Jane is not like most 19th century women for she has determination unlike conventional women who are just pretty, passive and quite ordinary example of this is Miss Blanche Ingram. One main and important difference to me is that Jane gives her opinions, but Blanche is just an echo of what other people say. She has no real thoughts for herself.
Jane is poor, but as determined as any person is. She is never contented to accept what is expected of a woman of her status and is constantly feeling the pain of inequality.
Rochester is not a conventional romantic hero because Jane describes him as ugly, low browed with a heavy square cut fringe. One very unattractive trait is the way he plays with Jane, testing the strength of attachment to him, pretending right up to the moment of the first marriage proposal that he is planning his wedding to Blanche Ingram, taking her compliance for granted. He seems to denigrate Jane all the time, referring constantly to her as little or quiet. Rochester also tries to commit bigamy in his search for happiness.
Everything is revealed in chapter 26; it delivers a build up of tension that provokes a crisis that takes the rest of the novel to resolve. The interpretations of the wedding, the revelation of Bertha and finding that our Jane has an uncle are all included in this chapter.
Jane and Rochester’s marriage ceremony differ in many ways to a conventional Christian wedding. Their wedding is very rushed and hurried “I was hurried along by a stride I could hardly follow...” Whereas a conventional marriage ceremony would be well planned out and organised. Jane and Rochester have a private wedding, however to strangers attended. This is quite unusual as no one would come to a wedding uninvited. On the other hand, a conventional Christian ceremony would have many relatives, friends, bridesmaids and best man. The ceremony would also be run smoothly and there would be plenty of decoration and music. The bride and groom are not suppose to see each other; as this is a sign of bad luck. However, Jane and Rochester saw each other before arriving at the church. This is an indication that something awful will happen later on.
Furthermore, it is fire imagery that represents the break-up between Rochester and Jane. Earlier in the book, the chestnut tree in the orchard is hit by lightning, a form of fire imagery. Though "scarred and scorched", "the cloven halves were not broken from each other" and the "strong roots kept them unsoldered below". The fire, or passion, has burnt the tree and split it into two, just as Rochester and Jane must be split apart as they have yet to recognize the risk of being overly passionate. However, like the chestnut tree which is still joined at the roots, the basis of the love between Rochester and Jane remains, which leaves the path open for getting back together later in the book. Adele tells Jane that on the night she agreed to marry Mr Rochester that "the great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away." This shows how nature reflects the beliefs. It shows that they are going against nature by marrying, and that it will end with a parting, which is what does happen. This also shows how Charlotte believed that God was all-powerful, and that he knew everything that happened. It shows how He was trying to stop them breaking the laws of the country and of His teachings.
Bronte uses pathetic fallacy, an example of this is when Jane arrives back at Dean fern, the weather matches her mood, as represented in this quote: "sad skies of cold gales and continuing small penetrating rain, here she feels sad, lonely and isolated. Rochester’s state of mind: he feels hidden, surrounded by dark woods symbolizing loneliness.
Jane narrates the bad turn of events with relentless imagery of ice: "A Christmas frost had come at midsummer; a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples" As before, ice symbolizes destruction, cruelty, hopelessness, and death.
Bronte uses natural imagery to describe Rochester, Jane holds an obvious fascination for Rochester at this point: 'how like quarried marble was his pale, firm, massive front at this moment!' The rock makes him seem powerful and strong and that he holds his emotions in. It was this fascination that initially led Jane to love Rochester, this fascination that is stopping her from obeying her natural impulses and fleeing the church, and this fascination that leads her back to Rochester later in the novel. It is ironic that Jane describes Rochester as 'marble', as this is how she describes St. John after her departure from Thornfield.
Jane also describes “his whole face was colourless rock; His eye was both spark and flint” This suggests he was shocked and colour has drained way, however the rock suggests he wont give in.
Bertha is described in animal-like terms, and is called ‘it', not even ‘she' in the beginning. Jane describes her meeting with Bertha as such:
“In the deep shade, at the farther end of the room, a figure ran backwards and forwards. What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it grovelled, seemingly, on all fours…”This, once again suggests that the woman is inhumane.
Rochester loosely associates "madness" with Bertha's racially "impure" lineage as well as the tropical West Indian climate in which she grew up. He mentions "the fiery West Indian" place of Bertha's upbringing and her Creole blood as the roots of her insanity. He claims that "Bertha Mason is mad because she came of a mad family; idiots and maniacs through three generations! Her mother, the Creole, was both a mad woman and a drunkard!” Later, Rochester specifically mentions that Bertha's family wished for him to marry Bertha because of his "racial" superiority. "Her family wished to secure me because I was of good race, and so did she. After offering a variety of associations between madness and "impure" racial composition, Rochester, like Day, reverts to West Indian climate as a cultivating force of such madness, a kind of hell for the "civilized" Englishman. This tells us that Victorians were quite racist to people with different racial background.
Another interpretation of Bertha is that she is a double for Jane herself, the embodiment of Jane’s repressed fear and anger, both in regard to her specific situation and in regard to oppression. For although Jane declares her love for Rochester, her dreams and apprehensions suggest that she also secretly fears being married to him, perhaps even that she secretly wants to rage against the imprisonment that marriage could become for her. Although Jane does not manifest this fear or rage, Bertha does. Thus, Bertha tears the bridal veil, and it is Bertha’s existence that stops the wedding from going forth.
Bertha Mason also represents the constraint of Victorian marriage. Rochester claims to have imprisoned her because she is mad, but it is easy to imagine an opposite relation of cause and effect, in which years of enforced imprisonment and isolation have made her violently insane or, at least, increased her insanity. Thus, the madwoman in the attic could represent the confining and repressive aspects of Victorian wifehood, suggesting that the lack of autonomy and freedom in marriage suffocates women, threatening their mental and emotional health. Bertha’s tearing of Jane’s wedding veil could be seen as symbolizing her revolt against the institution of marriage.
Overall, everything is revealed in chapter 26 including the discovery of Bertha in the attic.
