Charlotte Brontë

The night of her musings, Jane is awakened by the devious and hysterical laugh once again, but this time it is coming from directly behind her bedroom door. She calls out to no answer. Rising from bed, Jane opens the door to find a candle burning outside her door, and heaps of blue thick smoke coming from the direction of Mr. Rochester's room. Jane immediately runs into his room, finds him asleep while almost his entire bed, sheets, and bed-curtain are engulfed in flames. Immediately she gets his basin of water and her own, putting out the fire; she then wakes Mr. Rochester. She explains the whole situation to him, her actions, and about the fire. Jane guesses that it is the crazed and dangerous Grace Poole again who is to blame, to which he admits. Jane begins to leave, but Mr. Rochester attends her a few moments more, thanking her for saving him, his tone changed, his affection more vivid, saying:"'You have saved my life: I have a please in owning you so immense a debt. I cannot say more. Nothing else that has being would have been tolerable to me in the character of creditor for such an obligation: but you: it is different;--I feel your benefits no burden, Jane...I knew,'you would do me good in some way, at some time;--I saw it in your eyes when I first beheld you: their expression and smile did not...strike delight to my very inmost heart so for nothing...My cherished preserver, good night!'" Chapter 15, pg. 133

Jane is a bit taken aback by Mr. Rochester's passion and sincerity, but she retires to her chamber in search of sleep. The next morning, and on her way downstairs, she comes upon Grace Poole sewing rings on the curtains in Mr. Rochester's room. She is suspicious of Grace obviously, and begins to question her about the previous night's events. But Grace is only indifferent and says that Mr. Rochester fell asleep with the candle lit, reading, and thus his bedclothes caught on fire. Jane is suspect as to why Rochester would keep an insane woman like Grace in the house; she ventures that perhaps they used to be lovers, but quickly dismisses such a possibility. Mr. Rochester has left that morning for the Leas, who is a fellow rich acquaintance, to dine, play, and be entertained for perhaps a week or more. Mrs. Fairfax then describes the appearance of the most attractive of that party, a Miss Blanche Ingram: Blanche is beautiful, exotic with sloping shoulders, a long graceful neck, olive complexion, noble features, a gay personality, lots of talents like song and music, bright brilliant eyes, and a full head of fine black curls. From Mrs. Fairfax's description, it is obvious that Rochester and Blanche often pair up and entertain each other, and Jane unconsciously feels immediately jealous. Jane chastises herself sharply for being so arrogant, so vain, so above her own class and station in life to imagine such feelings to exist. She draws a plain self-portrait of herself, "the plain, poor governess" and a striking miniature in bright colors of the famed Blanche, to remind herself of this fact. Mr. Rochester does not return for another week and a half, until Mrs. Fairfax receives a letter that he, and all his fine guests will be arriving the coming Thursday. The house is set into a bluster of cleaning, cooking and decoration of all the spare rooms. Finally the grand party arrives, led by Mr. Rochester on his horse, and alongside a lady horsewoman, who is Blanche Ingram. Jane is given the opportunity to examine both Blanche and Mr. Rochester side by side.Jane realizes while watching Rochester with his crew, that she has fallen in love with him, despite her better efforts to 'extirpate' the growing seeds of such a love. Jane leaves near the end quickly, but is apprehended warmly by Rochester in the hallway. He wishes that she and Adèle be present at the festivities every night, at his request. The party stays for almost another 2 weeks. She is now convinced that Mr. Rochester is planning to marry Blanche Ingram. Throughout this time, Jane is terribly confused as to the reason for Rochester's decision. Her thoughts on the marriage are validated when a silly game of charades by the guests reveals Rochester and Blanche to be partnering up in a mock-marriage ceremony. A mystery man, a Mr. Mason arrives while Rochester is apparently 'away on business' one day. Jane notices him immediately as quite the opposite sort of fellow than Rochester, and she thinks it is odd that they should be close friends. Suddenly the doorman announces that an old crone, a hag palmist is at the door, demanding to tell the fortunes of the young and single women in the room. Blanche calms the rest of the crowd by saying she wants her fortune read, and leaves immediately. But she returns 20 minutes later quite changed--her face is straight and humorless, she is not gay at all. A bunch of other ladies go in as a group, and then finally Jane, at the request of the hag herself. She notices that the hag is oddly dressed and mysteriously not female, but being in such a changed and odd state from Mr. Rochester's absence, she doesn't notice that much. The hag asks leading questions, telling more the fortune of Rochester than Jane herself, which she comments on. Finally, after a prolonged time while the Sibyl has regarded her face in the gleam of the fire, Jane becomes suspicious--the hag is no hag but actually Mr. Rochester:" Did I wake or sleep? Had I been dreaming? Did I dream still? The old woman's voice had changed: her accent, her gesture, and all were familiar tome as my own face in a glass--as the speech of my own tongue...I looked... I at once noticed that hand. It was no more the withered limb of eld than my own; it was a rounded supple member, with smooth fingers... stooping forward, I looked at it, and saw a gem I had seen a hundred times before. Again, I looked at the face; which was no longer turned from me-- 
'Well, Jane, do you know me?' asked the familiar voice...And Mr. Rochester stepped out of his disguise." Chapter 19, pg. 177-8

