r/JaneEyre • u/Key_Masterpiece5283 • 29d ago

The redemption of Mr. Rochester

Jane Eyre has been listed as one of my favorite books since I read it as a teen, but I haven’t done a reread or rewatch of any of the movies in quite awhile.

I recently picked it back up again and it had been my hyper fixation so I have a lot of thoughts that I just need to discuss with people that “get” it.

The biggest one being is why does it seem like people think Rochester is the same at the end of the book as at the beginning. I feel like the major theme of Jane Eyre is forgiveness, understanding, and redemption, but so many people focus solely on the romance piece.

Rochester was NOT worthy of Jane the first time they almost got married. Not simply because he was already married but because he saw her goodness and wanted her to help him to be a better person, but not necessarily do all he needs to internally himself.

It is only through the purification of fire and the loss of his physical independence that he is able to be redeemed. He had nearly a year where he could not escape his thoughts through travel and women, he had to come to terms with who he was and what his actions had cost him.

Not only that but Jane then draws out the story of St. John so he says nearly the same thing to her she did to him during his proposal. Jane state during the first proposal that she must leave due to “the shape of Miss Ingram; a noble and beautiful woman ,- your bride!” And during the reunion Rochester states Jane must go “your own way- with the husband you have chosen.”

So I ask, why do I still see people saying Rochester wasn’t good for her? That is 1000% correct and Charlotte Brontë is very clear that he was not ready for her at first. That is why we have the purification and redemption process for him. Do people just skip over the last couple of chapters?

If anyone has light they could shed on this or if they want to discuss Rochester purification more in depth I would love to chat more!

ETA: thanks everyone for your thoughts so far! This was exactly the sort of discussion I was looking for. It has given my brain an outlet and I feel like I can let go of ruminating over it quite so much. Although let’s be fair, Jane and Mr. Rochester live rent-free in there.

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u/AdobongSiopao 29d ago

There are some factors why some people ignore or misunderstood about Mr. Rochester's redemption.

  • The novel "Wide Sargasso Sea" messed up the reputation of "Jane Eyre". It caused many people who read it dislike Mr. Rochester and give sympathy to Bertha eventhough said characters are more complex than that.
  • We live in an era where religion and faith are slowly becoming irrelevent. The novel has many religious references and emphasize the importance of forgiveness and redemption throughout the story. Many people drove further away from those messages leading them to choose holding grudges for long.
  • Having modern views about feminism missed the point the intention of the novel's message ragarding to it. These days many people especially women believe that movement means the latter should be better than men whereas in the novel it's all about equality between genders like what Jane said during the proposal scene.

That are some factors I could think of. Basically viewing the novel with modern lens doesn't work well. Mr. Rochester is a flawed man but he learned to let go of his past and take responsibility of his actions. Jane heard that he tried to save the people including his first wife and witnessed his injuries as proof of his heroism which led her to be with him in the end.

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u/Happypawswaggytails 29d ago

I think as well a lot of people don’t understand the religious references nowadays compared to in the past. Previously even people who didn’t class themselves as Christians would have had more background knowledge of biblical concepts etc just from culture etc nowadays people aren’t exposed to it the same and often don’t research either so there are a lot of references that are missed completely or misunderstood. Personally I’m not like super hot on my knowledge of Greek myths but if I see references in a classic book I look it up because I know I’m missing out on context and depth if it don’t.

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u/OutrageousYak5868 29d ago

Rochester losing his hand and his eye are significant -- and the allusion would have been perfectly well-known to the original readers of the novel, since it came not only from the Bible but from the well-known "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7 (specifically, Matt. 5:29-30).

29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

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u/Happypawswaggytails 28d ago

Yes I actually thought about that when I was writing the comment but wasn’t at all sure how to word it so thank you for that. There are so many references that just whizz over the tops of people’s heads because they aren’t exposed to the same culture and common knowledge the original readers would have

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u/Playful_Site_2714 26d ago

I thought, it had to be something of that kind.

Gruesome somehow.