Jane Eyre comes into a position to marry Edward Rochester when she receives her inheritance. Prior to the inheritance, Rochester saw her as a "dependent," who always did "her duty" (Bronte 282). Jane even refers to Rochester as "master" and makes note of the separation of "wealth, caste, custom" between them (Bronte 282). She refers to her love for him as unavoidable and beyond the bounds of class. Rochester proposes marriage to Jane and becomes intent on transforming her into his view of ideal beauty. She resists and tells him, "you…
Representations of sexuality in Early Modern literature reveal a variety of attitudes, but they can be characterised by the ambivalence which they display towards the subject of desire and its consequences for the self. The destructive potential of desire is revealed in John Ford’s Tis Pity She’s A Whore, widely considered to be one of the most radical works of Jacobean theatre, not only for its frank and nuanced portrayal of incest, but for its reworking of the theme of ill-fated love from Romeo and Juliet into a dark rumination on the fundamental incommunicability of desire and the impossibility of mutual understanding.…
“Ethan Frome” is a novel by Edith Wharton written primarily in third person point of view. The story was set in the small town of Startfield, New England. During the time period, that the story was told, the season was winter. With this, Wharton portrays the town as cold and desolate and this is shown when the narrator states, “or through the thin obscurity of a clump of leafless trees” (22). This shows that the environment is not very appealing and plain. This kind of environment emits a sense of loneliness. In all this despair, Ethan finds light in his wife’s cousin Mattie Silver who is staying in the Frome house hold to help Ethan’s sickly wife. Ethan longs to be with Mattie but due to his own commitments and responsibilities, he cannot.…
In Edith Wharton’s novella Ethan Frome, elements from the scene in Chapter 5 in which young Ethan and Mattie spend a romantic night alone in Ethan’s sickly wife Zeena’s absence, emphasizes the theme of personal desires versus being moral and doing what’s expected. Certain aspects, such as the time and place where the two secret lovers face the conflict of whether they should face the reality of their circumstances and if Ethan will achieve his goal of getting to be with Mattie all comes to a tense tipping point.…
In the end it all resumes to the requirement that Mr. Rochester be “like” Jane, only then her fulfilment of passionate love will occure…
Throughout the Victorian Era, society was sexually repressed so much so, mention of the word “leg” was frowned upon. Many people ensnared in sexually unsatisfying marriages had few options; divorce was rare and also socially frowned upon. Edith Wharton had found herself in a similar situation of an unsatisfying marriage, but divorced her husband in the early 1900’s when divorce became more accepted. Drawing from experience, Wharton wrote the novel Ethan Frome, which stresses the theme of sexual repression and emotional void in poor relationships through the symbolism of a cushion, the kitchen, and a pickle dish.…
At Thornfield, Jane has finally found someone who loves and cherishes her fervently. Jane discovered that Mr. Rochester covered up his marital status and she felt betrayed and hurt by his deceit. After deciding unbendingly to leave Thornfield and Mr. Rochester behind, in this passage, Jane bids farewell to her master though Rochester continuously pleads for her to stay. From Rochester’s speech, he finally realizes that Jane is not going to yield to his wishes from her indomitable manner, but he still yearned for her to be by his side. Rochester passionately uses anaphora to emphasize that no matter how he implored Jane to stay, he vested no power over her. Besides Jane’s thirst for approval from others, another motif in the book is that she submits to no one and sacrifices her principles for nothing, such as her rejecting St. John’s proposal of marriage. Rochester juxtaposes the Jane that loved and treasured him to the Jane that repulsed and broke free of his love with an image of a “resolute, wild, free” and triumphant creature that refuses being controlled and held captive in its cage any longer. He also confessed that although he is the master of the house, he is not able to posses Jane’s self-willed soul. Jane’s character shines as she develops into a mature woman who dictates her own destiny. She would rather break free of Rochester’s…
Both texts imply that there will be difficulties as the relationships are established. Charlotte Bronte presents a flourishing relationship between Jane and Mr Rochester; this is evident when Mr Rochester says ‘“My cherished preserver good night!” Strange energy was in his voice. Strange fire in his look.’ Charlotte Bronte uses passionate language to display the development of love between Jane and Mr Rochester. The word “cherished” underlines Mr Rochester genuine and tender feelings towards her. Charlotte Bronte has also used the word “fire” to describe the look in Mr Rochester’s eyes, Bronte has deliberately used this metaphor to symbolise the growing passion, developing between Jane and him. By this point, readers begin to feel and see the developing passion between Mr Rochester and Jane. Bronte gradually establishes the growing passion between the two, as within the ideologies of the Victorian era, Mr Rochester would have been expected to marry someone of his own social class; due to this Bronte challenges the Victorian reader to consider marriage outside a particular social class.…
