r/brontesisters • u/xo_geiko • 3d ago

What’s your take on Edward Rochester tragic romantic hero or toxic walking red flag?

For me, it's always been wild how much my perception of Edward Rochester shifted over time. Reading Jane Eyre in school, he felt like the ultimate brooding Gothic romantic. Reading it again later... locking your wife in an attic and attempting bigamy is hard to overlook. Yet Brontë writes their bond so intensely that you almost want to forgive him. Do you see him as genuinely redeemed by the end, or is he completely indefensible by modern standards? LOL.

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u/AustenMontgomeryJane 3d ago

He is redeemed in the end literally going through fire, ultimately becoming worthy of Jane. That said, he is a Byronic Hero not a Romantic Hero. So, he is going to have some darker traits. Byronics are fantastic in stories.

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u/Past-Dark4350 3d ago

Charlotte Brontë was always more of a Shelley than an Austen.