"Most true is that 'beauty is in the eye of the gazer.' My master's colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong features, firm, grim mouth,-all energy, decision, will,-were not beautiful, according to rule; but they were more than beautiful to me; they were full of an interest, an influence that quite mastered me,-that took my feelings of my own power and fettered them in his. I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, green and strong! He made me love him without looking at me" (166).
From the moment Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester meet, their relationship is complicated, confusing, and leaves the reader guessing about how the two really feel about each other. The pair has a clear attraction to each other from the start. Jane gets jealous and angry when Mr. Rochester shows an apparent interest in Miss Ingram. She becomes distraught when he leaves Thornfield for too long. However, she does not directly express her love for Mr. Rochester until this scene with this passage. Through this passage, the reason for and nature of Jane's love for Mr. Rochester is characterized through Jane's description and first person point of view.
Through Jane's description of Rochester, it is evident that she is not attracted to him based on conventional notions about beauty. At the start of the passage, Jane write that 'beauty is in the eye of the gazer'. This immediately sets up the feeling that Jane is attracted to Rochester because of her own personal opinion and definition of beauty. She then goes on to describe Rochester's physical appearance with the words 'colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyes, strong features, firm, grim mouth'. Although each of these words can be interpreted differently depending on who looks at them, the words 'colourless' and 'grim' do not generally reflect a positive feeling. In Jane's case, these are included in why she is attracted to him which contributes to the confusing nature of their love. Due to the fact that the story is told from a first person perspective, readers are able to get a complete view of what Jane sees in Rochester. If it had been told in the third person point of view, this insight would not be available. All one would get from the third person point of view is Jane watching Rochester.
This passage reveals the confusing nature of Jane's love for Rochester. She goes out and blatantly says 'I had not intended to love him'. This shows that she did not think that she would love Rochester and that it is a surprise to herself that she is falling for him. She then goes on to say 'I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected'. This is indicative of her feelings about love. This shows that she is hesitant about and cynical of the idea of love. Her resistance to her attraction to Rochester shows that he is not just a silly crush. It is indicative of the deep, passionate, complicated nature of their love.
Jane and Rochester's love is complicated and this passage is indicative of its nature. The manner in which Jane describes her attraction to Rochester is foreshadowing of their future relationship. Their strong, undying love is why they end up with each other in the end despite the problems and tragedies that pulled them apart.
I think that this is a really interesting passage, and your analysis of it is really well done. I like your organization of thought and how it matches the flow of the passage itself, and your ideas are interesting and logical. I might analyze each quotation you choose a little more, but overall this is really well done!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting take on this passage. I like the way you connected Jane's description of Rochester with her conflicting feelings towards him. This is very well organized and flows very nicely.
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