"'To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither souls nor hearts-when they are open to me a perspective of flatness, triviality, and and perhaps imbecility, coarseness, and ill-temper: but to the clear eye and eloquent tongue, to the soul made of fire, and the character that bends but does not break-at once supple and stable, tractable and consistent-I am even tender and true'" (245).
Strange, plain looking, and mysterious, Mr. Rochester plays an integral role in the development of Jane as a character and the development of the plot as a whole. From the moment Jane and Rochester meet in the woods on the icy night it is evident that Rochester is deceiving and tricky. He pretends to not be himself and leaves Jane in the dark about his identity. An area of his life in which Rochester is incredibly mysterious and tricky is his with women and his love life. In the passage above, Rochester reveals his tricky and mysterious nature as he first describes the woman he was supposed to marry and then describes the woman he loves.
Miss Ingram, the woman Rochester was supposed to marry, embodies the characteristics listed in the first part of the passage. What is tricky about this is that Rochester leads Jane to believe that he did not care about the personality of a woman and that he was fully ready to marry Miss Ingram. The negative diction, which includes the words 'flatness, triviality...imbecility, coarseness, and ill-temper', perfectly characterizes Miss Ingram. She is not a woman of substance and is very superficial. Due to this fact, it is confusing why Mr. Rochester would even consider marrying him. The passage above characterizes Mr. Rochester as being tricky. He leads Jane to believe that he admired and respected Miss Ingram in all her superficial glory and then went and contradicted himself by saying that to women like that he is 'the very devil'. Miss Ingram is the woman that people expected him to marry, but she is not the woman that he loves.
Jane Eyre, the woman that Rochester loves, embodies the characteristics listed in the second part of the passage. In the second part of the passage positive diction is used to describe Jane. Rochester characterizes her as 'the clear eye and eloquent tongue' and 'the soul made of fire' and 'supple and stable, tractable and consistent'. The descriptions 'clear eye and eloquent tongue' are important because they show how Jane is smart, thoughtful, observant, and able to express herself in words. The description 'the soul made of fire' relates to warmth and comfort which is what Rochester feels when he is with Jane. The words 'supple, stable, tractable, and consistent' speak to Jane's loyalty and dependability. Rochester describes himself as being 'tender and true' to women of the likeness of the characteristics listed above. This passage makes it evident that Jane is exactly the type of woman to whom Rochester is attracted.
Prior to this passage, Rochester did not make it clear about what kind of woman he wanted. He left Jane guessing about his feelings towards her and led her to believe he wanted to marry Miss Ingram. The irony of this passage is that Rochester was supposed to marry a woman whom he describes the exact kind of woman who repulses him and makes him angry. This speaks to Rochester's tricky and mysterious nature especially when it comes to love.
This is a very clear and effective analysis. I never thought of Blanche or Jane when I first read this passage, but I can now see the foreshadowing here when Rochester speaks about women. I would have liked to see more about how Bertha and his other mistresses would fit into this passage, but overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteI like your characterization of Rochester. You effectively use this passage to describe Rochester's relationships with women and how he relates to them. I agree with Mazie and wishe that we has more information about Bertha and Rochester's relationship.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I admire, like Mazie, the clarity of this post. The writing is easily followed and understandable. I think changing up your diction a bit would help give a little bit more individuality to each paragraph, as a couple words are repeated often, but it's an effective and interesting post overall!
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