Please talk about anything that interested you in the end of the book. Here are some prompts to get you started thinking:
- Do you think Jane is right to leave Thornfield Hall? What makes up her mind in this scene?
- What did you think of St. John (pronounced “Sin-jin) Rivers? Would he have been a good match for Jane?
- Discuss the “doubled” sets of cousins in novel–John, Eliza, and Georgianna Reed as opposed to St. John, Mary, and Diana Rivers
- Why does Jane return to Thornfield? Does Bronte want us to believe there is some kind of supernatural connection between Jane and Mr. Rochester?
- What do you think about Mr. Rochester at the end of the novel? What has changed about him? Do you think these changes were necessary for the marriage to work?
I personally like the change that Mr. Rochester undergoes. I believe it is not necessary for their marriage to work, but I believe the change in him represents Jane’s character more than anything. We talked in class about them being more equal, and also how losing his sight was a punishment for adultery. Jane leaving Thornfield was extremely valid. She learned to stand up for herself and enforce her values. Later on when they meet again they are more balanced. Jane loving Mr. Rochester despite what happened to him proves she was never in it for status to begin with. It is another example of how she is firm in her beliefs and desires. She made the decision to leave and come back, both had valid reasoning. Her choices prove that she does not let a man influence her decisions. I liked the ending a lot, and I think everything that happened between them needed to happen in order for them to discover themselves.
As disappointed as I was, I think Jane did the right thing in leaving Mr. Rochester. I was disappointed because I think they make a very good match, and that was emphasized with the juxtaposition with St. John’s proposal, but she wouldn’t have been happy or justified if she had chosen to be Mr. Rochester’s mistress. What I wanted to talk about, though, is the stark differences between Mr Rochester and St. John. For one, I found it almost humorous how different the circumstances of proposal between the two were: St John had no love for Jane, but wanted to marry her for circumstance and duty. Mr Rochester’s duty was to another woman and their circumstance made marriage impossible, but he loved Jane dearly and that is why he wanted to marry her. Additionally, the way they both effect Jane’s character is another stark contrast; St. John commands obedience and sucks her dry of all passion (he is referred to as stone just as Mr. Brocklehurst was–which also makes me wonder what that says about religious figures), while Mr Rochester allows her to embrace her warmth and brings out the best in her, as she does him. Needless to say, I do not like St. John, but I know he thought he was doing what was best for himself and his mission, I just hate that he thought he had the right to sacrifice what was best for Jane in doing so.
The doubled sets of cousins, the Reeds versus the Rivers, almost seem to be narrative foils. John Reed as opposed to St. John seems to be impassioned, fiery and aggressive, while St. John is rather cold, and hardened (as he insists many times that he is). While both the girls, Diana and Mary versus Georgiana (another foil here, is Georgiana’s superfluous nature, and vanity, which the Rivers do not seem to have) and Eliza, treat Jane with the utmost care and compassion. The novel takes Jane away from blood relatives to another set of siblings, who, can be considered a “found family” even though later on, we find out that the Rivers are actually Jane’s family. Jane finds throughout the novel that there is power in who she chooses to love, who she finds passion for, rather than being forced to love those who do not love her (like the Reeds).
At the end of the novel, we see Mr. Rochester ask Jane to marry him, to her surprise, and she ends up saying yes. In a way I saw this coming because it was clear he was not in love with or destined to be with Blanche Ingram. It was quite nice to see Jane’s fairytale come true, even if it was sudden and unexpected. In the beginning of the novel Mr. Rochester was a bit rude and cold with Jane. His character was unlikeable and the audience felt the same distaste towards him as Jane did. However, when Jane returns to Thornfield, Mr. Rochester has clearly made character improvements and views Jane as equal to him. Due to this, Jane was delighted to be engaged to him. I don’t blame her distaste towards him in the beginning, as his attitude was childish and embarrassing. He may have been rich, but he was surely lacking charm. However, it was relieving to see his character development at the end of the novel, which I believe was necessary in order for Jane to accept his marriage proposal. Jane was not very fond of him in the earlier days of their relationship, but I do not blame her. However, seeing them grow more fond and then finally coming together was a good ending, in my opinion.
