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Character Contrast of Rochester and John in Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is a famous novel written by Charlotte Bronte.Jane is the heroine of the book, and she finally married Edward Rochester and they lived a happy life together.There is a person who may be easily neglected——St.John Rivers.He was Jane’s cousin, and also proposed to Jane.But Jane chose Rochester after struggling.There are remarkable differences between Rochester and St.John.Even the adjectives used by Charlotte Bronte for the two male characters are opposite: Rochester is fire and St John is ice.Jane is affected by both men.Bronte wrote, “I was almost as hard beset by him(St John)now as I had been once before, in a different way, by another(Rochester).I was a fool both times.To have yielded then would have been an error of principle;to have yielded now would have been an error of judgment.”
Jane was affected by Rochester because she loved him so much, because he saw what she was and appreciated and encouraged her.She was affected by Rivers because she owed him her life, because he was one of her few relatives, because she was too depreed to resist his efforts and finally because he poeed a character that didn’t explode with anger to help her channel her own against him.When Rochester offered Jane a love without marriage, and John offered her a marriagewithout love, she gave up all them.Eventually she got the love with marriage, and she chose Rochester as her better half.Edward Rochester, as Jane’s employer and the master of Thornfield, was a wealthy, paionate man with a dark secret that provides much of the novel’s suspense.At first, he seemed indifferent to his employees, including Jane.He was a strange man according to the account of Mrs.Fairfax, “His character is unimpeachable.He is rather peculiar.He is considered a just and liberal landlord by his tenants, but he has never lived much amongst them.”(VolumeⅠ, Chapter Ⅺ, 166)So Jane was curious about him, and cautious when talking with him.Despite Rochester’s stern manner and not particularly handsome appearance, Edward Rochester wined Jane’s heart, because she felt they were kindred spirits and
because he was the first person in the novel to offer Jane lasting and a real home.Bronte wanted readers to know that Jane was not attracted by Edward’s appearance but because she recognized something good in his soul.Rochester seemed to be a Gothic hero.He was haunted by his shameful past.He was rash and impetuous when he was young.His problems of Bertha Mason and Celine Varens were partly the result of his recklene.On the other hand, he was a sympathetic figure.First, he didn’t abandon Adele Varens though he didn’t believe she was his daughter.Second, he stuck to taking care of Bertha though he had suffered so long.What was worse, he was blind and lost one arm for saving his servants when Bertha set big fire.So we can draw a conclusion, actually Rochester was a great man.“While Rochester is a prototype of the fiery, paionate, unconventional man, St.John is his opposite: cold, hard-hearted and repreed.”(Harvard Blue Sky Most popular Study Guides)
St.John River was a handsome young clergyman who was the brother of Diana and Mary Rivers.When Jane arrived at Moor House, hungry and pennile, fleeing from Thornfield Hall, John offered her shelter.Although Jane became close friends with the Rivers sisters, she found that St.John had a “reserved, an abstract, and even a brooding nature.”
“Now, I did not like this, reader, St.John was a man;but I began to feel he had spoken truth of himself, when he said he was hard and cold.The humanities and amenities of life had no attraction for him...As I looked at his lofty forehead, still and pale as a white stone…I comprehended all at once that he would hardly make a good husband.”(VolumeⅢ, Chapter Ⅷ)From Jane’s words, we can see John was not a ideal husband.He was a pious Christian and humble to work for God.It is easily noticed from his words, “I cannot accept on his behalf a divided allegiance.It must be entire.”(Page 411), and “I, for instance, am but dust and ashes.”(Page 411).But from the long conversation between and John and Jane, when he asking Jane to marry him and be the wife of a miionary, his aggreive and controlling in
his interactions with others exposed.He was entirely alienated from his feelings and devoted solely to an austere ambition.He said, “But, as it is, either our union must be consecrated and sealed by marriage, or it can not exist.” When Jane regarded him as a brother, he answered, “We cannot——we cannot” with short, sharp determination.When I saw thus words during reading the book, I doubted whether John loved Jane or not.He never said “I love you” to Jane, nor did he remember to shake hands with her when living.He just wanted a wife he can “influence efficiently” and “retain absolutely”, rather someone he beloved.So there are sharp distinguishes between Rochester and St.John.Jane described Rochester’s eyes as flashing and flaming, whereas she constantly aociated St.John with rock, ice and snow.St.John was self-centered while Rochester not.To match Jane, Rochester tried to change himself.He tried to understood Jane and expreed his feelings truly, sincerely and faithfully.But John didn’t try to change himself.He selected Jane as his wife after noticed Jane’s abilities and good qualities, but he himself did nothing.John vented his paions while John repreed it.Although he “flushed” and “kindled” at the sight of Rosamond Oliver, he would rather turn himself into “an automation” than succumb to Rosamond’s beauty or fortune.What’ s more, Rochester gave Jane freedom while John threatened Jane like a “shackle” through his aertion of his “masterhood”.Optimistic critics point to Jane’s description of St.John as her reminder that the marriage she rejected would offer her much more stifling.By entering into marriage, Jane did enter into a sort of “bond” and get in many ways.This “bond” was the “escape” that she had sought all long.If Jane accepted John’s request, how different her life would be.Reference:
1.Jane Eyre《简·爱》牛津大学出版社 外语教学与研究出版社
2.Harvard Blue Sky Diglot Most popular Study Guides 《哈弗蓝星双语名著导读》
3.A Companion to a Course Book of English Literature 《英国文学教程学习指南》
