist and a wear

It can be argued that Jane’s narrative voice within the extract challenges Rochester’s pre-existing masculine power, and thus elevates the experiences of women in society. This is shown through Rochester’s display of bigamy later in the extract; Jane narrates an arguably accurate account of Rochester’s speech, lamenting he was “convinced that I could and ought” remarry. Brontë’s use of language such as “convinced” gives connotations in this instance of male entitlement, as Rochester refuses to acknowledge or follow the known law. Similarly, the use of “ought” gives insight into Rochester’s views of his own superiority; arguably, he believes he has a

Late one night while talking to St. John and hearing his proposal of marriage, she mysteriously hears Rochester’s voice, “and it spoke in pain and woe- wildly, eerily, urgently” (Bronte 488). Her strong desire for Rochester crosses the boundaries of miles and time and calls her back to the man she loves. Immediately Jane returns to him, no longer constrained by her morals, but

They were supposed to be married, but Jane finds out about Rochester’s secret wife and he asks her to be his mistress. She rejects him. Women were expected to “never fail from his [her husband’s] side” (Marsh). Jane leaves Rochester, despite his wishes, and says, “If I lived with you as you desire- I should then be your mistress - to say otherwise is sophistical - is false,” (Bronte 350). She is both rejecting the ideals of respecting your master and staying with your husband.

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.

God directed me to a correct choice” ( Brontë 306-307). Jane would never have been truly content had she stayed with Mr. Rochester at that time, because she would be ashamed to be a mistress. Jane does go back to Mr. Rochester after his wife has died and decides to marry him since they can be equals. The last man that Jane stands up to is St. John, the man who takes her in after she runs away from Mr. Rochester. St. John asks Jane to marry him so that they can go on a missionary trip in India. Jane refuses his proposal and when asked why she will not marry him Jane answers, “ ‘ because you did not love me; now, I reply, because you almost hate me. If I were to marry you, you would kill me. You are killing me now’” (Brontë 351). Jane would have been so miserable had she married John especial after refusing him once, since he would also harbor bad feelings against her. Also, since Jane does not marry John, she is free to marry Mr. Rochester, the man she truly loves. Jane gets her happy ending, however the females in The Good Earth do not.

Not only does the relationship even out, the biggest way Jane keeps her independence and her character traits is that she chooses to go back to Rochester. She sets aside her brain and uses her heart fully in making the decision. “It was my time to assume ascendency. My powers were in play and in force,” (301). She went back to Rochester and married him because she wanted to. She did not need to marry Rochester for his money or his social status, she married him because she wanted to. One of the biggest themes of Jane Eyre is the ideal woman and the struggle between choosing to be passionate or suppressing it. At the very end, it is most fitting for the character to develop in such a way that she chooses to be passionate. During the time of the novel as well, women were meant to suppress their wants and desires but the novel is very ahead of it’s time. It’s showing that it is perfectly alright to marry for love and marriage won’t make you lose your independence.

Also, even though Rochester and Jane were of different classes, Charlotte Bronte presents him as an intelligent person. Both Edward and Jane enjoy conversations with each other. However, Jane does not express her feelings as clearly as Rochester does. So he dresses up as a gypsy and tries to find out what she thinks of the marriage, which everyone assumes that he will with Blanche. Although, both Jane Eyre and Rochester have are fond of each other, Edward was deceitful to Jane. For example, when Jane found out about Mr Rochester’s first wife, he first says that they can run away as ‘brother and sister’. However Jane refuses. Rochester tries another tactic and asks her to be his mistress. But Jane was too virtuous to accept the offer and had no other alternative but to leave Thornfield.

Jane’s approach could be considered romantic and embodies conventional feminist concepts; she remains headstrong and stubborn in the face of injustice. The representation of Jane as a strong, independent woman upholds the belief that woman can achieve their goals. Jane does precisely this; she marries Rochester, becomes a part of a family as well as gains financial independence. The way in which Bronte represents Jane is emphasized through her narrative stance. The reader is presented with a firm and rebellious character, her diction is simple and assertive. She addresses the reader directly and is able to identify and challenge the problems she faces with determination. Furthermore Jane is able to identify and comment on how she feels woman are subjugated by their society; she denounces that “woman are supposed to be very calm generally: but woman feel just as men feel […]” (Bronte