《简爱》英文详细分析

Key Facts

FULL TITLE

? Jane Eyre

AUTHOR

? Charlotte Bront?

TYPE OF WORK

? Novel

GENRE

? A hybrid of three genres: the Gothic novel (utilizes the mysterious, the supernatural,

the horrific, the romantic); the romance novel (emphasizes love and passion, represents the notion

of

lovers

destined

for

each

other);

and

the

Bildungsroman

(narrates

the

story

of

a

character’s

internal development as he or she undergoes a succession of encounters with the external world)

NARRA

TOR

? Jane Eyre

CLIMAX

? The novel’s

climax comes after Jane receives her second marriage proposal of the

novel

—

this time from St. John Rivers, who asks Jane to accompany him to India as his wife and

fellow

missionary.

Jane

considers

the

proposal,

even

though

she

knows

that

marrying

St.

John

would

mean

the

death

of

her

emotional

life.

She

is

on

the

verge

of

accepting

when

she

hears

Rochester’s voice supernaturally calling her name from across the heath and knows that she must

return to him. She can retain her dignity in doing so because she has proven to herself that she is

not a slave to passion.

PROTAGONIST

? Jane Eyre

ANTAGONIST

?

Jane

meets

with

a

series

of

forces

that

threaten

her

liberty,

integrity,

and

happiness. Characters embodying these forces are: Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, Bertha Mason,

Mr. Rochester (in that he urges Jane to ignore her conscience and surrender to passion), and St.

John Rivers (in his urging of the opposite extreme). The three men also represent the notion of an

oppressive

patriarchy.

Blanche

Ingram,

who

initial

ly

stands

in

the

way

of

Jane’s

relations

with

Rochester,

also

embodies

the

notion

of

a

rigid

class

system

—

another

force

keeping

Jane

from

fulfilling her hopes.

SETTING (TIME)

? Early decades of the 19th century.

SETTING (PLACE)

? The novel is structured

around five separate locations, all supposedly in

northern

England:

the

Reed

family’s

home

at

Gateshead,

the

wretched

Lowood

School,

Rochester’s manor house Thornfield, the Rivers family’s home at Moor House, and Rochester’s

rural retreat at Ferndean.

POIN

T OF VIEW

? All of the events are told from Jane’s point of view. Sometimes she narrates

the

events

as

she

experienced

them

at

the

time,

while

at

other

times

she

focuses

on

her

retrospective understanding of the events.

FALLING ACTION

? After Jane hears Rochester’s call to her from across the heath, she returns

to Thornfield and finds it burned to the ground. She learns that Bertha Mason set the fire and died

in the flames; Rochester is now living at his home in Ferndean. Jane goes to him there, rebuilds

her

relationship

with

the

somewhat

humbled

Rochester,

and

marries

him.

She

claims

to

enjoy

perfect equality in her marriage.

TENSE ? Past

-tense; Jane Eyre tells her story ten years after the last event in the novel, her arrival

at Ferndean.

FORESHADOWING

? The novel’s main instances of foreshadowing focus on Jane’s eventual

inheritance (Chapter 33) from her uncle John Eyre. In Chapter 3, Jane tells Mr. Lloyd that her aunt

has told her of some ―poor, low relations called Eyre,‖ but she knows nothing more ab

out them.

Jane first receives hints of her uncle’s existence in Chapter 10 when Bessie visits her at Lowood

and mentions that her father’s brother appeared at Gateshead seven years ago, looking for Jane. He

did

not

have

the

time

to

come

to

Lowood,

she

explains,

and

he

subsequently

went

away

to

Madeira (a Portuguese island west of Morocco) in search of wealth. Foreshadowing again enters

into the novel in Chapter 21, when, returning to Gateshead to see her dying Aunt Reed for the last

time, Jane learns that her uncle had written to her aunt three years earlier, reporting that he had

been successful in Madeira and expressing his desire to adopt Jane and make her his heir; her aunt

had deliberately ignored the letter out of spite. Another powerful instance of foreshadowing is the

chestnut

tree

under

which

Rochester

proposes

to

Jane.

