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

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