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Eroticism, romance, and a steamy landscape is at the forefront in John Duigan’s movie adaptation of the Jean Rhys novel, Wide Sargasso Sea. Behind these themes exists a power struggle between two of the main characters and their dependence on one another. Antoinette Cosway and arranged English spouse, Edward Rochester, begin their marriage and lives together. In this arrangement, initial lust and interest between the two soon begins to crumble with the introduction of revealed secrets and fears. Much focus is spent on the main character Antoinette’s personal journey throughout the story, however, it is my interest to look at the character Rochester. His own struggle with identity is not only interesting, but very powerful in how as his identity and strength changes, it directly affects that of his wife, Antoinette. His character development seems rather parasitic. As he gains strength and masculinity, she becomes weak and fragile.
We are first introduced to Edward Rochester in the conversation between that of Aunt Cora and Richard Mason, uncle to Antoinette. He is an Englishman and friend of the Mason’s who needs to be married into wealth due to his position as the second child. This is due to primogeniture where the first male inherits the estate, leaving the other children to look for other means. His unfortunate status is emasculating when one considers that it is more often required for women to look for wealth and not men. Without an estate and personal wealth, Rochester does not fit into the stereotypical mature whole male subject. He is not completely independent, but rather at the hands of a woman.
While Antoinette and Rochester’s first meeting was a comical one due to his weak knees and dramatic faint, ...
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...gets Thornfield Hall. He is now a mature whole male subject. However, he still wants to possess and “care for” his “lunatic.”
Rochester’s personal journey with his identity is very provoking. When we encounter his character in Jane Eyre, we see the hostile and confident man in front of us. It is not until the Duigan film that my personal attention was drawn to his transformation. It is necessary when evaluating the main characters in both stories surrounding Rochester to look at his identity. This discovery questions whether it was necessary for Antoinette to lose herself. It has the potential to be that her craziness was at stake for Rochester to become his vision of himself. The complex character of Rochester should not be in the distance, but rather one in the spotlight, for his identity, masculinity, strength, and presence was at the cost of a woman.
To begin, when Mr. Rochester secretly returns to Thornfield as a gypsy he tells many fortunes but when the secret comes out there is nothing but distrust for him. For example, when Jane finds out that Mr. Rochester was the gypsy, and Mr. Rochester asks if she can forgive him for his trick, she says ¨[She] cannot tell till [she] [has] thought it all over. … [she] shall try to forgive [him]; but it was not right¨ (Bronte 213). This shows that Jane had lost some trust in her beloved Rochester by such a simple joke and it was that, the secret had been kept from her, that makes Jane really wonder if she could tru...
In the movie Jane Eyre, we have the character Edward Rochester, the owner of the house in which Jane Eyre stays there as a governess. When the two meet they fall in love and Rochester insists she marry him.
...ment and realization that he has lost Jane to another man in the following dialogue between them, “’I know where your heart turns, and to what it clings. The interest you cherish is lawless and unconsecrated. Long since you ought to have crushed it: now you should blush to allude to it. You think of Mr. Rochester?’ It was true. I confessed it by silence. ‘Are you going t seek Mr. Rochester?’ ‘I must find out what is become of him.’ ‘It remains for me, then,’ he said, ‘to remember you in my prayers; and to entreat God for you, in all earnestness, that you may not indeed become a castaway. I had thought I recognized in you one of the chose. But God sees not as man sees: His will be done.’” (Bronte 436) Though Jane Eyre’s stay at Moor House and Morton were crucial for her recovery to stability of her life, she yearned to be at Thornfield and wedded to Mr. Rochester.
until the late chapters of the book, plays a important role of contrasting Rochester by way of
Why Wealth and Status Don't Play a Key Role in Jane and Mr. Rochester's Relationship
When reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, I find myself cheering for Rochester. After finishing the book, I ask myself why Jane chooses Rochester over St. John. After all, Rochester has a "mad" wife, Bertha Mason, locked in the attic of Thornfield Hall at the same time that he is proposing marriage to Jane. He has a ward living with him, possibly the offspring of an illicit affair with a French dancer. He is arrogant, pushy, and basically ill-tempered. St. John, on the other hand, is well mannered, respected, and has a promising future. To answer my own question, then, it is essential to look at how each man fits the idea of masculinity in Victorian society, at how each man relates to Jane, and at why Bronte creates her two leading men to be such extreme opposites.
