Jane Eyre And Mr Rochester Essay, Research Paper

Jane Eyre, written in 1847, is a novel written in autobiographical style about

an orphan girl’s quest for love. The novel reflects contemporary life of that

period and everything that happens is seen from Jane Eyre’s, the protagonists

point of view. Although the story reflects the language, customs, and style of

the Victorian period, the elements of mystery, emotions and struggles transcend

time. The emotion of love is universal to all human beings and in not defined by

a period of time. It is written about similarly from century to century. For the

most part, people seek to be loved and to love. In this respect, Jane Eyre does

not differ. Webster’s dictionary defines a relationship as the mutual exchange

between two people who have dealings with one another. It is a common

observation that human beings have a multitude of different types of

relationships with the individuals they deal with. However, these relationships

are further delineated by gender, culture, age, social status, and authority. A

meaningful relationship between a girl and her girlfriends will generally be

different than the relationship of between her and her male peers. Another

characteristic of human relationships is that they are dynamic. Relationships

can change from day to day, season to season and year to year. At some point in

most individuals’ life they will seek a meaningful, romantic relationship

resulting in love, commitment, companionship and happiness. After a somewhat

hard childhood, deprived of affection, security and love, Jane enjoys much

comfort and freedom at Thornfield. However she continues to experience

restlessness and boredom until the arrival of Mr. Rochester. After a quiet,

reserved period, Jane and Mr. Rochester spend many hours in conversation. Jane

becomes alive in his attention, is stimulated by the challenges he offers and is

comfortable in arguing against his opinions. Throughout the first part of the

novel Jane is presented as exhibiting spiritual isolation . However, she seeks

to give and receive love from her surroundings and those in her surroundings. To

Jane love “is the power which sustains life.” Mr. Rochester confides to Jane

that he is in despair, believing himself doomed to suffer for his past sins.

Although he tells her of a love he once experienced, the love was jaded. Apart

from this brief confession, the reader is aware that Jane and Mr. Rochester’s

conversations are limited to general conversations regarding philosophy. It is

very evident to the reader in the first part of the novel that a mutual

attraction if felt by both Jane and Mr. Rochester. Although, until they can get

through some obstacles that stand in their way, the attraction the share will

not progress into a meaningful relationship; it will remain static. Jane

Eyre’s experiences with the male species is very limited. There do not appear

to be any significant males in her life prior to her arrival at Thornfield.

Therefore, she has no experience in the art of courting Mr. Rochester. He, on

the other hand, appears to have had at least one meaningful romantic

relationship (with Celine Varens) which he describes and confesses to Jane. The

love relationship ended when Rochester discovered that the woman did not really

love him, but loved his money and status. Furthermore, Rochester, from Jane’s

point of view, is being pursued by Blanche Ingram. At one point he suggests to

Jane that he may be marrying Blanche Ingram. The reader, given Jane’s

analytical observations, feels that Mr. Rochester is trying to get Jane to

reveal her feelings for him. However, Jane with her limited experience regarding

males and courtship does not see this. What is holding back the progression of

the relationship is pride and fear of rejected love. We know that Mr. Rochester

is intelligent, proud, and cynical. He hopes that Jane will understand his true

feelings about her and even goes to the extreme of dressing up as a gypsy in

order to find out if Jane really does love him. However, Jane does not see

through the deeper meaning of this deception and tells him very little of her

feelings. Once again, it is her pride that stops her. Many people would classify

this as a situation of “you tell me…

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