I was glad to see Jane stand up for herself and what she believe was the best decision for her at the time. She was a religious person who wasn’t okay with being Mr. Rochester’s mistress, which is what she would have been since their marriage was illegitimate due to him already being married to Bertha. She got a sign from a dream of her mother telling her to “flee temptation” which she took as her sign to go. I think that it makes for an interesting divide in the book, because when Jane meets and lives with St. John, Mary, and Diana Rivers; she has no idea that they are actually her cousins. Then, it makes a turn to another strange proposal where Jane then knows better. This sets up the perfect plot to bring Mr. Rochester back into the picture. So, when she thinks she hears him in the woods yelling her name, she takes that as a sign that she must make sure he’s okay. She returns to Thornfield to find that it was burnt down by Berta who died, and left Mr. Rochester with only one hand and no sight. When she gets to Mr. Rochester all the feeling are still their and so he proposes again and she says yes. They then end up in a long and happy marriage. They have a baby boy, and Mr. Rochester was able to regain some vision and see his child. I thought this was a nice way to end the novel. I never really disliked Mr. Rochester, but this definitely made me enjoy his character more. I think it made him more of a man to lose Jane, and then almost die trying to save Bertha to getting Jane back.
There are many reasons why St. John is not a good match for Jane. A significant reason for this is because they are cousins. Jane even expresses to him that she views him as a brother. Another reason is that she doesn’t love him. In fact, she is still in love with Mr. Rochester. Even after telling St. John that she can not marry him, he continues to pressure her into it, which is another sign that he is not a good match as he does not respect how she feels. Therefore she makes an effort to further express to him that she can not marry him because it would kill her as she could not imagine going into a marriage without passion and love. After this, he still doesn’t understand. Before St. John began forcing Jane to marry him, I liked him. He made efforts to provide for Jane by giving her a job and a place to live when she had nothing. However, the way he acted after her denying the marriage seemed childish and petty.
Over the course of reading the novel, I didn’t expect to be as invested in Jane and Mr. Rochesters love story as I ended up being. I think that in order for Jane and Mr. Rochester to happily marry, Jane had to leave Thornfield. With Bertha still alive, their marriage wouldn’t have been what it was. Moving on to St. John, I did not think he was a good match for Jane. Even though Jane left Thornfield with no intent to go back, I knew deep down that she likely would end up back there and that she would end up with Mr. Rochester. Knowing this made it difficult for me to support St. John’s relationship with Jane, as well as the fact that he was definitely pressuring Jane to marry him. I think that Jane deserved to be with someone who she truly loved, so i’m glad that she didn’t settle for St. John. I think that through reading this novel we all really saw Jane grow, in the end I think she was very level headed and that she knew who and what she wanted.
I personally have really grown to love Jane and Mr. Rochester together, so seeing Jane leave Thornfield Hall in one way was really painful, but putting myself in her shoes, I would also leave. I do see Mr. Rochester’s reason for not mentioning the marriage, his wife being clinically insane and him also having been tricked into marrying her, it was a tough situation to navigate at that time when divorce didn’t seem to be much of an option. I’m not saying that I think his lying was okay because it wasn’t, but I can understand why he didn’t mention the marriage to Jane. But on the other hand, that is just an inexcusable thing to not mention to someone you supposedly love and are planning to marry…why wouldn’t you mention that you’re already married?! The trust between the two completely broke, especially because they had this very blunt communication with each other, where neither really held back from the truth very often. I also think that this felt like another defeat for Jane when it came to trying to pursue Mr. Rochester. She first felt defeated in her love for him when he was entertaining Blanche’s flirting, but then soon was relieved when he chose her. They were so close to getting married and finally getting what they both wanted (to be with each other), and then all of a sudden there is ANOTHER obstacle. Jane is also religious, so she could have taken these events as signs that she needs to leave and be far from Thornfield.
