Lovely Blog Party // Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre

Hello all!  I'm participating in Cordy's Lovely Blog Party which is being held at Every Merry Little Thought for the entire month of February!  (Click here for details.)   

 

The goal for this month is to dedicate at least one post to a favorite fictional couple.  I've chosen Mr. Rochester and Jane because I just recently re-watched the 1983 movie version of this classic novel and I came away from it with a renewed feeling of appreciation for these two characters.  Seriously, if you want a study in character this is your story!  Charlotte Bronte certainly didn't go for one dimensional, cardboard people. 

 

After my recent viewing of the film I had plans to write a post specifically about Mr. Rochester, but when Cordy mentioned the idea of this blog party I rethought it and decided a post about both of them would work just as well.  (Maybe better.) 

 

So here we are.  And I'm going to jump right in and see where this goes.  Hopefully as I write, this post will organize itself into something cohesive because at this point I'm not really sure where it's headed.  (I'm so on top of this.)

Warning:  I'm not going to try and avoid spoilers, so if you're not familiar with this story and have plans for reading the book someday you probably don't want to read this post.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

 

*sigh*  There's something so special about Jane and Mr. Rochester's love story.  There's a depth of understanding and a oneness between them that you don't often see in other fictional couples, at least not to the extent you do here.  They simply "speak each other's language."  They come from entirely different backgrounds, are about twenty years different in age, and yet for some reason they're able to connect with one another like no one else has ever connected with them.  They really, truly understand the workings of the other.  (As far as anyone can understand another human being that is, since of course there will always be some mystery.  No person can be fully known by anyone except God Himself.  Just puttin' that out there.) 

In some ways Jane and Mr. Rochester seem vastly different from each other.  Jane is quiet and proper and to all appearances submissive.  Mr. Rochester is demanding and can often be harsh and overbearing.  But in thinking about this I realized that there are some real similarities between them as well.  They both have a protective streak in them that makes them reach out and take care of those who are in need.  They don't concern themselves overly much with what other people think of them.  And they are both extremely passionate. 

Jane while seeming to be one who could be easily trod upon is anything but that.  She holds her own with a vengeance.  And Mr. Rochester, while almost cruel at times, really has a far more tender heart than most people probably give him credit for.  And Jane sees that in him.

In other words, they're a great match for each other. 

And now.  A few points about them as individuals. 

~Jane~

 

Okay, wow.  Jane is such an amazing character, I'm not even quite sure where to begin.  But I think I'm going to have to use bullet points and just rattle off some things I love about her.

 

• First off, have you ever realized what a forgiving person Jane is?  She's had a lot of hardship in her life.  A lot of ill-treatment.  I'm thinking particularly of her growing up years, with her aunt and cousins.  Her aunt was cruel to her and cast her off, and yet years later when her aunt is on the point of dying Jane is there forgiving her and asking for her forgiveness, and trying to reach out to her. 

"If you could but be persuaded to think no more of it, aunt, and to regard me with kindness and forgiveness-" 

"Many a time, as a little child, I should have been glad to love you if you would have let me; and I long earnestly to be reconciled to you now;" 

"Love me, then, or hate me, as you will.  You have my full and free forgiveness: ask now for God's , and be at peace." 

 

Wow.  I don't think I have to add anymore to that, do I? 
 

• The way she cares for Adelle.  And how she treats her even more tenderly after hearing her history and finding out that she is illegitimate.

• I love how she's not afraid of Mr. Rochester (since he can be rather frightening at times) but how she genuinely cares about him.  Also how she's able to meet him at his own games and tease him and give him a hard time just as he does to her.

 

"...can't you give me a charm, or a philter, or something of that sort, to make me a handsome man?"

     "It would be past the power of magic, sir."  :)

• Jane loves Mr. Rochester.  Despite his past.  Despite all his present faults and failings.  She loves him.  But when that twist of all twists comes and she realizes he has a wife still living (a wife who is mad, yes, but still his wife) she immediately pulls back.  She doesn't love him any less (indeed, it's breaking her heart to be separated from him as much as it's breaking his) but she will not go against her conscience.  She will do what's right no matter how hard it is.  And I find that truly inspiring.  In other cases I feel like the heroine would either 1. give in to him or 2. hate him, and yet Jane doesn't do either of those things.  She loves him, and she leaves him, knowing that it's the right thing for both of them.

~Mr. Rochester~

 

Mr. Complicated, right?  I can see how some people might really dislike Mr. Rochester.  I mean, he's not exactly your typical, moral hero.  However, if you like Jane I really don't see how you can hate Mr. Rochester.  Because Jane likes Mr. Rochester.  And she ought to be the best judge of character in this case, right?

 

Mr. Rochester is indeed a complicated character.  He's not perfect.  (Far from it!)  He makes some pretty awful decisions.  He is in many respects selfish and harsh, and unkind to people, but at the same time...

 

Okay, let me just tell you some things I've noticed about Mr. Rochester that are super cool.

