Love and marriage in Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre was written by Charlotte Bronte who was one of the top novelists during Victorian Age. The central character of this novel is Jane Eyre and all the events happened around her. We find Jane from childhood and the novel ends with the happy ending when she marries Rochester and lives happily ever after. So, it can be said that this novel is all about Jane Eyre, an orphan girl. Life was not smooth for her and she had to go through a lot of suffering and all these things have been beautifully portrayed in this novel. It seems that there are some fairy tale elements in the novel but the reality is that it was very complex and sophisticated novel and criticized many of the things of the Victorian Age. The thing that has been highly criticized of the age was the Victorian notion of love and marriage.

Primarily of the bildungsroman genre, Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of its title character, including her growth to adulthood, and her love for Mr. Rochester, the Byronic master of fictitious Thornfield Hall. Jane’s moral and spiritual is also shown in this novel. The novel contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core. Narrator of this novel is Jane Eyre. She narrates the story.

If we look at Jane Eyre then we will notice that many things of an ideal heroine are absent in her. First of all, she was not a pretty girl. On the other hand, she was not obedient to Rochester. Instead she had some kind of independent mentality and sometimes she used to get angry and sometimes she used to act cold. Jane said, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will” (Charlotte Bronte 268). In short, Jane Eyre was not at all a romantic heroine, but there are some exceptional qualities in her. First of all, she was a very dedicated person and she was a dedicated woman. She was a pure and good girl who was dedicated to her husband. She always stands by Rochester through thick and thin. If we look at her from this point of view then we will notice that she was better than many heroines of many novels.

In Victorian Age, many people used to consider marriage as an act of duty and responsibility and women used to be considered as a significant in a marriage. The first duty of a girl should have been to become dependent on her father then on her husband and be totally obedient to her husband. So, whatever the husband says she must act or comply. She must not have an independent mentality. However, Charlotte Bronte has challenged this idea in love and marriage in this novel.

Jane could not get married at first because Rochester had a wife who was mad. Because the wife did not die, there was no divorce so Rochester could not marry. Rochester was not a bad husband. We cannot find any indication in the novel that he was bad to his first wife. He became mad for a pretty girl but the girl did not have any good quality. The first wife became mad. Jane Eyre was the woman that Rochester perhaps wanted as such for whole life but never found. So, Rochester proposed Jane, but when the time of marriage came, the first wife came to the scene and the wedding got destroyed.

In this novel, a great deal of emphasis has been put on the idea of morality which was very important to most Victorian people. The Victorian age society was changing and there were new ideas related to morality but many people were traditional or conservative and they wanted to hold on to past ideals. If Jane Eyre wanted, she could have run away with Rochester but she gave importance to morality and that is why she herself left Rochester’s house. However, if she wanted, she could live in Rochester’s house as his mistress, but she did not do it. Later, when she came to know that Rochester’s wife had died and also Rochester had become blind, she came back to Rochester and tried her best to take care of him. Jane said, “Reader, I married him. A quiet wedding we had: he and I, the parson and clerk, were alone present” (Charlotte Bronte 474).

In Victorian Age, the idea was that marriage was mainly related to men. The only work of a woman is to get married and be obedient to her husband in her whole life and the husband or man will control everything. They did not have any freedom in the society. Their life was full of instability. Charlotte Bronte challenged this idea seriously. She showed that getting married does not only mean to take responsibility or take charge of a family. But love and equality are related to marriage. Jane Eyre wants to be loved but she does not want to sacrifice her freedom. She wants to be valued. Thus, Jane says to Helen Burns,

“To gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest” (Charlotte Bronte 91).

Rochester was a rich man but he was not happy with his first wife and life became miserable for him. As he has already a wife, Jane Eyre refused her seriously. Jane Eyre did not get tempted with the idea that he was a rich man. At the same time, St. John Rivers was a clergyman and he wanted to marry Jane and take her to India. But Jane knew that St. John did not love her and she did not love John either. John only felt that Jane was a good girl and she would have been a good wife to do his responsibility as a missionary in India. However, Jane did not agree to this marriage. St. John used to love another girl called Rosamond Oliver. But Rosamond was not a fit person to become a wife of a missionary. So, John did not want to marry him and even he did not admit that he used to love her.

We see a lot of conflicts in Jane Eyre. Jane loves Rochester but on the other hand, she wants to be a free woman. Rochester was not a bad man and he was a very attractive man too. Jane wants to marry her but she does not want to sacrifice her independence and honor. This conflict is very important for women in Victorian Age. It was time that society was becoming modern in England because of industrial revolution. Economic activities were changing and many girls were becoming educated and at the same time, earning money by working in factories. On the other hand, the society wanted girls to play traditional roles. In Victorian Age, most people wanted to feel that a girl would be obedient to her husband and she will not have any kind of independence. On the other hand, it is a duty of a man to find a good girl who would take care of the house hold matters. St. John wanted to do the same thing. St. John and Rochester both wanted to marry Jane. However, Charlotte Bronte favored Rochester over St. John. The real reason is that St. John was not a bad person and in fact compared to Rochester, he had many good qualities. Still Charlotte Bronte favors Rochester because Rochester really loved Jane Eyre and wanted to become happy. On the other hand, St. John did not bother about love or happiness. All he cared was that Jane would do her responsibility and this way they will have a couple life.

Normally, we can find that heroine is always very pretty. But Jane Eyre was not a pretty woman. On the other hand, Rochester’s first wife and Rochester’s girlfriend both were pretty but they were no match for Jane because Jane had inner quality and inner strength. Charlotte Bronte wanted to say this thing that a man cannot be happy with a pretty woman only. Instead a man should search for a wife who has inner quality and inner strength just like Jane Eyre. Rochester’s first wife was beautiful but he was not happy with her because the marriage was entirely based on passion. Jane had another very good quality and it was that she was a very courageous woman. Rochester’s first wife and his girlfriend Blanche Ingram both were pretty but they were not courageous like Jane. They did not know how to support their husband or boyfriend or lover in time of distress. On the other hand, Jane was very good in it and Charlotte Bronte wanted to say that life is a long lesson and inner beauty and strength are more important than outer beauty or physical appearance.

After reading Jane Eyre, a person can easily understand that love can be a very ordinary thing and it is very easy to fall in love but marriage is a complicated thing. Rochester wanted to marry Jane but in the last moment the marriage broke off. Jane suffered a terrible shock and ran away. St. John wanted to marry her and he was a good man too, but he does not love her. Thus, it is a very complicated novel and the ending has some fairy tale elements, but it is a sophisticated novel. Most of the novels in Victorian Age did not contain so complicated love story like Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte portrayed a realistic picture of the society and love and she gave importance to emotion rather than physical appearance and beauty.