Before

they

leave,

Jane

mentions

that

it

―writhed

and

groaned,‖

and

that

night,

it

splits

in

two,

forecasting

complications

for

Jane

and

Rochester’s relationship (Chapter 23).

TONE ? Jane Eyre’s tone is both Gothic and romantic, often conjuring an atmosphere of mystery,

secrecy, or even horror. Despite these Gothic elements, Jane’s personality is friendly and the tone

is also affectionate and confessional. Her unflagging spirit and opinionated nature further infuse

the book with high energy and add a philosophical and political flavor.

THEMES

? Love versus autonomy; religion; social class; gender relations

MOTIFS

? Fire and ice; substitute mothers

SYMBOLS

? Bertha Mason; the red

-room

Analysis of Major Characters

Jane Eyre

The

development

of

Jane

Eyre’s

character

is

central

to

the

novel.

From

the

beginning,

Jane

possesses a sense of her self-worth and dignity, a commitment to justice and principle, a trust in

God, and a passionate disposition. Her integrity is continually tested over the course of the novel,

and

Jane

must

learn

to

balance

the

frequently

conflicting

aspects

of

herself

so

as

to

find

contentment.

An orphan since early childhood, Jane feels exiled and ostracized at the beginning of the novel,

and

the

cruel

treatment

she

receives

from

her

Aunt

Reed

and

her

cousins

only

exacerbates

her

feeling of alienation. Afraid that she will never find a true sense of home or community, Jane feels

the need to belong somewhere, to find ―kin,‖ or at least ―kindred spirits.‖ This desire tempers her

equally intense need for autonomy and freedom.

In her search for freedom, Jane also struggles with the question of what type of freedom she wants.

While Rochester initially offers Jane a chance to liberate her passions, Jane comes to realize that

such

freedom

could

also

mean

enslavement

—by

living

as

Rochester’s

mistress,

she

would

be

sacrificing her dignity and integrity for the sake of her feelings. St. John Rivers offers Jane another

kind

of

freedom:

the

freedom

to

act

unreservedly

on

her

principles.

He

opens

to

Jane

the

possibility of exercising her talents fully by working and living with him in India. Jane eventually

realizes,

though,

that

this

freedom

would

also

constitute

a

form

of

imprisonment,

because

she

would be forced to keep her true feelings and her true passions always in check.

Charlotte Bront?

may have created the character of Jane Eyre as a means of coming to terms with

elements

of

her

own

life.

Much

evidence

suggests

that

Bront?

,

too,

struggled

to

find

a

balance

between love and freedom

and to find others who understood her. At many points in the book,

Jane voices the author’s then

-radical opinions on religion, social class, and gender.

Edward Rochester

Despite

his

stern

manner

and

not

particularly

handsome

appearance,

Edward

Rochester

wins

Jane’s heart, because she feels they are kindred spirits, and because he is the first person in the

novel to offer Jane lasting love and a real home. Although Rochester is Jane’s social and economi

c

superior,

and

although

men

were

widely

considered

to

be

naturally

superior

to

women

in

the

Victorian

period,

Jane

is

Rochester’s

intellectual

equal.

Moreover,

after

their

marriage

is

interrupted by the disclosure that Rochester is already married to Bertha Mason, Jane is proven to

be Rochester’s moral superior.

Rochester regrets his former libertinism and lustfulness; nevertheless, he has proven himself to be

weaker in many ways than Jane. Jane feels that living with Rochester as his mistress would mean

the loss of her dignity. Ultimately, she would become degraded and dependent upon Rochester for

love,

while

unprotected

by

any

true

marriage

bond.

Jane

will

only

enter

into

marriage

with

Rochester

after

she

has

gained

a

fortune

and

a

family,

and

after

she

has

been

on

the

verge

of

abandoning passion altogether. She waits until she is not unduly influenced by her own poverty,

loneliness,

psychological

vulnerability,

or

passion.

Additionally,

because

Rochester

has

been

blinded by the fire and has lost his manor house at the end of the novel, he has become weaker

while Jane has grown in strength

—

Jane claims that they are equals, but the marriage dynamic has

actually tipped in her favor.