Thus, Brontë establishes a growing comfort with a place that was otherwise marked as dangerous. Furthermore, Jane’s inability to look inside while distracted by the beauty of the outdoors highlights that her movement from the inside to the outside furthers her development from isolation. In addition, the proposal scene between Rochester and Jane evokes the latter’s kinship with the moon. As he proposes to Jane, Rochester calls her “ ‘You–you strange, you almost unearthly thing!...' ” (229). Just like the moon she praises, Jane is also of beyond the earth. Brontë links Jane to a personified celestial object; thus, she implies Jane’s rightful place is outside. Therefore, Jane Eyre suggests Jane’s inevitable shift from social isolation to possessing a deep…
This bond of female friendship is responsible to shape Eliza’s thoughts and actions to some extent and helped the plot of novel to grow in a significant manner. The theme of sisterhood remains prominent with Foster’s work; The Coquette and The Boarding School can be quoted for example. Such bond of female love and enmity is evident at various junctures across popular romantic novels, where women come to the rescue of each other, but somewhere down the line happen to scrutinize each other for the prospect they are vying as women. Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice offers a parallel theme of female love and rivalry, where the female characters, though bears enormous love for each other, but are also competent with each other in pursuit of a better match making for themselves.…
Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, addresses many modern day problems regarding love including large age differences, abuse and religion, despite being set in a Victorian age. Jane was raised in an abusive family. She was without love for many years. In fact, the first time she consciously encountered love was the affection she received from Helen. Many children today face domestic abuse similar to the abuse Jane received at the Reed’s mansion. The inspiring thing is that Jane continues to work towards love despite being so abused and alone. Unfortunately, the love she received from Helen was brief. Soon, she moved on to Thornfield Hall where she encountered Mr. Rochester. As stated in the novel, Mr. Rochester was around twenty years older than Jane, yet their love flourished. The philosophy “age is just a number” comes to mind here. This is a phrase used frequently between youth today. The love between Jane and Mr. Rochester gives the users of this phrase an excellent example of how love prevails over age. Of course, love of another is not always enough to overcome the age barrier. There are things, such as religion, that are stronger bonds. Jane feels she cannot betray her god when asked to be Mr. Rochester’s mistress, so she leaves. From here, Jane becomes involved in a better situation at Moor House, where she finds family. She receives love from her family and only returns to Mr. Rochester when she fully understands what she wants and believes. From Jane Eyre, we can learn many things about love. We can learn that being in a terrible situation doesn’t mean you always will be, that age is no matter if love is truly there and that it is important to love and know yourself before you unconditionally love another.…
I feel that the novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, is loosely a love story between the protagonist – Jane and Edward Rochester; therefore I agree with this statement to a small degree. During her time spent at Thornfield Hall, Jane finds herself to be unexpectedly “overwhelmed” by Mr Rochester, ignoring factors such as his wealth and social status, she falls for him helplessly. The reader realises Rochester’s sympathy and admiration for Jane before she does as he regularly asks for her company: “entertain me, Jane.” Rochester and Eyre’s relationship particularly blossoms after the ‘gypsy fortune teller’ visits all of the women staying at Thornfield Hall; including Blanche Ingram and Jane. Rochester is then able to confirm his conspiracy of Jane’s soft spot for him as the gypsy woman devises Eyre’s upset at the thought of Edward marrying Blanche.…
Jane Eyre is a novel about a young orphan turning into a brave woman, fighting her own demons and outside threats in the process. The concepts “Man vs. Society” and “Man vs. Self” are present in this novel. Eyre is constantly reminded of women’s place in society; mistreated, overlooked, and condescended. Because of the role of a governess—Governesses being somewhat of a higher class—she has a very awkward position in society. Eyre is able to overcome this toward the climax of the book. Eyre is also faced with her love for Mr. Rochester --it is taboo for a governess to fall in love with her master. She fights with her emotions for him, knowing it is not right. As the story goes on, she overcomes this by accepting her emotions and discovering Mr. Rochester loves her just the way she does. In this case, Society and Jane Eyre herself is, bluntly stated, her “enemies”. Beowulf, on the other hand, has a different situation of fighting evil.…
Deemed the new modern day Romeo and Juliet, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight reintroduces the idea of “forbidden love”. However, Meyer’s Edward Cullen and Bella Swan are not simply rewritten versions of Romeo and Juliet. Instead, when comparing these two stories together, the reader can recognize more than the “forbidden love” that occurs between two opposing sides in both books, but they can also use the comparison to understand each character as individuals more thoroughly.…
Although at a high social status, amongst them Rochester is an outcast. Through a large portion of the novel, Rochester remains a mysterious figure to the reader. He conceals a great portion of his life to Jane, such as Bertha. Rochester has a great distaste for normal society and lifestyle. Rochester does not marry another wealthy and beautiful female such as Lady Ingram, but instead confesses his love toward the penniless plain Jane. Both he and Jane think differently than others during the era. Jane’s feminism and Rochester‘s indifference separate them from the rest of society. Rochester…