Rochester reveals himself to Jane, much to her surprise! That night strange things occur! Jane is woken up in the middle of the night by a voice directly above her room which is laughing, screaming, shrieking and yelling for Rochester's name. Jane gets up immediately and leaves her room; all the other guests are up in the dark hallways as well. No one can decide who it is--a robber, someone is ill? Finally Rochester emerges from the third floor attic room. He abruptly explains that a servant has simply had a nightmare--thought she saw an apparition and so proceeded to scream and shriek like mad. This reason suffices for the guests, whom he persuades to return to their rooms. But Jane is aware that it is a lie, and she returns to her room, waiting lest Rochester should need her help with anything.Indeed a knock at her door does sound almost an hour later. They fetch a sponge and smelling salts, and go upstairs to the room where Grace Poole usually stays. There, Jane finds Mr. Mason bleeding terribly and almost unconscious. Rochester instructs Jane to soak up the blood that is coming from his deep wounds, while Rochester quickly sends for the doctor. Almost two hours later, her nerves well-enough shaken by random laughs and the terror of the violence, Rochester returns with a doctor, who sees to quickly bandaging and cleaning the man's wounds. Jane hears their conversation and comes to understand that the raving woman Grace Poole, has actually cut and bitten Mr. Mason's shoulder and arm, badly. Jane is tired, nevertheless, she and Rochester walk and sit in the garden for a few moments. He gives Jane a red rose from the garden, and they vaguely discuss the night's events. Rochester gives Jane no further information about the event, only telling her that he must keep Grace Poole on, for reasons she will someday understand. Rochester speaks to Jane of her character, her goodness in helping him, and doing what will please him. Finally, Rochester asks Jane to suppose that a man, very early in his youth, had made a great injurious mistake, an error. But now, that man wanted to redeem himself, to make his life better, through another fellow creature--would this be right? Jane replies that the inner spiritual and moral rules of a man are never determined by anyone but himself. Continuing with his pretense of marrying Blanche Ingram, he infers that this marriage shall renew him, to Jane. Jane's heart falls a bit, but she does not show it.

At about the same time, Jane receives word that there is a man downstairs to see her. She find that it is Robert Laven, Bessie's husband. Old Mrs. Reed is ill in bed; word is that she will die very soon, and she has requested that Jane Eyre come to visit her on important business. Rochester, made her to promise that she will return in a few weeks. On Jane's first day back, Mrs. Reed is very ill and delusional and she does not immediately recognize Jane at all.In fact Jane feels only reconciliation toward the woman's past actions and misuse of her. For the next week, Mrs. Reed is too delirious to speak to Jane. Once again, Mrs. Reed does not immediately recognize Jane. Jane assures her aunt of her presence, and Mrs. Reed launches into clearing her conscience. She admits that she has done wrong to Jane twice; once when she did not treat and raise Jane kindly, as she promised her late husband she would, and the second time, when she received an important letter from Jane's uncle Eyre, who lives in Madeira. The letter requests the address of his niece Jane Eyre, whom he wishes to adopt, as he is childless and unmarried. The letter is dated almost 3 years back, and Jane questions Mrs. Reed as to why she never received news of it. Mrs. Reed confides:"'Because I disliked you too fixedly and thoroughly ever to lend a hand in lifting you to prosperity. I could not forget your conduct to me, Jane--the fury with which you once turned on me; the tone in which you declared you abhorred me the worst of anybody in the world; the unchildlike look and voice with which you affirmed that the very thought of me made you sick, and asserted that I had treated you with miserable cruelty. I felt fear, as if an animal that I had struck or pushed has looked up at me with human eyes and cursed me in a man's voice.'" Chapter 21, pg. 210