I thought that the connection between Bertha and Jane in the novel was really interesting. How she always stepped in whenever Jane was having doubts or anxiety about something. It’s like she was trying to give her a sign. When Jane would get upset or was close to figuring out that something was wrong with Mr. Rochester Bertha would do something to interrupt their relationship in some way. The most prevalent example of this is when Jane is having anxieties about the wedding and Bertha literally rips up her veil. Jane was trying to ignore all of the red flags but Bertha was there to remind her of them. I think that Bertha is representative of the more passionate side of Jane. I don’t like that she has to die for Jane to finally marry Mr. Rochester and, in turn, lose part of herself. Women of this time had to repress that more passionate side of themselves and in this novel that repression is literal. That side of Jane is imprisoned in an attic and has to be killed off in order for Jane to be married and enter society.
That being said, I do like that when Edward and Jane do get married the power dynamic shifts and Jane can do it on her own terms. At their first attempt at marriage, Mr. Rochester was rich, withholding information, and pretty controlling about everything. He had the upper hand. The final go-around, they were more or less equals. Before, Mr. Rochester had full sight of everything that was happening and left Jane in the dark about his wife. This time he was literally blind and it was Jane with the upper hand. Jane is in control, she’s marrying him on her terms. “Reader, I married him.” She made the decision and she was in control.
I totally understand why Jane left Thornfield, she found out that Mr. Rochester had been lying to her and was already married to Bertha who was mentally ill. I think I would have also left if it was me. Even if he loved Jane he could not get married because he was still married and would need a divorce but, he could not get a divorce because she could not legally sign it as she was mentally ill, and the only option was for her to die which would turn him into a window. Bertha eventually died in the fire and years later after meeting 3 new cousins and finding out her uncle had died, and almost marrying her cousin she found her love for Mr. Rochester was too strong. After she realized her love for him was too strong, she went back to Thornfield to find out that Bertha had died in the fire, and he was blind and had lost a hand in the fire. She eventually found him, and they married. I am happy she did not marry her cousin St. John and she went to try and see if Mr. Rochester was there, he had moved but, I am happy they eventually were able to marry.
I think that it is valid that Jane ended up leaving Thornfield, she did not feel welcome in a place, as it could only be seen as a “temporary heaven” after learning about Rochester’s wife. She knew that she did not want to be a mistress, and that is what the only option would be while he is still married. Therefore she desired to leave the estate and seek a life elsewhere. If I were Jane, I would be torn with the decision to stay or leave as well, and I would probably make the same decision that she did to leave behind a life of secrecy and betrayal. The reason that she ends up deciding to leave is from the dream of her mother, whispering for her to flee. Personally, I believe that messages from dreams are not accurate, as the subconscious can bring out many possibilities that would never happen in real life. However, she trusts this dream enough as a sign to leave, and I commend her for doing this.
Something that interests me within the novel, and something that occurs earlier on, is the way John’s toxic masculinity translates through relationships. When we first learn of the ways he treats Jane, I immediately learned to dislike his character. To start, Jane describes him as “dingy with unwholesome skin” (12). She then describes how he gorges himself at the dinner table, suggesting his ungrateful greediness. Aside from his terrible attitude, Jane informs us that he “ought to have been in school, but his mamma had taken him home for a month or two, on account of his delicate health” (12). The word delicate is defined as, easily broken or damaged; fragile. Health is something that individuals deal with internally. Because John’s health is described as “delicate,” it suggests how, internally, he is extremely fragile and easily broken; a trait that he is not comfortable showing. John finds great pleasure in tormenting Jane, someone who is clearly inferior to him according to her age and gender; he has an unmatched advantage over her. On the occasion when Jane actually confronts John, he has no other response but to run to his mamma and tattle, showing his immaturity and fear of loss. After being called out by Jane, John’s first response was to say, “What! what!” he cried “Did she say that to me?” (13), as he is unable to genuinely respond to her and acknowledge the feeling of embarrassment. As a young boy in his society, and someone who is clearly smothered by his mother, he most definitely feels a great deal of pressure to be tough and dominate when in reality he has none of those traits. To compensate, he fights easy and targeted battles until we later find out his pathetic contributions to the world. John exemplifies toxic masculinity. He feels his power when he has mamma-support, but when left on his own, his pathetic self only wreaks havoc on the world around him.