Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another.” This quote by Alfred Adler is essential to obtain a full understanding of the qualities St. John lacks in the novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. St. John is considered to be of the shadow sage archetype because of his lack of empathy and feelings towards anything or anyone.
The Rivers family does not help Jane because they feel compassionate towards her, but rather because they feel it is their duty to do so. When St. John allows Jane to enter his house, he does not do it because he feels sorry for her and her state. He allows her to enter because he feels it is his duty to help her. On page 357, St. John says, “Hush Hannah!
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John is also incapable of love and emotions. There is a point in time when Jane asks him about his “love interest”, Ms. Rosamond. St. John replies, “While something in me, is acutely sensible to her charms, something else is as deeply impressed with her defects: they are such that they could sympathize in nothing I aspired to cooperate in nothing I undertook. Rosamond a sufferer, a laborer, a female apostle? Rosamond a missionary? No!” (Shelley 399) This quote suggests that St. John is merely marrying, or seeking to marry, because of his vocation. To him, marrying is a duty that everyone must perform. It is not to be enjoyed, and neither the wife nor the husband must love each other. In other words, St. John simply wants his spouse to be interested in his line of work; love is not necessary. In the novel, he asks Jane to marry him so she can come with him on a missionary trip to India. He says, “God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife. It is not personal, but mental endowments they have given you. You are formed for labor, not for love” (Shelley 430). St. John thinks that Jane is “suitable for labor”, which is the only reason he wants to marry her—not because he loves her. He doesn’t see it fit to actually love the person he is going to marry, rather he wants the marriage to be convenient and serve a purpose—there need not be any love involved. In Jane’s case, St. John says that “God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife.” This speaks strongly to the fact that St. John will only marry Jane because he thinks she is fit to be a missionary’s wife, and he is a missionary. He doesn’t actually love her; the marriage is just convenient for
He always makes suggestions of things they can do together like walking the farm to see the flowers bloom. He even offers to buy her things to please her when they don’t have much money. When the Proctors are introduced it is not that obvious that John sincerely loves his wife. It truly shows that he does when he decides to push his stubbornness aside. “ I have been thinking I would confess to them, Elizabeth.”
She is faced with helping her husband make the biggest and most final choice in his life so far. Since they have been apart for a while, separated by prison, it would be incredibly easy for her to say that he should live and give up his good name just so she can still have her husband and her kids have their father. It would be incredibly difficult for her to see John for a few minutes after a long time apart and say he can sacrifice himself for the greater good. However, she sees the situation as that: him sacrificing himself for the greater good. She is also strong enough to admit part of the blame is her own, that she has a hand in the guilt he feels about their relationship.
Although he previously guesses that it would be someone he knows, John’s possible relation to the hypocritical and cowardly Reverend has not crossed his mind. John explains that this divulgence of information is more proof that disappointment is universal and reoccurring. John’s more personal discoveries also to out to be not as satisfactory as originally planned when he remains a virgin at forty years old. From a young age, John has never had a way with
“Maybe this is really why he was happy...or maybe it was because he could be alone with Margaret Cadaver. ”(Creech 16) John knows what happened to Margaret, and he believes that staying with her brings ‘Sugar’ back
Even despite this John is still human, you see this when explained in Act I that, “ He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct” (Miller 19). This explains that John has sinned in the past, however, he feels guilty about it as it didn’t follow his own morals. The regretful sin he committed was having an affair with a 17-year-old girl, Abigail Williams. Even despite this, John is a man of god. John is later prosecuted in Act II because he does not actively attend church, John didn’t attend church because of the action of Reverend Parris.
He is respected by many people who live in his village. But he had a past affair with his servant Abigail Williams. His wife, Elizabeth is very forgiving of his sin, but John has his mind set that he will not confess to anyone else, in fear of ruining his good name and reputation. He also fears that his wife will be hanged due to the accusations Abigail has made about her in the court of being a witch. John would rather die knowing that he did not give in, and that he stood up for what he knew to be true.
Only be sure of this, for I know it now: Whatever you will do, it is a good man does it. I have read my heart this three month, John… I have sins of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery . . . John, I counted myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me! Suspicion kissed you when I did; I never knew how I should say, my love.
This shows that John is a merciful being and desires forgiveness from his wife and God, therefore demonstrating traits of a good man. Furthermore, John has a heated argument with his wife, due to his encounter with Abigail, alone. Although, he thinks his wife will doubt him, she states on the contrary, “I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man, John - only somewhat bewildered” (55).
Elizabeth loves John dearly but not as much as in the past before John had his affair with their ex-servant Abigail. Elizabeth has many issues with John but the main one that stands out in the story is trust. Elizabeth also is very loving to her husband and the church. She shows her mistrust with John when he comes home late “(she doesn’t want friction, and yet she must) you come so late I thought you’d gone to Salem this afternoon” (Miller 54) she is indicating that she thought he had gone to see Abigail in Salem.
Who in her quest to replace the wife of the man she had an affair with (John
Although John is a man who would probably rather not talk about flowers, he is trying to make a romantic gesture to Elizabeth that is sentimental and heartfelt. He is realizing he messed up but is trying to fix it the best he can because he truly does love Elizabeth. On the other hand of things, John’s mistress Abigail is head over heels in love with John and would do literally anything for him; even sentence his wife to her death in order for her to be in the picture. Cheever, an
It is not my soul, John, it is yours. Only be sure of this, for I know it now: Whatever you will do, it is a good man does it” (Miller, 136-137). Elizabeth has most faith in John’s capabilities of being a good man and so gains his love even more by forgiving him when she describes him nothing but good, and also tries persuading him to forgive himself. This is a form of reality anxiety, Elizabeth forgives John and tries her best helping him forgive himself, since she sees herself as a cold wife and fears she could be the reason why John is getting executed. Overall, Abigail and Elizabeth have different ways of achieving love; however, both are able to achieve John’s love through their own ways.
He decides to make a decision as her husband and physician. Such decision is in his best interests to cure her “temporary nervous depression” with rest cure, isolating her with no contact with anyone but him. She keeps a diary hidden from John because she is "absolutely forbidden to 'work '" (Esposito). In the diary, there are entries describing how she was being treated as a prisoner (Gilman 526). Her diary helps see
On the other hand, for Mr. Collins, marriage just means a model for parish and in his mind marriage could add happiness for him and even marriage is what Mrs. Katherine(a sponsor of Mr. Collins) thinks he should find a wife
Rebecca West once said, “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat”; feminism and other social issues are fundamental to literature, with them commonly being a driving force behind both modern and classic works of fiction. Feminism is everywhere, with women still fighting for gender equality in modern day Britain as demonstrated through Emma Watson’s United Nations speech which was broadcasted in September of 2014 where she differentiates feminism from ‘man-hating’. Feminism has developed considerably over time as general attitudes have been swayed through literature, political movements and women’s portrayal of themselves. In 1847, Charlotte Bronte released her novel ‘Jane Eyre’ which was viewed as very radical for its time as Bronte uses Jane to exhibit her resentment towards society. Jane is presented as a morally strong, determined character who, when she falls in love, embraces the notion instead of the label and profits which are associated with it; she states that she “cares for [her]self” and that “more unsustained [she is], the more [she] will respect [her]self” as she is not tempted away from her self-respect.