In fact, Mrs. Reed actually wrote to Jane's uncle, relaying the information that Jane had died of typhus fever at Lowood Institution. She urges Jane to write back to contradict her statement, and she admits her past need for revenge. Jane again gives free forgiveness, but Mrs. Reed says, that she has a bad disposition still, that she never understood how Jane could be patient. She asks Mrs. Reed to kiss her, but she will not. Jane leaves and soon, Mrs. Reed dies. Jane does not cry.Jane wishes to leave Gateshead immediately after Mrs. Reed's death, but first Georgiana and then Eliza, request that she stay to aid them in preparations with the house, the funeral and their own particular future plans. Jane leaves for Thornfield Hall, sure that her time there will be short, due to the pending marriage of Rochester and Lady Blanche Ingram. Jane is greeted happily by everyone at Thornfield, and feels a great calm in returning, especially in Mr. Rochester's warm welcome. He calls her often to his presence, as she says, she never felt that she had loved so well as now. No meetings between Blanche Ingram and Rochester occur either. Mr. Rochester takes a walk with Jane in the orchard, the moon all silvery in its gloaming. He is smoking a cigar, and Jane speaks of her nervousness of walking alone with him at night, yet his manor was so peaceful and reproachless, that she could do nothing but be at a thrilled ease. Mr. Rochester begins a dialogue with Jane about how she must soon leave Thornfield, because he is to be married. He tells her how he has found a suitable position for her at a cottage in Ireland. Jane says how the sea will be a barrier between herself and Mr. Rochester, how "wealth, caste, custom intervened between me and what I naturally and inevitably loved" (221). Rochester asks Jane to spend this short time with him, before she must leave. He then admits:"'I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you--especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly. As for you--you'd forget me." Chapter 23, pg. 221

Jane, upon the topic of Rochester's bride coming up again, say she must go, but Rochester exclaims that she must stay! Jane passionately extorts that she cannot go on watching while her own feelings are torn to shreds, while she is nothing to Rochester; she insists that despite the fact that she is "small, plain, obscure" she has just as much soul as he does, she is just as much his equal, as before God. Rochester exclaims "as we are" as well, meaning equal, gathering Jane to his breast, and kissing her. Jane still does not understand until Rochester asks and summons her to be his wife, asking her to be his best earthly companion, saying that it was always her he intended to marry. Jane does not believe Rochester, but he explains that he led her on with the story of Blanche Ingram to make her jealous, to be sure she loved him as he did her. He adds,

"'Gratitude!' he ejaculated; and added wildly--'Jane, accept me quickly. Say, Edward--give me my name--Edward--I will marry you.' 
'Are you in earnest?--Do you truly love me? Do you sincerely wish me to be your wife?' 
'I do; and if an oath is necessary to satisfy you, I swear it.' 
'Then, sir, I will marry you.'" Chapter 23, pg. 224

Jane accepts Edward Rochester's hand in marriage, they linger in the garden for a few more moments, kissing. Then, as it begins to rain, they enter the house, Rochester shaking out Jane's hair and kissing her before she runs upstairs. A storm comes that night, cracking wildly with thunder, rain and lighting. Adèle comes to tell Jane in the morning, that the chestnut tree under which she and Rochester sat, has been split in half. As soon as the next day dawns, Rochester begins treating Jane differently than she is used to. Usually he is affectionate and warm in the manner which is common to their relationship--he often teases her, he treats her as if she were an imp, he is cynical and sarcastic. But Jane notices that Rochester desires to adorn her in jewels, buy her fancy dresses, raise her up to some impossible image or symbol of the bride or woman. This new treatment feels unequal, as Rochester would pay for her completely, she feels too dependent on him, and not her own woman. Jane feels the difference, finally making Rochester promise not to buy her anything, but that she will continue to take care of Adèle when they marry, and he will continue to pay her for this work, so that she is his equal, and nothing of these power dynamics and gender treatment will change. The night before the marriage ceremony, Jane is tortured by a strange foreboding--she is restless waiting for Rochester to arrive home to the study, and filled with a strange possession from painful things passing her mind, she runs out into the orchard in the wind and rain. There, she stares at the lightning-struck chestnut tree, rent in two, blackened and sad. It seems to be speaking to her, its pain not singular but also her own--she runs down the road, unable to see things clearly in her mind, searching for Rochester.