St. John Rivers

St. John Rivers is a foil to Edward Rochester. Whereas Rochester is passionate, St. John is austere

and

ambitious.

Jane

often

describes

Rochester’s

eyes

as

flashing

and

flaming,

whereas

she

constantly

associates

St. John

with

rock,

ice,

and

snow. Marriage

with Rochester

represents

the

abandonment of principle for the consummation of passion, but marriage to St. John would mean

sacrificing passion for principle. When he invites her to come to India with him as a missionary, St.

John offers Jane the chance to make a more meaningful contribution to society than she would as

a

housewife.

At

the

same

time,

life

with

St.

John

would

mean

life

without

true

love,

in

which

Jane’s need for spiritual solace would be filled only by retreat into the recesses of her own soul.

Independence

would

be

accompanied

by

loneliness,

and

joining

St.

John

would

require

Jane

to

neglect her own legitimate needs for love and emotional support. Her consideration of St. John’s

proposal

leads

Jane

to

understand

that,

paradoxically,

a

large

part

of

one’s

personal

freedom

is

found in a relationship of mutual emotional dependence.

Helen Burns

Helen Burns, Jane’s friend at Lowood School, serves as a foil to Mr. Brocklehurst as well as to

Jane. While Mr. Brocklehurst embodies an evangelical form of religion that seeks to strip others of

their excessive pride or of their ability to take pleasure in worldly things, Helen represents a mode

of Christianity that stresses tolerance and acceptance. Brocklehurst uses religion to gain power and

to

control

others;

Helen

ascetically

trusts

her

own

faith

and

turns

the

other

cheek

to

Lowood’s

harsh policies.

Although

Helen

manifests

a

certain

strength

and

intellectual

maturity,

her

efforts

involve

self-negation

rather

than

self-

assertion,

and

Helen’s

submissive

and

ascetic

nature

highlights

Jane’s more headstrong charac

ter. Like Jane, Helen is an orphan who longs for a home, but Helen

believes that she will find this home in Heaven rather than Northern England. And while Helen is

not oblivious to the injustices the girls suffer at Lowood, she believes that justice will be found in

God’s ultimate judgment—

God will reward the good and punish the evil. Jane, on the other hand,

is unable to have such blind faith. Her quest is for love and happiness in this world. Nevertheless,

she counts on God for support and guidance in her search.

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

Love versus Autonomy

Jane Eyre is very much the story of a quest to be loved. Jane searches, not just for romantic love,

but also f

or a sense of being valued, of belonging. Thus Jane says to Helen Burns: ―to gain some

real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit

to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and

let it dash its hoof at my chest‖ (Chapter 8). Yet, over the course of the book, Jane must learn how

to gain love without sacrificing and harming herself in the process.

Her

fear

of

losing

her

autonomy

motivates

her

refusal

of

Rochester’s

marriage

proposal.

Jane

believes that ―marrying‖ Rochester while he remains legally tied to Bertha would mean rendering

herself a mistress and sacrificing her own integrity for the sake of emotional gratification. On the

other hand, her life at Moor House tests her in the opposite manner. There, she enjoys economic

independence

and

engages

in

worthwhile

and

useful

work,

teaching

the

poor;

yet

she

lacks

emotional

sustenance.

Although

St.

John

proposes

marriage,

offering

her

a

partnership

built

around a common purpose, Jane knows their marriage would remain loveless.

Nonetheless, the events of Jane’s stay at Moor House are necessary tests of Jane’s autonomy. Only

after proving her self-sufficiency to herself can she marry Rochester and not be asymmetrically

dependent upon him as her ―master.‖ The marriage can be one between equals. As Jane says: ―I

am my husband’s life as fully as he is mine. . . . To be together is for us to be at once as free as in

solitude, as gay as in company. . . . We are precisely suited in character

—

perfect concord is the

result‖ (Chapter 38).

Religion

Throughout

the

novel,

Jane

struggles

to

find

the

right

balance

between

moral

duty

and

earthly

pleasure,

between

obligation

to

her

spirit

and

attention

to

her

body.

