Byronic Hero In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

A hero with a wild side is commonly known as a Byronic hero that entrances the protagonist. In the novel, Jane Eyre (1847), Charlotte Bronte suggests that Mr. Rochester is the Byronic hero by featuring his rejection of societal norms and unnamed sexual crime. The author’s purpose is to add a mysterious element to the tragic life of Jane Eyre in order to intensify the conflicts.

Although Edward Rochester displays characteristics of a Byronic hero, his lack of self-respect and confidence differentiate him. After experiencing some obstacles in his life that lead him to lose his status, he was not able to fully recover after he got Jane Eyre back. For example, even when Jane accepts to marry him, Mr. Rochester continued to degrade himself through

Rochester’s rejects societal norms and unnamed sexual crime. Mr. Rochester does not live the way that society thinks he should live or what is normal for the society he lives in. Even with the chance of marrying a beautiful and wealthy young women, he “wouldn’t - couldn’t marry miss Ingram” instead he chose a “poor and obscure, and small and plain” woman (Bronte 322). Mr. Rochester did not marry Miss Ingram because of her greed. Back in the 1840s women in this society married men that seem to have it all, financially. And because Mr. Rochester did not want to be with her, it made her look very desperate. In society, a man is supposed to chase women; it is not heard of that Eve chased Adam. Not only did Edward Rochester not chase after Miss Ingram, he had a history of unnamed sexual crime. Part of Rochester’s mysterious qualities is that he engaged in promiscuous activities and he found it the “ most usual thing in the world for a man like [him] to tell stories of his opera- mistresses to a quaint inexperienced girl like you! But the last singularity explains the first as [he] intimated once before [Jane], with [her] gravity considered and caution were made to be the recipient of secrets” (Bronte 179). Unnamed sexual crime makes Mr. Rochester a Byronic hero because sex plays a role in showing love towards others. Rochester is very sensitive when it comes to Jane because he really loves her, the physical

Rochester characteristics not only affect his life, but also those he loves. Mr. Rochester mysterious and dark side confuse Jane Eyre’s feelings towards him; she did not know what to think about him as a person. Jane scarcely says “I was growing very lenient to my master: I was forgetting all his faults, for which I had once kept a sharp lookout”(Bronte 236). The more time Jane spent with Mr. Rochester, the more she gets to know him, and ended up falling in love with him. But, Jane did not know what she put herself into and did not think was unaware of his situation. As for Mr. Rochester, he notice that Jane was a different type of woman and regretted being a married man because he could not be with Jane. Rochester explicitly repeated to Jane saying “I kept telling her I am not married… I am certain Jane will agree with me in my opinion, when she knows all that I know”(Bronte 304). Mr. Rochester did not want anything to get in the way of his marriage even if it caused him to lie to his future wife. Although people lie in their relationships, some lies affect their relationship, as it did to Mr. Rochester. He should of never expected secretive marriage to be hidden forever. And once Jane found out, it was hard for her to accept Mr. Rochester back into her life.As a Byronic hero, he made her life more