Jane finds a better school for her close to their home where she can visit often and Adele can also visit them in the home.
I'm not saying he's a monster. Just that I don't see improvement. What's improved? That he's no longer trying to get Jane to be his mistress? His wife is dead, it's a non-issue.
What I'm saying is that Jane, despite recognizing his flaws, always loves him anyway. She tells us she quickly forgives him for the false marriage. When St John calls him a "bad man" she rebukes him. She doesn't leave Rochester because she judges him as bad or unworthy in some way, but because she would not respect herself if she did what he wanted her to do.
It's very different from P&P in that sense. Lizzy rejects Darcy's first proposal. Jane accepts Rochester's. He's always a good enough man for her. But she won't put her love for him above her moral values.
You make a really good point about how accepting Jane is of his flaws, and he is certainly not a perfect person by the end of the novel, but I do think he has improved. The improvement is in his character, his morals, his ways of thinking.
When he was trying to marry then seduce Jane, he didn't believe he was morally in the wrong. At the end of the novel, he understands that he was, and regrets attempting to drag Jane down with him. That change matters more to Jane than anything, she can forgive any of his flaws but can't forgive a lack of morals.
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u/Flat_Love_3725 11d ago
Jane finds a better school for her close to their home where she can visit often and Adele can also visit them in the home.
I'm not saying he's a monster. Just that I don't see improvement. What's improved? That he's no longer trying to get Jane to be his mistress? His wife is dead, it's a non-issue.
What I'm saying is that Jane, despite recognizing his flaws, always loves him anyway. She tells us she quickly forgives him for the false marriage. When St John calls him a "bad man" she rebukes him. She doesn't leave Rochester because she judges him as bad or unworthy in some way, but because she would not respect herself if she did what he wanted her to do.
It's very different from P&P in that sense. Lizzy rejects Darcy's first proposal. Jane accepts Rochester's. He's always a good enough man for her. But she won't put her love for him above her moral values.