Consider The Obstacles Jane Eyre And Mr. Rochester Must Overcome If They Are To Have A Meaningful Relationship 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…

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