Obscenity in Rochester's Work Essay

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

Throughout Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre, the character Mr. [Edward} Rochester changes from a cold-hearted man,  used to getting whatever he desires and values material things, to a blind, humble man that couldn't care less about material things. When Jane Eyre, the main character, first meets Mr. Rochester, his horse has slipped on the ice, and he has sprained his ankle; she stops to help, and upon arriving to Thornfield (the place where she lives and works as a governess), she discovers that he is the master and her employer. He is a cold-hearted man. He constantly refers to Adele (a girl he took in) as a brat, and when talking to the housekeeper about Jane, he says, “I have her [Jane] to thank for this sprain,” (Brontë 122) (despite Jane not

We first encounter this relationship between Jane and Rochester during their first dramatic meeting. She encounters him when he falls off his horse and she is required to give him assistance. Jane’s first impression of his face is that ‘He had a dark face, with stern features and a heavy brow’. This may portray the dimness in his face awaiting to be enlightened by a woman which, in this case Jane. Further on in this chapter, unaware of who he is, on her return home, Jane is amazed to discover that the gentleman she assisted in the road was her employer, Mr. Edward Rochester. Jane’s future relationship with Rochester is most clearly set out in their first meeting. Although without any money, reserved and socially dependent, Jane is not

On page 83, Mr. Rochester has a “massive head”, “granite-hewn features” , “great dark eyes” and fine eyes too”. The reader is supposed to think of him as someone who is a predator towards Jane because of his mean looking and dark features and because of Jane’s past experience with men in power. Readers are supposed to be wary of Mister Rochester.

Wilde’s lifestyle may have caused him to be snubbed in certain social situations.   It maybe that he drew on his own experiences to create the atmosphere of scandal in the last chapters, even though, other than murder, the protagonist’s “sins” are never named and only briefly alluded to.

She judges, criticizes, and is of a higher class because of the exploitation of rich men. She falls in love with Mr. Rochester, not because he is attractive, but because he is her key to success, a shortcut to the top of the ladder. In the book, she says, "Whenever I marry," she continued, after a pause, which none interrupted, "I am resolved my husband shall not be a rival, but a foil to me. I will suffer no competitor near the throne; I shall exact an undivided homage; his devotions shall not be shared between me and the shape he sees in his mirror. Mr. Rochester, now sing, and I will play for you" (Bronte 185). She is purely using

. ." (353).  Explaining the grotesque attributes of the carnivalesque, Bristol applies the parallel of Carnival to the Hamlet family and to the Hamlet drama, particularly in reference to "the enjoyment of food and sexuality" (353).  All humanity, despite class assignment, exhibits the capacity to reproduce itself through food and sex, which become two of Bristol's most revealing metaphoric images.  The "'uncrowning' of the world of official culture, geopolitical conflict, and royal intrigue" hinges upon a recognition that all human beings participate in the commonality of death, the omission of food and sex.

Many poets and authors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries used their respective mediums to broach what were then considered to be taboo or radical subjects. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word ‘radical’ as “supporting complete political or social reform. Departing from tradition; new” (Soanes 740). When using this definition, both Aphra Behn’s work, “The Disappointment” and John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester’s work, “The Imperfect Enjoyment” are easily interpreted as such. Both poems discuss sexuality and gender in new, sometimes shocking ways. Behn’s poem offers astoundingly liberal views on female sexuality, considering the time period. Despite the radical notions and expletives present, Rochester’s pushes the envelope further by exploring the extremely private issue of impotence and male sexual failure, using highly offensive language. In the year “The Disappointment” was written, traditional gender roles were still very important to society and generally adhered to. This means that men were expected not only to be ‘manly’, but to maintain a certain air of dignity and composure at all times, especially in front of women. For this reason, Rochester’s blatant disregard for social conventions in his brutally honest depiction of erectile dysfunction is simultaneously revolutionary and scandalous. To portray a male in a less-than-flattering light undermines the stereotypes society tried so hard to uphold and represents a

Rochester introduces a clergyman in poem to act as an adversary that argues for reason and mankind. The clergyman states that he understands Rochester’s argument but does not understand his hatred for reason and mankind. The clergyman begins his defense of mankind and reason by saying, “Blest glorious man! To whom alone kind heaven and everlasting soul has been freely given; Whom his creator took such care to make, That from himself he did the image take, And this fair frame in shining reason dressed, To dignify his nature above the beast” (2304). Biblical scripture is paraphrased by the clergyman when he claims that men were made

In the essay, “From the red room to Rochester's haircut: mind control in Jane Eyre,”

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.

Charlotte Bronte presents Rochester in many different ways. He comes from a rich family, and has a sophisticated personality. His attitude and behavior from the start of the book and the end of it has a dramatic change. Rochester corresponds to the mould of a Byronic Hero however, with his brave and humble actions, he starts to become less attractive as a hero. Moreover, one could argue although he is an unconventional hero he is appealing in both physical and mental ways. However, another could argue against this and find no attractive views of Rochester.

However, once readers delve into the poem, the persona becomes even more apparent. The persona in this piece exudes confidence, even in light of not being able to perform. While the persona continues to get angry and frustrated over the situation, which Rochester writes in (“And rage at last confirms me impotent,”), there is still the sense that the persona is disguising a confidence that Rochester himself possesses (Rochester, 2206). For Rochester to take on this piece and create such an elaborate persona, it shows his level of understanding of the poem, as well as his education, both of which would give him reason to be confident. By employing this in the piece, it allows the writers personality to come through, while still proving to readers that this is in fact just a persona. The most confident aspect of the piece is Rochester’s approach to the female companion. He unconventionally gives her lines in the poem, such as “All this to love and rapture’s due; / Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?”, which not only creates the idea that the persona did not give up in the poem, but that Rochester is confident in his ability to create something more powerful from the Avid piece for his persona (Rochester, 2206). The persona created by Rochester in his work allows him to explore subjects without readers linking them to him.

Rochester. At first Jane sees him as rude and disrespectful due to his cold and gruesome remarks, but it is her fight and how Jane stands up for herself that leads to one of the most known relationships in literature. Eventually Rochester asks Jane for her hand in marriage but at the scene of the wedding, we come to learn, that Rochester is already married to an insane woman, living in his attic, named Bertha. With this Rochester asks Jane to run away with her to Europe, this is exactly where Jane is faced with a very hard decision between following her heart as everyone wants to do, or keeping her respect and dignity. We can see the respect Jane now has from Rochester when he says to her, “I was wrong to attempt to deceive you; but I feared a stubbornness that exists in your character” (Bronte 354). This shows that Jane has gained Rochester’s respect and the ‘stubbornness’ in Jane’s character is the best thing for her, for without this trait Jane could never gain respect from others, especially men, in his novel. Knowing that Jane has decided to leave her, Rochester begins to persuade Jane to stay with him. He says, “Oh, Jane, this is bitter! This – this is wicked. It would not be wicked to love me” (Bronte 355). Jane replies, “It would to obey you” (Bronte 355), showing that she will not give into his pleading, regardless of how much she loves him because to obey him would lead to the loss

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.”