Already full of self-criticism and self-loathing (Grigg 140), Antoinette begins feeling an “unconscious sense of guilt,” the result of an identification with someone to whom the person has been erotically attached; and it is “often the sole remaining trace of the abandoned love –relation” (Grigg 141). While Rochester is determined not to love her, he cannot help but feel responsible for her, after all part of the exile, and therefore her undoing is attributed to him. Unable to walk away from the marriage, he sets out to make the best of it the only way he knows how, by locking her away, exiling her
Indeed, keeping with the gothic theme of the novel Edward Rochester is a dark, mysterious, blunt man whose confidence can often be mistaken for arrogance. Rochester’s traits award him Byronic status. Merja Makien confirms this point by saying, “in appearance, Rochester is a typical gothic hero, dark and brooding with ‘granite-hewn features’ and ‘great, dark eyes’’’. Furthermore, “you think me handsome” and “retain my hand” does not only show that Rochester wants Jane’s approval but displays an intimate and flirtatious relationship between them. Likewise, the Master of Bly in the Turn of the Screw is a distant and mysterious man who is attractive to the governess. We begin to understand the governess’ intentions when she describes the situation at Bly as a “magnificent opportunity” to impress the master. Moreover, Rochester appears to Jane, the reader and himself as a pillar of physical power and makes no apologies for the way he is; “I cannot alter my habits”. Not only does this confession have undertones of self loathing but it is almost a cry of help aimed at Jane to cure his metaphorical illness. Like all great Byronic figures in literature Rochester needs to go on a road to redemption. We begin to see this path form when both Jane and the reader’s feeling of pathos for Rochester is heightened when they find out about his past “family troubles” as well as the fact that he “lost his elder brother”. Both Jane and the ...
In conclusion, Jane Eyre’s painstaking journey to find a sense of acceptance, affection, and family was finally completed, attaining the things she yearned. She eventually discovered everything she was searching for through Mr. Rochester, forgetting her agonizing past and looking to what was ahead. As Jane looked for many different alternatives to make her feel as if she was complete, she found that Mr. Rochester was the only one who could make her feel
Jane and Rochester have similar natures, but they must learn to give up their self-sufficient inclinations. Jane relinquishes her independence, submitting to Rochester as his wife. Rochester loses his independence through the loss of his sight and arm. Jane relies on Rochester for protection and comfort, and Rochester relies on Jane for support and assistance. Charlotte Brontë draws a striking parallel between Jane’s desire for independence and Rochester’s same desire. However, in the end they both must surrender some of their independence for the sake of each other. They find depending on one another is better than lonely independence.
Charlotte Bronte presents Rochester in many different ways. He comes from a rich family, and has a sophisticated personality. His attitude and behavior from the start of the book and the end of it has a dramatic change. Rochester corresponds to the mould of a Byronic Hero however, with his brave and humble actions, he starts to become less attractive as a hero. Moreover, one could argue although he is an unconventional hero he is appealing in both physical and mental ways. However, another could argue against this and find no attractive views of Rochester.
Mr. Rochester’s entire life and reputation is based on manipulation. Overseas he violates his marriage vows by taking mistresses because his wife is unable to fulfill his desires. He wallows in sin and seems to have no remorse for shaming his wife. The relationship he has with all women in his life is consolidated in his relationship with Jane. His relationship with her was based on deception and destruction of innocence.
Rochester and becoming his caretaker. However, Jane figure out that by taking care of Mr. Rochester she would be able to find the freedom that she has been looking for and finally feel satisfied with her life. Because of Mr. Rochester’s inability to care for himself, Jane learns that if she has to care for him, he is no longer capable of making orders meaning that they are now similar when it comes to equality. “To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company….all my confidence is bestowed on him, all his confidence is devoted to me; we are precisely suited in character – perfect concord is the result” (Bronte, 688). This proves that Jane and Mr. Rochester can now belong together since they had find a balance between being equal. Now that Jane married her true love, she also found happiness because she is now with the man that she felt in love with. Also with her marriage, Jane has learn how to balance her emotions between finding freedom for happiness and finding independence through marriage and caring for her disable husband. Also through her journey she was able to find self-fulfillment and the affection she has always been looking
Rhys divides the speaking voice between Rochester and Antoinette, thus avoiding the suppression of alternative voices which she recognises in Bronte's text. Rochester, who is never named in the novel, is not portrayed as an evil tyrant, but as a proud and bigoted younger brother betrayed by his family into a loveless marriage. His double standards with regards to the former slaves and Antoinette's family involvement with them are exposed when he chooses to sleep with the maid, Amelie, thus displaying the promiscuous behaviour and attraction to the ...
Women, in all classes, were still living in a world which was misogynistic and male-dominated. Their purpose in life was to produce male heirs and maintain the home by hiring and overseeing servants. It was also taboo for one to marry significantly below one’s social class. This is one reason that Jane is not a conventional heroine for the society of her time. Although, as a governess, she is not considered to be as low as a housemaid, she is still part of the hired help in the house. This is why it is unconventional for her and Mr Rochester to be in a relationship. Yet this is not as peculiar as how Jane Eyre ends their relationship due to her sense of betrayal. It would have been considered extremely foolish for a working-woman’s sense of betrayal to end and turn down a man of great wealth.