For today’s blog, I’d like you to discuss the end of Jane Eyre. Did you find it appropriate and satisfying or were you disappointed in the ending? Explain why.
Dr. Susan Farrell
26 Glebe Street, #205
Email: farrells@cofc.edu
Office Hours: Tu 1-2:30, W 1:30-3, and by appointment
I was disappointed in the ending of Jane Eyre. I despise the character of Mr. Rochester and do not believe he deserved Jane. It felt like a quick and random way to wrap up the novel and make it more appealable to the social norms of the time. It felt the same as when in Little Women, Jo got married despite seeming entirely detached from the idea of marriage. The whole point of Jane Eyre seemed to be Jane finding her own autonomy and authority while balancing a life of passion and tameness. Doing research for my paper and presentation, I found that many critics agree with my criticisms. There just seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the ending and the rest of the novel as a whole. To me, the ideal ending would have been for Jane to go off somewhere else, not go back to the place where she faced so much. It would have been more satisfying for her to start a new adventure elsewhere where the reader knew that she would be happy, regardless of finding love. An adventure where she could practice religion and self acceptance on her own terms without influences of characters already introduced in the novel. I will say that I was happy that she was able to save Adele from the same fate she had at Lowood school.
Personally, I did not find the ending of the novel very satisfying. While I understand Rochester’s merits, such as his attempts to save his servants and Bertha from the fire, I’m not sure I could say that he deserves his ‘happy ending’ or Jane’s love in the end. I also find it difficult to accept that Jane could finally only feel equal to him once he has been physically disabled and severely traumatized, relying on her for many functions. Would they still feel that sense of equality if not for Rochester’s disability? Jane spends much of the novel striving for independence and her own sense of self, which makes it ironic that she finally finds her happiness in the embrace of Rochester after all they have been through. This is not to say that he is not worthy of redemption, but I wonder if he would still be the same way if not for his injuries and the destruction of his home. It feels as if the power imbalance between Jane and Rochester has simply reversed, and this is the only way for Jane to see herself as his equal, even if it is not the reality. Overall, I do find Jane Eyre’s ending to be a bit disappointing; in my opinion, Jane could have done better if she had managed to find closure with Rochester and move on from him entirely– however, I’m not sure if this could have even been possible.
I feel conflicted about the ending of the novel. For certain, I don’t like the treatment of Bertha. It’s sad that she is ultimately used as just a plot device and once she’s “out of the way” Jane and Rochester can be together. I loved seeing Jane develop as a person throughout the novel and grow confidence in herself. It was really interesting to see her work to balance passion and stability. I personally do not like Mr. Rochester and don’t think he deserves Jane. I feel it was hard to see the Jane could only feel equal to him after he was hurt physically and emotionally. However, I think her marrying Mr. Rochester at the end also makes sense because it fulfills her need for family and stability. It makes sense that Jane’s character, who starts her novel being alone with nothing to her name, would be concluded with a complete turnaround of being able to create her own family. I also like that she is able to give Adele a better childhood by moving her out of a school she’s unhappy with. I think this is a satisfying detail at the end of the book. When Jane was younger, she was powerless over where she got to go and had to endure hardships and being unhappy. Now that she is older and has claimed her autonomy, she now has the power to help a child leave that situation.
I wasn’t particularly keen on the ending. I’ve expressed my grievances with Rochester previously and reiterating them will do no good. Adding to them, Rochester did not become more likable because of his disabilities and lack of reason to marry Jane now. If anything, he’s honestly less likable. However, I cannot fault Jane for this. People love people without rationality and it would be ridiculous otherwise to critique Jane for that. Apart from Rochester, I do like the rest of the ending and especially with the conclusion of St. John’s character. The ending quote from him was completely awesome. Overall, the novel to me is mostly a conflict of who gets to influence Jane the most with her attempting to stop it when she can until the end is her ultimate decision to do what she wants, even if that initial affection for Rochester can be related to that persuasion. I liked it, overall. Jane is an interesting character and just about every man in a position of power is a deplorable monster, which totally makes sense in this case. If nothing else, Jane’s happiness by the end was satisfying.
I discuss this further in my presentation for today, but after rereading Jane Eyre from a more critical lens in this class I’m left sort of disappointed with Jane’s final decision. I’ve never looked too far into Jane’s Christianity and Evangelical ideals, but by ending the book even more devout to not only God but to a man than she ever wanted to be, it feels almost as if she’s done a complete 180 on the goal she had at the beginning of the novel.
Of course, Brontë was an Evangelical and most certainly did not mean to make this point, but from our standpoint in modern times it’s clear to see that Jane succumbs to two separate yet intertwined oppressive forces. Victorian women at the time dealt with conflations like this consistently, so Jane was not alone.
As I also point out in my presentation- by leaving Jane conflicted in her faith and independence is a reflection of how conflicted she felt in her identity as “Mrs. Rochester” after marriage. This serves as an unintentional “Gothic Double” like we’ve discussed in class. All this to say, my new reading of the ending didn’t change my love for the book, but I certainly feel like I understand the story more and can learn to appreciate the message and it’s complications.
While I did not necessarily like the ending of Jane Eyre, I also was not effected by it too much. Mr. Rochester is an odd character with obviously many flaws and even though I did not really want Jane to settle for him, it was nice to see the marriage as equal. Especially for jane who has had nothing her whole life. Now she has a stable life and someone who depends on her and is treated as an equal in the relationship. Throughout the book, Jane has dreams of children that she views as a bad omen and receives bad news after having them so while I did not think she wanted to have children, maybe the ending expressed how she was now in a good place in her life where she could see them as not representing a bad thing. I of course did not like the treatment of Bertha Mason at all and found it very wrong that after she had died then Jane found it okay to marry Rochester. Bertha represents confinement and the oppression women faced during this time period and without having her situation resolved and just ending it with her dying so that jane is free to marry Rochester now made the ending very unsatisfying.