Rochester's Motives For Lying In Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is a book about mind over heart. But this is not the case with Mr. Edward Rochester of Thornfield. He is a character with many flaws. One of them is that Mr. Rochester is something of a secretive person. Mr. Rochester’s motives for lying are in order to keep his secrets hidden from people he is close to. He lies to Jane twice in this story (that are important to the overall plot/storyline). Once is when he wants to make her jealous by saying he’ll marry Blanche Ingram, and then the second time is about having a wife, Bertha Mason, when he’s planning to marry Jane. Mr. Rochester’s lies are essential to the story line of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, but his motives for lying are purely for selfish, secretive reasons.

For the first lie, Rochester’s motives are not that malevolent, he just wants to make Jane jealous enough to fall in love with him. Jane also is very aloof to him at times, these factors together seemed to be what motivated him to lie about his marriage to Blanche Ingram. This lie doesn’t have very drastic consequences, in fact it works in his favor! Jane does admit her feelings for him, to herself anyways. Even if she was

not too excited about the fact, “I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, great and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.” (Jane Eyre, p. 174). She knows he is not the best person, but that’s what makes this confession all the better. The fact that it wasn’t intended and she looked past all his short comings to see that he does have a good heart, for the most part. Later, when she is finally able to express her feelings to him, he is able to admit he was lying. Jane isn’t really upset by this lie, she’s a bit swept up in her own giddiness to really be upset. It might also just be their relationship, as she teases him later about her and St. John Rivers.
Rochester’s second lie is the worst of all the one’s he’s told. His motives are purely to trick Jane into marrying him even though he is already married. It’s worse than the first lie as this is committing bigamy, which is a crime. Now it’s not all terrible. It is easy to empathize with and see Mr. Rochester’s side, as he can’t get a divorce because his wife is insane. Also, he truly loves Jane, and she loves him too, so he’s not manipulating her into marrying him. It’s just that he kept a giant secret from her that challenged moral integrities; and Jane is a very morally conscious person. Mr. Rochester had to know if he mentioned it earlier Jane would’ve run away and thought him a bad person, which she ended up doing after the wedding. You could argue that he wasn’t technically lying about Bertha, he just didn’t correct Jane when she thought it was Grace Poole. Even when Jane asks about “Grace Poole” he always keeps his answers distant and almost open for interpretation. Like when Jane tells Mr. Rochester about Bertha (or Grace Poole) coming into her room, he responds with:
“’Now Janet, I’ll explain to you all about it. It was half-dream, half-reality. A woman did, I doubt not, enter your room: and that woman was –must have been- Grace Poole. You call her- what did she do to me? What to Mason? ... 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.” (Jane Eyre, p. 281-282)
In this quote Rochester just tells Jane that who she saw sneaking in was Grace Poole, letting her think that to still be able to marry her. The quote talks about once they’ve been married for around a year he will tell her the truth. Keeping the truth from her that long is Rochester’s plot to get everything he wants without acknowledging his past mistakes. This blatant deceit and Jane’s strict morals cause her to flee from Thornfield, and try to start a new life.
As bad as Mr.

Rochester’s lies are, there wouldn’t be much of a story without them. His lies set up pivotal conflicts in the story. In fact, he helps Bronte set up a plotline for the first half of the story by pursuing Jane in his strange ways. Making her jealous causes the first conflict in the story, moving the book along with the romance to keep you roped in. The second half of the story is where the major conflict starts. It causes a change of scenery, the new characters, and a new possible love conflict. Most importantly, it sets up the biggest plot twist at the end, with the fire, Bertha’s death and Mr. Rochester’s own loss of sight. Leaving Jane with difficult choices to make, which keeps the reader entertained. Without all of Mr. Rochester’s drama and lies, Jane Eyre wouldn’t be the classic love story it’s known

as.
Bronte’s characters filled with flaws, Mr. Rochester being one of the most. That does not make him unlikable, he’s trying to change and never is malicious in his intent. He is impulsive and a bit selfish as his motives for a lot of things are for his benefit, but he never completely forgets others’ benefits. The book talks about accepting people’s flaws and really seeing them for what they are. That’s why Jane and Edward fall in love, they fall in love with their personalities, not looks. Often, Jane does call Rochester ugly, while she is said to be very plain-looking. It’s what makes this such a dynamic love story. Mr. Rochester adds an important layer to the story, and even with all of his lies, he is a perfect match for Jane and just a great, relatable character. He is one of the factors that contributes spectacularly to this classic tale.