 

• First, can we just get a little understanding of what a hard life he's had, and how those hardships have played a role in shaping him into the complicated person he is?  Thinking about some of the main events in his past I realized he's been betrayed an awful lot.  First by his father and brother in arranging his marriage to Bertha Mason while purposefully withholding from him the fact of her mental condition.  Secondly by his friend, Richard Mason, who also withheld this information from him.  (And it hadn't hit me so before but Richard was his friend.  Someone he should have been able to trust.)  And thirdly, he was betrayed by Adelle's mother.  Made to believe that she loved him, he showered her with all sorts of things and gave himself up to her, only to find out there was another man in the picture as well.  Ouch.  Ouch.  And triple ouch.  (Granted, his own decisions play into these betrayals as well.  He did make bad choices.  The fact that he realizes this later in life and regrets it, says a lot for his character though.  He definitely has a desire to be a better person.)

And despite all his faults, he does have some good qualities which persist in showing themselves.
 

• He takes care of Adelle.  He doesn't believe that she's his child (or won't believe it at any rate) but when she's left with no mother he takes her in and provides for her even though she has no legal claim on him.  (And this, too, after the treatment he'd received from her mother.  Like wow.)   I won't say he's extremely nice to Adelle, he does have a sort of begrudging attitude toward her much of the time, but the fact remains...he took care of her even though it may not have been what he wanted to do.

 

• He cares about Richard Mason.  They were friends after all.  And when Richard gets hurt he does all he can toward helping with his recovery.

 

     "Take care of him," said Mr. Rochester to the latter [the doctor], "and keep him at your house till he is quite well: I shall ride over in a day or two to see how he gets on.  Richard, how is it with you?"

     "The fresh air revives me, Fairfax."

     "Leave the window open on his side, Carter; there is no wind--goodbye, Dick."

 
He called him 'Dick'.  Okay, don't ask me why, but I like that.  And I think it's really significant, because you usually only call people you're close to by nicknames.  And thus it emphasizes the fact again that they're more than just casual acquaintances.  Which I think is important because we can get the idea of Mr. Rochester sometimes that he doesn't care about anyone.  And granted he is rather harsh to Richard at times because he fears what Richard might do to expose his secret.  But I think underneath all that he really does care about him.  (And other people as well.)
 
• Okay, this one is a huge point.  The way Mr. Rochester cares for his wife.  First off he doesn't love her.  And honestly it's hard to love someone who've you never really known...and one who in fact hates you.  (Which she does. )  Also one whom you can never hope to have a real relationship with.  But he provides for her.  He does what he can.  And to clap the climax he risks his own life at the end to save hers.  I mean we talk about people risking their lives to save those they love.  How about a person who risks their life for someone they don't love?  Someone who has in fact attempted to kill them on more than one occasion?  Such a person either has a very strong sense of duty or a far more compassionate heart than they let on.

 

• Mr. Rochester's kindness to Jane.  He treats her as an equal and for one of the first times in her life she has the comfort of feeling valued and not put down by another human being.  I love that about him.  (And sorry, but I'm just going to have to quote another part from the book because it's simply too good to pass up.)

 

Mr. Rochester had sometimes read my unspoken thoughts with an acumen to me incomprehensible: in the present instance he took no notice of my abrupt vocal response; but he smiled at me with a certain smile he had of his own, and which he used but on rare occasions.  He seemed to think it too good for common purposes: it was the real sunshine of feeling - he shed it over me now.

     'Pass, Janet," said he, making room for me to cross the stile: "go up home, and stay your weary little wandering feet at a friend's threshold."

     All I had now to do was to obey him in silence: no need for me to colloquies further.  I got over the stile without a word, and meant to leave him calmly.  An impulse held me fast - a force turned me round.  I said - or something in me said for me, and in spite of me - "Thank you, Mr. Rochester, for your great kindness.  I am strangely glad to get back again to you: and wherever you are is my home - my only home."

 

Seriously.  Aren't they so sweet?

 

 

Okay, so judging from the all that I've had to say about Mr. Rochester I guess it's pretty obvious that I'm highly sympathetic toward him.  As I said before he's not a model hero-- not by any stretch of the imagination--and he's not really a man to be emulated--at least not at the beginning.  But by the end, wow.  What a powerful picture of redemption. 

 

"I thank my Maker, that, in the midst of judgement, he has remembered mercy.  I humbly entreat my Redeemer to give me strength to lead henceforth a purer life than I have done hitherto!" 

Mr. Rochester

 

Isn't that an awesome conclusion?  And it really hits home, too, because that's us, people.  Everyone of us.  Sinners redeemed by Christ's unfailing love and mercy.  Just wow.

 

(Okay, did that get sort of deep or what?  Sorry I'm afraid I have a tendency to overthink things.  This was supposed to be just a simple post about a favorite fictional couple and here I ended up sermonizing.  Or something close to it anyway.  Pardon me.  I think I'll leave now before I thoroughly convince you that I'm a nut when it comes to studying fictional characters.)

 

This was written for Cordy's Lovely Blog Party.  Don't forget to head over to her blog and check out some more of this month's posts!

 

Tell me, do you get a kick out of delving into the intricacies of fictional characters?  What is your opinion of Jane and Mr. Rochester?  

Let's talk about it!