She

encounters

three

main

religious figures: Mr. Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, and St. John Rivers. Each represents a model of

religion that Jane ultimately rejects as she forms her own ideas about faith and principle, and their

practical consequences.

Mr.

Brocklehurst

illustrates

the

dangers

and

hypocrisies

that

Charlotte

Bront?

perceived

in

the

nineteenth-century Evangelical movement. Mr. Brocklehurst adopts the rhetoric of Evangelicalism

when he claims to be purging his students of pride, but his method of subjecting them to various

privations

and

humiliations,

like

when

he

orders

that

the

naturally

curly

hair

of

one

of

Jane’s

classmates

be

cut

so

as

to

lie

straight,

is

entirely

un-

Christian.

Of

course,

Brocklehurst’s

proscriptions are difficult to follow, and his hypocritical support of his own luxuriously wealthy

family

at

the

expense

of

the

Lowood

students

shows

Bront?’s

wariness

of

the

Evangelical

movement.

Helen

Burns’s

meek

and

forbearing

mode

of

Christianity,

on

the

other

hand,

is

too

passive for Jane to adopt as her own, although she loves and admires Helen for it.

Many

chapters

later,

St.

John

Rivers

provides

another

model

of

Christian

behavior.

His

is

a

Christianity of ambition, glory, and extreme self-importance. St. John urges Jane to sacrifice her

emotional deeds for the fulfillment of her moral duty, offering her a way of life that would require

her to be disloyal to her own self.

Although

Jane

ends

up

rejecting

all

three

models

of

religion,

she

does

not

abandon

morality,

spiritualism, or a belief in a Christian God. When her wedding is interrupted, she prays to God for

solace

(Chapter

26).

As

she

wanders

the

heath,

poor

and

starving,

she

puts

her

survival

in

the

hands of God (Chapter 28). She strongly objects to Rochester’s lustful immorality, and she refus

es

to consider living with him while church and state still deem him married to another woman. Even

so, Jane can barely bring herself to leave the only love she has ever known. She credits God with

helping her to escape what she knows would have been an immoral life (Chapter 27).

Jane ultimately finds a comfortable middle ground. Her spiritual understanding is not hateful and

oppressive like Brocklehurst’s, nor does it require retreat from the everyday world as Helen’s and

St. John’s religions do. For Jane,

religion helps curb immoderate passions, and it spurs one on to

worldly efforts and achievements. These achievements include full self-knowledge and complete

faith in God.

Social Class

Jane

Eyre

is

critical

of

Victorian

England’s

strict

social

hierarchy.

Bront?’s

exploration

of

the

complicated social position of governesses is perhaps the novel’s most important treatment of this

theme.

Like Heathcliff in

Wuthering Heights, Jane is a figure of ambiguous class standing and,

consequently,

a

source

of

extreme

tension

for

the

characters

around

her.

Jane’s

manners,

sophistication,

and

education

are

those

of

an

aristocrat,

because

Victorian

governesses,

who

tutored children in etiquette as well as academics, were expected to possess the ―culture‖ of the

aristocracy. Yet, as paid employees, they were more or less treated as servants; thus, Jane remains

penniless

and

powerless

while

at

Thornfield.

Jane’s

understanding

of

the

double

standard

crystallizes when she becomes aware of her feelings for Rochester; she is his intellectual, but not

his

social,

equal.

Even

before

the

crisis

surrounding

Bertha

Mason,

Jane

is

hesitant

to

marry

Rochester because she senses that she would feel indebted to him for

“

condescending‖ to marry

her. Jane’s distress, which appears most strongly in Chapter 17, seems to be Bront?’s critique of

Victorian class attitudes.

Jane herself speaks out against class prejudice at certain moments

in the book. For example, in

Chapter 23 she chastises Rochester: ―Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, p

lain, and little, I

am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!

—

I have as much soul as you

—

and full as much heart!

And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for

you

to

leave

me,

as

it

is

now

for

me

to

leave

yo

u.‖

However,

it

is

also

important

to

note

that

nowhere

in

Jane

Eyre

are

society’s

boundaries

bent.

