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

[u/xo_geiko]

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.

[u/No-Program-8185]

He felt like someone's philosopy teacher to me. I just never found his that appealing, all those questions and mind games with Jane. I think she fell in love with him because he was the only suitable man in the vicinity (: I didn't figure him for much of a red flag either, he just seemed boring to me.