Spoilers! Read it before reading on!
I'm still organizing my thoughts and feelings for this book, and I'm afraid even when I do, I won't be able to explain justly how much it touched me.
While it doesn't well fit into our modern climate, with it's patriarchal relationships and poor treatment of the mentally disabled, when published it was quite progressive. Bertha Mason had a genetic disorder, which some guess to be hunter, which didn't appear until after Mr. Rochester had married her. Though her disorder isn't clearly explained, it does say she suffered fits of violence. She ruined his reputation and became a burden, one which he no longer wished to be married to. Now, you can get divorced whenever you feel like it, but he was stuck with her until one of them died, which in fairness, would have sucked. He married her in his early 20s, and brought her back to England where he hid her away for years.
This was done for selfish reasons, not wanting to be associated with her, but at the time it would have still been better than a mental asylum where patients were poorly treated. I do wonder if his actions made her condition worse, considering she went after him in his bed and then breaking Jane's wedding veil, making her sound somewhat lucid. But it really is unclear, and not an easy predicament for Mr. Rochester to be in.
What does tarnish his character is his lies, often directed towards Jane. He led her on that he was interested in Blanche Ingram, and then even pretended to be engaged to her, though she had already left and lost interest in him. He tried to make her jealous, and even dressed as a fortune teller to trick Jane into admitting her feelings. The lengths he went to, when he could have plainly asked, or been more obvious in his attempts to show how much he liked her. He was even going to marry her, knowing full well it was bigamy and she would not have consented had she known. He let her live in the same house as his wife, and when the wife attacked, not only did he continue to keep the secret, but he tried to convince Jane she imagined it. Come on, man.
As a character, I still love him; but if he were a real person, and Jane my friend, I would have advised her to leave him. She was only 18 when they fell in love. The age difference itself isn't the problem, but the fact this was her venture into the world, and the first man she was ever really acquainted. I'd say those two things could cloud her judgement.
Fortunately, these characters are fiction, and by the end of the book it's quite apparent they are well suited for each other. Jane was not hurt by his harsh words, and multiple times mentioned that she preferred them to nice or calm ones. She also understood and pitied him for his past misfortunes. Mr. Rochester, during their time apart, became a better person. He became blind and crippled because of a fire at Thornfield, and thought it a punishment for what he had done to Jane. He told her that, if he had gotten what he wanted, he would have hurt her. And he was glad he didn't. Once an asshole, he was impossible to hate here, especially when he expressed such concern for her leaving without any belongs.
"I should not have left him thus, he said, without any means of making my way: I should have told him my intention. I should have confided in him: he would never have forced me to be his mistress. Violent as he had seemed in his despair, he, in truth, loved me far too well and too tenderly to constitute himself my tyrant: he would have given me half his fortune, without demanding so much as a kiss in return, rather than I should have flung myself friendless on the wide world."
God, that part had me weeping.
Their love, seemingly unhealthy, was strong and true. And proven when she heard him call her, and when he heard her answer, even though miles and miles away.
My main focus is on the romance aspect of this book, I don't have much to say about her childhood or family matters. But what I can say, is I love that she found her cousins and became close with them, even sharing their uncles' fortune. And as far as her childhood goes, Helen Burns was such a good influence on Jane, and so perfect a person. She was 14 and at peace with dying, and I could clearly hear her soft tone through the pages. Jane, at that time, was pretty angry at everyone who had wronged her, and I believe Helen helped her find peace with her situation, if not immediately, later in life. Their friendship had an unfortunate end, and I would have liked to see who Helen grew up to be.
When I get my hands on all the movie and TV versions of Jane Eyre, expect my review on them!
I need more of these characters, and this story.
feel free to discuss with me below!