Ultimately,

Jane

is

only

able

to

marry

Rochester as his equal because she has almost magically come into her own inheritance from her

uncle.

Gender Relations

Jane

struggles

continually

to

achieve

equality

and

to

overcome

oppression.

In

addition

to

class

hierarchy, she must fight against patriarchal domination

—

against those who believe women to be

inferior to men and try

to treat them as such. Three central

male figures threaten her desire for

equality

and

dignity:

Mr.

Brocklehurst,

Edward

Rochester,

and

St.

John

Rivers.

All

three

are

misogynistic on some level. Each tries to keep Jane in a submissive position, where she is unable

to express her own thoughts and feelings. In her quest for independence and self-knowledge, Jane

must

escape

Brocklehurst,

reject

St.

John,

and

come

to

Rochester

only

after

ensuring

that

they

may marry as equals. This last condition is met once Jane proves herself able to function, through

the time she spends at Moor House, in a community and in a family. She will not depend solely on

Rochester for love and she can be financially independent. Furthermore, Rochester is blind at the

novel’s

end

and

thus

dependent

upon

Jane

to

be

his

―prop

and

guide.‖

In

Chapter

12,

Jane

articulates what was for her time a radically feminist philosophy:

Women

are

supposed

to

be

very

calm

generally:

but

women

feel

just

as

men

feel;

they

need

exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer

from

too

rigid

a

restraint,

too

absolute

a

stagnation,

precisely

as

men

would

suffer;

and

it

is

narrow-minded

in

their

more

privileged

fellow-creatures

to

say

that

they

ought

to

confine

themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering

bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more

than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform

the text’s major themes.

Fire and Ice

Fire and ice appear throughout Jane Eyre. The former represents Jane’s passions, anger, and spirit,

while the latter symbolizes the oppressive forces trying t

o extinguish Jane’s vitality. Fire is also a

metaphor for Jane, as the narrative repeatedly associates her with images of fire, brightness, and

warmth. In Chapter 4, she likens her mind to ―a ridge of lighted heath, alive, glancing, devouring.‖

We can reco

gnize Jane’s kindred spirits by their similar links to fire; thus we read of Rochester’s

―flaming and flashing‖ eyes (Chapter 25). After he has been blinded, his face is compared to ―a

lamp quenched, waiting to be relit‖ (Chapter 37).

Images

of

ice

and

cold,

often

appearing

in

association

with

barren

landscapes

or

seascapes,

symbolize emotional desolation, loneliness, or even death. The ―death

-

white realms‖ of the arctic

that Bewick describes in his History of British Birds parallel Jane’s physical and spir

itual isolation

at Gateshead (Chapter 1). Lowood’s freezing temperatures—

for example, the frozen pitchers of

water

that

greet

the

girls

each

morning

—mirror

Jane’s

sense

of

psychological

exile.

After

the

interrupted wedding to Rochester, Jane describes her

state of mind: ―A Christmas frost had come

at mid-summer: a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts

crushed

the

blowing

roses;

on

hay- field

and

corn-field

lay

a

frozen

shroud . . . and

the

woods,

which

twelve

hours

since

waved

leafy

and

fragrant

as

groves

between

the

tropics,

now

spread,

waste, wild, and white as pine-

forests in wintry Norway. My hopes were all dead. . . .‖ (Chapter

26). Finally, at Moor House, St. John’s frigidity and stiffness are established through

comparisons

with ice and cold rock. Jane writes: ―By degrees, he acquired a certain influence over me that took

away my liberty of mind. . . . I fell under a freezing spell‖(Chapter 34). When St. John proposes

marriage to Jane, she concludes that ―[a]s hi

s curate, his comrade, all would be right. . . . But as

his wife

—

at his side always, and always restrained, and always checked

—

forced to keep the fire

of

my

nature

continually

low,

to

compel

it

to

burn

inwardly

and

never

utter

a

cry,

though

the

imprisoned flame consumed vital after vital

—this would be unendurable‖ (Chapter 34).