Jane admits that which is troubling her mind--it is not the prospect of marriage, but an experience she had the night before, perhaps a dream. Jane feels a great foreboding still, that something will happen great to change this present bliss. It was last night, when Sophie brought up the box containing Jane's wedding dress, and an expensive London veil Rochester had bought as a surprise. Jane falls asleep, and soon begins to dream odd, rainy and dark dreams. Her first dream was about finding a small unknown child in the orchard which almost strangled her in terror, while watching Rochester leave in the distance. It was from this odd dream that Jane woke to a spectre moving about in her room, the form of a hideous and monstrous woman emerging from her very own closet. Jane cannot think that it was anyone but Grace Poole. The woman was tall, large, with dark and thick unwieldy hair, tousled and fierce down her back. The woman took Jane's veil and tried it on in front of the mirror, revealing her red eyes and purple,face. Then in a rage, she tore the veil in two, thrusting her candle in Jane's face until Jane passed out, and left the room. Rochester claims that nothing is actually real as Jane has seen. Jane cannot be so convinced, because upon waking she found the veil ripped in two, that very morning, on her floor. Rochester gives Jane the explanation that it must have been Grace Poole.The morning of her wedding day, Rochester surveys Jane quickly; she is "fair as a lily". Jane and Rochester leave speedily for the church, which is silent, alone, gray with only the parson present. The ceremony proceeds unimpeded until two dark figures emerge from the back of the church, as the question of any known impediment to the lawful joining of this man and woman, is spoken. Rochester becomes extremely tense and questions the solicitor from London, one of the dark figures, a Mr. Briggs. He is accompanied by the Mr. Mason who previously graced Thornfield many months ago.It is revealed that he has been indeed married before, and is married presently to a Bertha Mason. The marriage took place in Mr. Rochester's youth, in Jamaica. Mr. Mason steps forward to attest as a witness that his sister, Bertha, is still alive and living in Mr. Rochester's attic: the madwoman. It is in fact Rochester's first wife who inhabits the third floor of Thornfield, taken care of by Grace Poole, for many years.

Mr. Rochester becomes increasingly agitated until this truth is spoken, whence he admits the existence of Bertha and Jane's innocence in the matter. Rochester takes Jane, Briggs, Mason and the pastor to Thornfield, to see the real Bertha. Rochester asks them to judge whether he was wrong to desire even a bigamous marriage, as he considers Bertha no longer human enough to be his wife. Bertha is a monstrous image, the men are even wary of her. Jane describes her:"In the deep shade, at the further end of the room, a figure ran backwards and forwards. What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not tell: it groveled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing; and a quantity of dark hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face...the hyena rose up, and stood tall on its hind feet." Chapter 26, pg. 257

Bertha lunges for Rochester, biting his throat. It takes all three men to wrestle her down and tie her hands behind the chair. Jane is too numb and shocked to truly react at all. A transformation has occurred inside herself regarding her future and her own identity. She has no single understanding of the past day's event, she knows she must leave Thornfield. She must aid herself. She and Rochester discuss their future. Rochester asks Jane's forgiveness--which she gives immediately, completely, such is his sincerity and her love for him. But the forgiveness is not shown, only at her heart's core. Jane has decided that she will and must not live with Mr. Rochester out of wedlock. Despite his violent passion, his tears, his fierceness, she is sure--for she knows how Rochester would eventually not respect her, would only see her as not different than his past flings/mistresses, i.e. Cèline.In one final attempt, Rochester cries that she will be his only salvation, his redemptor; how he will suffer with her gone. Jane leaves Mr. Rochester that night, and for all time she believes. She leaves on the road which runs in the opposite direction than Millcote. After walking the road for the good part of a day, she finally meets a coach running in the same direction. The coach deposits her at a desolate town named Whitcross;Jane realizes she has left her satchel in the side pocket of the coach, and in fact she is utterly destitute. Alone in the desolate town, Jane wanders the vales and windy moors for many hours. This continues for several days. She sleeps outside the first night, in a small stone cave, and although cold, she is not unsatisfied. But even a day later, she is famished, utterly exhausted physically and emotionally. She inquires at several places in the town for work, with no luck. She passes a small bakeshop, and hungers over only a small roll to eat, but cannot bear to bring herself to the level of begging for food from the woman inside. Mr. Rochester seems very far away from her now, sadly so. Finally she eats by begging the dried remainder of old porridge from a peasant woman.

