Jane and Rochester Relationship in Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Jane Eyre’

Jane’s Complex Relationship with Social Status

Although Jane is clearly intelligent and capable, having become a teacher, she is insecure and can only act confidently and without anxiety when interacting with other individuals who she thinks are her social equivalents or who treat her with indifference rather than affection. This is clear from the first moment that Jane meets Mr. Rochester. Jane is on her way into town when a strange man riding a horse slips on a sheet of ice, causing its rider to be thrown off and get his foot tangled in the stirrup.

Jane immediately approaches to offer her help, and eventually, she is able to help him remount his horse and he rides off without her ever learning his identity. Jane muses while helping the stranger that if he “had smiled and been good-humored to me when I addressed him… I should have been on my way … but the frown, the roughness … set me at ease.” 

This seems completely inapposite of how most people would react to being roughly treated, but Jane is consistently uncomfortable with kindness. She is uncomfortable with how kind and familiar Mrs. Fairfax is towards her when she first meets Mrs. Fairfax because, at that time, she mistakenly believes that Mrs. Fairfax is the mistress of Thornfield. Jane is only able to accept Mrs. Fairfax’s kindness without suspicion when she learns that Mrs. Fairfax is a dependent, just like she is, and that they are equals. Somehow, their equality allows Jane to feel freer with Mrs. Fairfax and allows her to interact with Mrs. Fairfax in a confident and assertive manner. Even when Jane becomes more comfortable with Mr. Rochester, she remains uncomfortable with the rich people he brings to Thornfield. When Mr. Rochester calls Jane down to sit with him and his guests, she makes her displeasure clear, saying, “I will go if no better may be, but I don’t like it.” Jane indeed joins Mr. Rochester and his guests, but sits in the corner refusing to interact with the crowd even though she is smarter and a better conversationalist than the other women in the room; her refusal and discomfort stems from her self-consciousness regarding her plainness and her lack of social standing.

The Influence of Religion on Jane’s Life and Choices

Throughout the novel, Jane Eyre Brönte makes Biblical references and religion plays a clear role in the characters’ lives. Jane is no exception. Her religious models range from Mr. Brocklehurst, the minister, who preaches about God and ridding Lowood students of pride by treating them harshly, depriving them of good food, and requiring them to wear plain clothing to Helen Burns, Jane’s friend at Lowood, who introduces Jane to the Bible and accepts the unfair treatment she receives meekly believing that is what Jesus would have done. Jane’s own struggles with the role of religion in her life become most apparent when she meets Mr. Rochester.

Religion, particularly its teachings regarding morality, is important to Jane, but her adherence to it does not always come easily. There are times Jane finds herself struggling with belief. This is most clearly seen when she meets Mr. Rochester and her life becomes consumed with him and her love for him. It quickly becomes difficult for her to conceive of a higher authority other than Mr. Rochester. Jane describes her struggle, saying of Mr. Rochester, “He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for his creature: of whom I made an idol.” Jane is singularly consumed with her love for Rochester and it leaves no room for God. The description of Rochester as an idol is particularly stark, given that the rejection of idols is a fundamental precept of Christianity.

The first of the Ten Commandments prohibits idol worship, requiring that Christians worship only one God. Interestingly, Jane seems aware that she is transfixed by Rochester and has elevated him higher than any proper Christian should elevate a mere mortal. The spell cast by Rochester is only broken when Jane learns that he is married and has lied to her. Only then, as she hides heartbroken in her room alone, longing to be dead, is the trance broken. It is at that moment that Jane finds that “One idea still throbbed life-like within me – a remembrance of God.” Without Mr. Rochester, Jane reclaims the Christian God as a source of strength and moral guidance, one that propels her to reject living with a married man and to leave Rochester despite her abiding love for him.

Jane’s Evolving Perspective on Wealth

Jane’s relationship with wealth is puzzling, and her actions regarding wealth seem to be contradictory. Orphaned and without independent wealth, Jane grows up at the mercy of her aunt, Mrs. Reed, who resents being forced to care for Jane. Jane is mistreated and hates living with Mrs. Reed and yet, when asked whether she would rather live with her father’s poor, but kind relatives instead of Mrs. Reed, Jane declines saying, “No; I should not like to belong to poor people … I [am] not heroic enough to purchase liberty at the price of caste.” Jane simply cannot imagine being happy without having at least some societal status, without education, and with uncouth manners. Consequently, she suffers at Gateshead and lets Mrs. Reed send her to Lowood.

The Transformative Power of Love: Jane and Rochester’s Relationship

However, the reality of Jane’s relationship with wealth is more complicated and this one example does not tell the whole story. Jane clearly does not crave all the trappings of wealth. When Mr. Rochester tries to lavish Jane with jewels and expensive dresses, Jane forcefully declines despite Mr. Rochester’s entireties. Jane claims that such extravagancies would change her, telling Mr. Rochester, “And then you won’t know me, sir, and I shall not be your Jane Eyre any longer, but an ape in a harlequin’s jacket-a- a jay in borrowed plumes.” Jane’s words reveal that she does not really desire wealth or at least the frivolous aspects of it. Her actions here seem to contradict her earlier beliefs that wealth is important and necessary for happiness. Clearly, Jane doesn’t need money to be happy because she leaves Mr. Rochester with only 20 shillings and a willingness to do exactly what she said she would not do when she was young – to purchase liberty at the price of caste.

Despite Jane’s seeming willingness to live as a poor person, Jane still embraces societal hierarchy and views herself as belonging to a higher class. This is clear when Jane begins her job teaching poor farmers’ children, causing her to feel demeaned, explaining, “ I felt degraded … I had taken a step which sank instead of raising me in the scale of social existence” (Bronte 389). However, despite these feelings, Jane’s views regarding wealth have clearly evolved over the course of her life. Despite feeling degraded, at this point in her life, Jane recognizes that her classist feelings are wrong, and she strives to overcome them and find joy and satisfaction in her new job. Ultimately, it seems that when it comes to wealth, Jane is continually conflicted – enjoying the education that she received on account of her family’s higher social standing but knowing that most aspects of wealth are not what will make her happy in life. 

References:

1. Brontë, Charlotte. “Jane Eyre.” Penguin Classics, 2006.

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