Substitute Mothers

Poet

and

critic

Adrienne

Rich

has

noted

that

Jane

encounters

a

series

of

nurturing

and

strong

women on whom she can model herself, or to whom she can look for comfort and guidance: these

women serve as mother-figures to the orphaned Jane.

The first such figure that Jane encounters is the servant Bessie, who soothes Jane after her trauma

in the red-room and teaches her to find comfort in stories and songs. At Lowood, Jane meets Miss

Temple, who has no power in the world at large, but possesses great spiritual strength and charm.

Not only does she shelter Jane from pain, she also encourages her intellectual development. Of

Miss Temple, Jane writes: ―she had stood by me

in the stead of mother, governess, and latterly,

companion‖ (Chapter 10). Jane also finds a comforting model in Helen Burns, whose lessons in

stamina teach Jane about self-worth and the power of faith.

After Jane and Rochester’s wedding is cancelled, Jane

finds comfort in the moon, which appears

to

her

in

a

dream

as

a

symbol

of

the

matriarchal

spirit. Jane

sees

the

moon as

―a white

human

form‖ shining in the sky, ―inclining a glorious brow earthward.‖ She tells us: ―It spoke to my spirit:

immeasurably

distant

was

the

tone,

yet

so

near,

it

whispered

in

my

heart

—―My

daughter,

flee

temptation.‖

Jane

answers,

―Mother,

I

will‖

(Chapter

27).

Waking

from

the

dream,

Jane

leaves

Thornfield.

Jane finds two additional mother- figures in the characters of Diana and Mary Rivers. Rich points

out that the sisters bear the names of the pagan and Christian versions of ―the Great Goddess‖:

Diana, the Virgin huntress, and Mary, the Virgin Mother. Unmarried and independent, the Rivers

sisters love learning and reciting poetry and live as intellectual equals with their brother St. John.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Bertha Mason

Bertha

Mason

is

a

complex

presence

in

Jane

Eyre.

She

impedes

Jane’s

happiness

,

but

she

also

catalyses

the

growth

of

Jane’s

self

-understanding.

The

mystery

surrounding

Bertha

establishes

suspense

and

terror

to

the

plot

and

the

atmosphere.

Further,

Bertha

serves

as

a

remnant

and

reminder of Rochester’s youthful libertinism.

Yet Bertha can also be interpreted as a symbol. Some critics have read her as a statement about the

way

Britain

feared

and

psychologically

―locked

away‖

the

other

cultures

it

encountered

at

the

height

of

its

imperialism.

Others

have

seen

her

as

a

symbolic

represent

ation

of

the

―trapped‖

Victorian wife, who is expected never to travel or work outside the house and becomes ever more

frenzied

as

she

finds

no

outlet

for

her

frustration

and

anxiety.

Within

the

story,

then,

Bertha’s

insanity

could

serve

as

a

warning

to Jane

of

what

complete

surrender

to Rochester

could

bring

about.

One could also see Bertha as a manifestation of Jane’s subconscious feelings—

specifically, of her

rage against oppressive social and gender norms. Jane declares her love for Rochester, but she also

secretly fears marriage to him and feels the need to rage against the imprisonment it could become

for her. Jane never manifests this fear or anger, but Bertha does. Thus Bertha tears up the bridal

veil,

and

it

is

Bertha’s

existence

that

indeed

stops

t

he

wedding

from

going

forth.

And,

when

Thornfield comes to represent a state of servitude and submission for Jane, Bertha burns it to the

ground.

Throughout

the

novel,

Jane

describes

her

inner

spirit

as

fiery,

her

inner

landscape

as

a

―ridge

of

lighted

heath‖

(Chapter

4).

Bertha

seems

to

be

the

outward

manifestation

of

Jane’s

interior fire. Bertha expresses the feelings that Jane must keep in check.

The Red-Room

The

red-room

can

be

viewed

as

a

symbol

of

what

Jane

must

overcome

in

her

struggles

to

find

freedom,

happiness,

and

a

sense

of

belonging.

