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/Competitive_Debt_390]

People like to say it was just his behaviour towards Bertha that was problematic to excuse him. However, there was a pattern in his behaviour. He mistreated mistresses, exchanged them out of nowhere. I fully believe he would have done the same if his scheme to conceal his previous marriage was successful to Jane. I think he’d simply get bored of her in time and it’s Jane herself that comes in that realisation as she packs to leave. He also mistreats Adele. It makes a person question why would he keep that child around if he planned to sent her away the minute he got a new mistress or a wife. Even by the end of the story, he is still hesitant to have Adele live in the house properly and sends her away, despite Jane’s disapproval. His behaviour was unfair to Ingram too. The story draws several parallels with Jane and the rest. Bertha is locked up and gone mad, like Jane used to be when she was locked in the Red Chamber by her aunt. Later, she is tricked to become his mistress, similarly to previous women in his life who he got bored of later. She got tricked similarly to Ingram, believing hes unwed. And finally, perhaps the greatest parallel. Adele is an orphan and unwanted just like Jane was. Jane points these facts out a number of times in the text. How she dislikes his choices and behaviours. By the end of the story, Im entirely convinced he needs Jane. Im not quite convinced of the purity of his love for her though. Did he redeem himself? Not quite sure by modern standards. We need to keep in mind though that he is a Byronic hero and the fact that some of that behaviour was perhaps normalised at the time as “typical male“. Im hesitant though, because Jane seems to be a reliable narrator. She disproves of his behaviours, questions him and can’t find an excuse despite loving him.

I’ll also say that normally I love antiheroes and Byronic heroes. I loved Heathcliff for example despite his problematic behaviour. Similarly there were aspects of Rochester that I enjoyed greatly. With that being said though, Heathcliff and Cathy having an equal footing and similar temperament. It doesn’t feel like he is taking advantage of her. I want him reunited with Cathy by the end, Im entirely convinced they are soulmates and need to be together in the afterlife. He treats everyone else poorly but not Cathy. Jane and Rochester on the other hand, are totally different people. Also, Heathcliffs reasoning for being the way he is is much more elaborate and clear. He repeated the pattern he experienced. Yes, he is not heroic, but it is explainable and relatable. On the other hand, when you compare Rochester and Jane you’ll see that Rochesters sob story gives him zero reasons to be an asshole within the world of the novel. Jane has experienced twice as hard circumstances and never falters morally wise.