Jane Eyre Redemption Analysis

Rochester 's Redemption: The Taming of the Byronic Hero

"Reader, I married him." (Brontë, p. 444). Jane 's triumphant declaration at the end of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is a hard-earned resolution to Jane 's year-long decision to leave Mr. Rochester to uphold her moral convictions rather than remain as his submissive mistress in bigamy. Yet, not much attention is paid to Mr. Rochester 's evolution in this time, and we only see him as a dramatically reformed man at the end of the novel. Although Mr. Rochester 's role in the novel is perhaps subsidiary to Jane 's insofar as signposting her development throughout her time at Thornfield and beyond, it is arguable that he had to undergo a process of redemption of his own so that Jane could

Rochester 's submissive mistress also necessitates and catalyses Mr. Rochester 's process of self-redemption and reformation. Although the intentions of his actions during this year-long gap in his narrative are not explicitly stated, it seems fair to infer that they must have begun to deviate from his initial unrestrained Byronic temper if he had managed to completely change his disposition by the end of the novel. A prime example for demonstrating the gradual shift in his attitudes towards women would be when Bertha sets Thornfield ablaze. Mr. Rochester makes the ultimate sacrifice in risking his life to save all his servants and Bertha before himself - Jane learns that he "helped them down himself" (Brontë, p. 423) and even attempts to save Bertha. His intentions for such a heroic act are never directly stated, but it seems plausible that he acts out of guilt for his previous cavalier treatment of women which drove Jane to leave him. Furthermore, the permanent injuries he sustains from his heroism in the fire appear to be both his punishment and redemption as well. The innkeeper contemplates that his disabilities could have been a "just judgment on him" from God for "keeping his first marriage secret" (Brontë, p. 423) from Jane. The loss of his sight could also be interpreted as a symbolic punishment of the damage wrought by his Byronic qualities. Now that he is vulnerable by virtue of

Rochester completes his redemption upon his reunion with Jane, and the markedly different man we observe is a result of the tempering of his Byronic qualities. He is now willing to express his vulnerabilities and allows Jane to be in a superior position to him at times. He now respects Jane 's free will and decides to "abide by [her] decision" (Brontë, p. 439) as to whether or not she would wish to marry a crippled man and be his caretaker, which is a stark contrast to when he pretended to want to marry Blanche Ingram in order to induce Jane 's jealousy and coerce a confession from her in his first proposal (Brontë, p. 261). This is significant because it highlights a genuine reformation of his Byronic arrogance that would have prevented him from deferring to Jane in any way. It is also clear that he no longer objectifies Jane - he realises that his love is more important than "fine clothes and jewels" which are "not worth a fillip" (Brontë, p. 440). His flippant tone in proclaiming this is also remarkable because it reveals that he now values Jane for the love he feels for her rather than the performance of his idealised lover that he previously paraded. Indeed, Jane observes this change as well and notes that she loves him more than she did "in [his] state of proud independence" (Brontë, p. 440) now that he has learnt to overcome his need for dominance. Mr. Rochester also declares that he has turned to religion to redeem himself of his sins. He states that his heart