Jane's trust slowly shifts from only herself, to one placed in God, and a humbling occurs. On the last day, after many minutes, Jane finally gains the strength to knock. The older woman answers the door, but is not kind to Jane at all. She is very suspicious that Jane 'is up to no good'. She gives Jane a penny, tells her to leave, and shuts the door. Jane is utterly exhausted by this point, and cannot endure any longer. Dramatically, she falls to the ground at their door, in the pouring rain, uttering,"'I can but die...and I believe in God. Let me try and wait His will in silence.'" Chapter 28, pg. 295

But a man comes behind Jane, saying that yes all men must die, but not prematurely as Jane's death would now be at this very place. The man is St. John, He admonished the maid for closing the door on Jane. He brings Jane inside and he and his sisters place her on a chair; she is barely conscious. He is a sharp and exacting sort of man. Not unkind, but not initially friendly. He and his sisters begin to question Jane that night, but she tells them that she cannot explain her situation tonight. All she can say is that she is friendless, destitute, and has not the strength to go any further; they are her only hope. They decide kindly and affectionately to take Jane into their house to recuperate.Finally after several days of sleeping, eating and ministering by the members of the house, Jane is able to dress and go downstairs. Once there, she talks with Hannah, and finds that the name of the house at which she is staying, is Moor House. She has also assumed a pseudonym, Jane Elliot. The sisters and St. John are happy to see Jane is feeling better. St. John proceeds to interview Jane concerning her circumstances, name, and history. She tells them a very abbreviated history of herself, referring to Lowood, her education, orphan status, cruel relatives, and past position. St. John asks Jane what she expects from them, and she says that she is willing to accept any mode of employment, as long as it be honest and paying, to alleviate them of the burden of caring for her. Jane stays with Mary and Diana and studies, reads and discusses subjects for about a month. After a month, St. John Rivers comes to Jane with the prospect of employment--it is the position of schoolmistress of the local girl's schoolhouse. Jane would have a small cottage, furnished, next-door, and be paid and median sum. Jane accepts the position gratefully, even though it is monotonous, poor and obscure.Jane moves into the cottage near the schoolhouse. The first day of school begins, and she finds the work proceeding easily, albeit her charge of students are not terribly advanced, nor educated. There is a conflict in her spirit; she admits,"I felt desolate to a degree. I felt--yes, idiot that I am--I felt degraded. I doubted I had taken a step which sank instead of raising me in the scale of social existence....In a few months, it is possible, the happiness of seeing process, and a change for the better in my scholars, may substitute gratification for disgust." Chapter 31, pg. 316

Jane continues her steady duty of teaching the village girls. She finds among them many talented and kindred girls; progress comes. Jane is often met with romantic and terrifyingly passionate dreams at night of Mr. Rochester, of what her future with him would be. But she is always woken in the night to the harsh reality of her life, of which she is not wholly unhappy. While reading Marmion, a poem brought by St. John for Jane's diversion, the latch to the door shakes, and suddenly St. John emerges from the blizzard. He says that he has got word from a solicitor in London, a Mr. Briggs, that the search is on for a Miss Jane Eyre, who has recently come into a fortune, upon the death of her uncle in Madeira. St. John tells the tale of the orphan (who is actually Jane), without revealing that he initially knows it to be her. St. John reveals that he knows her to be Jane Eyre, by showing her the slip of paper he ripped two days earlier--on which is her name, inscribed in vermilion ink.