Reinterpretation of Jane Eyre-part 47.
When the novel was first published, many readers thought that the author was male through the name Currer Bell. But I think a little differently. The novel thoroughly reflects the fantasy of middle-aged men. Readers would not have thought that a young woman would portray such a vivid picture of the fantasy of middle-aged men.
Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice reflects the fantasy of a young woman. Mr. Darcy, Britain's richest man and decisive man, falls in love with a lively rural woman and successfully marries her after two proposals.
On the other hand, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre features the fantasy of middle-aged men. Rochester, is in his early 40s, ugly, sadistic and eccentric. His only strength is that he has a lot of money. A married man, he imprisoned his wife and lived a prodigal life with dozens of beauties in Europe before returning to Thornfield for a while. There, however, is a young, ingenuous, and smart girl who comes as an employee.
"His grim mouth, chin, and jaw??yes, all three were very grim, and no mistake. His shape, now divested of cloak, I perceived harmonised in squareness with his physiognomy: I suppose it was a good figure in the athletic sense of the term??broad chested and thin flanked, though neither tall nor graceful."
Rochester is a man who considers women as a souvenir. He has more than one lover in almost every country in Europe. However, he does not have a lover in his home country of England. And he has only been dating beautiful women so far. For him, Jane, an plain but orotund English woman in appearance, must have been an interesting souvenir. And he uses Jane's lack of affection, curiosity, and jealousy to emotionally abuse her. He knew early on that Jane loved him. And he had the opportunity to confess his feelings to Jane when Bertha set his bedroom on fire and Richard left Thornfield. However, he rather intensifies the emotional abuse. Finally, he obtains Jane's thorough obedience.
"But listen??whisper. It is your time now, little tyrant, but it will be mine presently; and when once I have fairly seized you, to have and to hold, I'll just??figuratively speaking??attach you to a chain like this" (touching his watch?guard).
Rochester tries to marry Jane by hiding that he is a married man. When Jane suspects Bertha's presence, he says he will tell her everything a year after they marries. Perhaps that's when he intended to reveal himself to be a married man. However, in a year's time, Jane will not be able to leave Rochester because they already have a child. So what choice will do Jane, a devout Christian and is so principled, make? Perhaps she committed suicide instead of Bertha?
"The long dishevelled hair, the swelled black face, the exaggerated stature, were figments of imagination; results of nightmare: the spiteful tearing of the veil was real: and it is like her. I see you would ask why I keep such a woman in my house: when we have been married a year and a day, I will tell you; but not now. Are you satisfied, Jane? Do you accept my solution of the mystery?"
Fortunately, on the wedding day, Richard, his brother-in-law, appears and reveals Bertha's existence, and Jane leaves Thornfield. Rochester then quickly spreads rumors to the village that Jane's betrayal made his life unhappy.
However, with Bertha's revenge, Thornfield burns, and he loses his sight and one hand and becomes reclusive in Ferndean. Then, when Jane returns, she says she wants to become his neighbor, nurse, and housekeeper, and devote only to him. Jane insists that her body and heart belong to Rochester, and that dedication to him is her true happiness.
"Certainly??unless you object. I will be your neighbour, your nurse, your housekeeper. I find you lonely: I will be your companion??to read to you, to walk with you, to sit with you, to wait on you, to be eyes and hands to you. Cease to look so melancholy, my dear master."
A woman who once declared that men and women were equal. And a woman who confidently made her point when she first met Rochester. However, Rochester tames her through emotional abuse. Jane eventually accepts Rochester's abuse as kindness, and thinks that she is the perpetrator even when she leaves Thornfield. And at the end, she gives up her dream and returns to him. And even after marriage, Jane calls Rochester her master and dedicates herself to him. As a middle-aged man, Rochester tames a young woman, Jane. I don't know how Charlotte Bronte, a young woman, was able to portray the fantasy of middle-aged men in such vivid. At the time of reading this novel, readers must have thought that the author was a man.
"I have now been married ten years. I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest ??blest beyond what language can express. Never did I weary of reading to him; never did I weary of conducting him where he wished to go: of doing for him what he wished to be done. And there was a pleasure in my services, most full, most exquisite, even though sad."
To add one thing, the sub-title of this novel is 'An Autobiography'. In other words, the appearance of Charlotte, the author, is strongly reflected in the protagonist, Jane. This can be seen from the fact that both Jane and Charlotte are plain-looking and strongly religious. If so, we can infer that the form of love (Domination and Conquest) that Jane seeks is also similar to Charlotte. In other words, Charlotte would have waited for a man who wanted to rule her with a strong masculinity like Rochester. However, according to the record, there were always only quiet men around her. (It is the same with her husband.) If so, she would not have been happy. This is because the form of love she seeks and reality do not match. Perhaps, like Pride and Prejudice, that is the reason the author wrote this novel.