When love comes knocking at your door, you invite it in with open arms and open heart. What you make of that love is the only thing that matters. Unfortunately, Jane could not accept Mr. Rochester’s love due to the circumstances of his life. The problem was not loving him, the problem was trusting him and feeling safe around him. The only answer to their situation was to keep distance from Mr. Rochester while trying to figure out what their love means.
- Life Without Thornfield
Jane’s decision to leave Thornfield was a mutual decision: between what she hopes for and what is reality. Her only dream in life is to marry Mr. Rochester, but the reality of the situation shows that her love for her was not completely true because he didn’t tell her about Bertha. If he was truthful about Bertha, then Jane would have appreciated his honesty and stayed at Thornfield. At this point of her life, leaving love behind was the hardest decision of her life. She knows that she can’t compromise her feelings for Mr. Rochester by staying at Thornfield. She could never and should never live with the fact that as long as Bertha is alive, she would only be a mistress, the second woman in his life rather than the only woman in his life.
After sleeping outside with no food or shelter, Jane is welcomed into a home in a nearby town. St. John brings her into his home with his sisters Diana and Mary. Here, we see a hope lingering in the story. She now knows that Thornfield isn’t the only place where she can find work or a home. What I found interesting is when Jane introduced herself, she introduced herself as Jane Elliot rather than her real name, Jane Eyre. Why would she give a false identification of herself? Did she want to start over, begin a new chapter of her life without being tied to a name that has only forsaken her? Think about it: with her last name, she has only been with a family that ignored and resented her and fell in love with a man that was untruthful about his present relationships. Giving herself a new last name gives herself new opportunities and new chances to really start her life the way it was supposed to be started.
Now that Jane has spent a period of time with the Rivers family, it is time to begin her new career. St. John gave her the chance to run a charity school for girls, like the school she attended when she was a little girl. At that same time, St. John is informed that their wealthy Uncle John has died and left them with nothing, which happens to be Jane’s Uncle John that wanted to adopt her years ago. Here, we see how Bronte has used the tool of foreshadowing in the book. When Jane’s Aunt Reed told her that her Uncle John wanted to adopt her, it gave Jane a sense of hope that she still had family in the world and that there was a chance that they could be together. Unfortunately, that chance is taken away when her Uncle dies. Is it a coincidence that Jane is living with the people that are related to her Uncle, or is it fate that has lead her in that direction? But when Jane finds out that St. John and herself share the same Uncle that died, she is overjoyed to have finally found her family at last. As the weeks go by, Jane spends more time with her newfound family. All this time spent together, St. John believes that he is in love with Jane. This sparks a fire within herself. She hasn’t experience the vast power of love since Mr. Rochester. I believe this to be a good thing for Jane. For she is a much different person than she was when she was living at Thornfield. Here, she has a family, she is independent, she has money to fall back on and she has the strength to go back to Mr. Rochester.
Remember how I said leaving Mr. Rochester was the hardest decision Jane had to make in her life? Well going back to Mr. Rochester was the easiest decision of her life. Being prompted to marry another man, she realizes that she gave her heart away a long time ago, and never got it back. Taking a carriage back to Thornfield, she has come to a place that she did not recognize. She learns that Bertha set the manor on fire, which causes Mr. Rochester to go blind. This does not stop Jane from finding her one true love. Here, we know that her love is eternally connected to him. Once she finds him, they marry at once. Jane is assured that Mr. Rochester was truly in love with Jane from the beginning, having never married anyone else. “No woman was ever nearer to her mate than I am: ever more absolutely bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. I know no weariness of my Edward’s society: he knows none of mine, any more than we each do of the pulsation of the heart that beats in our separate bosoms; consequently, we are ever together” (Bronte, 281). At this stage of her life, Jane finally sees herself as an equal with Mr. Rochester; not because of marriage, but because she knows herself. In the beginning of the book, Jane did not identify herself with anyone or anything. Being with Mr. Rochester, Jane knows who she is. Ever since they met, she has been irrevocably tied to him and every way possible. When she left him, she lost herself. Being together has given Jane the reassurance that with him, she is the best that she can ever be.
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