In

the

red-

room,

Jane’s

position

of

exile

and

imprisonment first becomes clear. Although Jane is eventually freed from the room, she continues

to be socially ostracized, financially trapped, and excluded from love; her sense of independence

and her freedom of self-expression are constantly threatened.

The red-

room’s importance as a symbol continues throughout the novel. It reappears as a memory

whenever

Jane

makes

a

connection

between her

current

situation

and

that

first

feeling

of

being

ridiculed.

Thus

she

recalls

the

room

when

she

is

humiliated

at

Lowood.

She

also

thinks

of

the

room on the night that she decides to leave Thornfield after Rochester has tried to convince her to

become an undignified mistress. Her destitute condition upon her departure from Thornfield also

threatens

emotional

and

intellectual

imprisonment,

as

does

St.

John’s

marriage

proposal.

Only

after

Jane

has

asserted

herself,

gained

financial

independence,

and

found

a

spiritual

family

—

which turns out to be her real family

—

can she wed Rochester and find freedom in and

through marriage.

Summary: Chapter 23

After a blissful two weeks, Jane encounters Rochester in the gardens. He invites her to walk with

him, and Jane, caught off guard, accepts. Rochester confides that he has finally decided to marry

Blanche Ingram and tells Jane that he knows of an available governess position in Ireland that she

could take. Jane expresses her distress at the great distance that separates Ireland from Thornfield.

The t

wo seat themselves on a bench at the foot of the chestnut tree, and Rochester says: ―we will

sit there in peace to-

night, though we should never more be destined to sit there together.‖ He tells

Jane

that

he

feels

as

though

they

are

connected

by

a

―cord

of

communion.‖

Jane

sobs—―for

I

could repress what I endured no longer,‖ she tells us, ―I was obliged to yield.‖ Jane confesses her

love for Rochester, and to her surprise, he asks her to be his wife. She suspects that he is teasing

her,

but

he

convinces

her

otherwise

by

admitting

that

he

only

brought

up

marrying

Blanche

in

order to arouse Jane’s jealousy. Convinced and elated, Jane accepts his proposal. A storm breaks,

and the newly engaged couple hurries indoors through the rain. Rochester helps Jane out of her

wet coat, and he seizes the opportunity to kiss her. Jane looks up to see Mrs. Fairfax watching,

astonished. That night, a bolt of lightning splits the same chestnut tree under which Rochester and

Jane had been sitting that evening.

Analysis: Chapters 22

–

25

After her stay at Gateshead, Jane comes to understand fully what Rochester and Thornfield mean

to

her.

Having

been

acutely

reminded

of

the

abjection

and

cruelty

she

suffered

during

her

childhood, Jane

now

realizes

how

different

her

life

has

become,

how

much

she has

gained

and

how much she has grown. In Rochester she has found someone she truly cares for

—

someone who,

despite

periodic

shows

of

brusqueness,

nevertheless

continues

to

admire

Jane

and

care

for

her

tenderly.

Moreover,

Rochester

gives

her

a

true

sense

of

belonging,

something

she

has

always

lacked. As she tells him, ―wherever you are is my home—my only home.‖

Although

Rochester’s

declaration

of

love

and

marriage

proposal

make

Jane

exceedingly

happy,

she is also very apprehensive about the marriage. Her feelings of dread may stem in part from a

subconscious

intimation

of

Rochester’s

dark

and

horrible

secret,

which

will

be

divulged

in

the

next few chapters: the eerie laughter she has heard, the mysterious fire from which she rescued

Rochester, th

e strange figure who tears Jane’s wedding veil, and other smaller clues may have led

Jane to make some subconscious conclusions about what she will consciously find out only later.

Another possibility is that Jane’s misgivings stem from other concerns. She

has always longed for

freedom and escape, and marrying Rochester would be a form of tying herself down. Jane may

worry

that

the

marriage

will

encroach

upon

her

autonomy,

and

even

enforce

her

submission

to

Rochester.

Not

only

would

the

marriage

bring

her

into

a

relationship

of

responsibility

and

commitment to another person, it could cement her into a position of inferiority.