Throughout his proposal St John is passionate and talks with great zeal for God, heaven etc. This behavior suffocates Jane bringing her to the point of asking for mercy. St John tells her that God needs her and he is testing her faith to God. St John talks to Jane like she doesn’t have a mind of her own. He bases his whole proposal on the fact that Jane is the right person for a missionary’s wife. St John is self-interested and pressures Jane. He says he claims her.
For every negative answer by Jane, St John seems to have planned what to say next. He is calculative. He logically counterbalances Jane’s arguments. St John is cunning and persistent. He doesn’t give up with Jane. St John supports his answers and points by using the Bible and generally God. He uses God also to test Jane’s faith and obedience to Him. He is cruel and pushes Jane knowing Jane’s belief in God.
St John has been observing and studying Jane to see if she is right for the job. St John planned everything from the very beginning.
As St John keeps going on with his proposal, he is “pushing” Jane against a wall and she cant escape. Jane feels powerless and weak. She feels she can’t fight him. St John is very unromantic. He doesn’t have a husband’s heart and Jane acknowledges that making her mote not wanting to follow him to India.
Jane keeps thinking the whole matter in her head and comes to the decision of going with St John as his sister. But St John refuses and says their union must be concealed by marriage or it can’t exist.
St John uses emotional blackmail that tortures Jane mentally. He wants to marry Jane so he can influence her life till her death. The whole thing is a matter of control. The more he speaks the more Jane feels his influence on her. She feels like she cant do anything to escape.
St John is arrogant. He strongly believes Jane should become a part of him. This is what he wants and this is how he wants it.
Jane reacts to all these in a passionate and outspoken way. She is not prepared to be controlled or oppressed by anyone. This incident brings up to the surface the character of Jane. She scorns St John’s idea of love and she scorns St John himself. She is direct and unconventional and opinionated. St John wants to marry Jane not on the idea of love but on the idea that he has to because of obedience to God. Certainly a woman wouldn’t want to get married under those ideas and motives. St John uses no logic and he doesn’t make sense.
Mr. Rochester’s proposal was indeed different from St Johns and Jane’s reactions are different. Rochester is romantic, he proposes to Jane in a romantic environment. He teases and plays with her telling her she must leave soon so he can get married. That was quite a blow for Jane but she didn’t let that get to her. She remained calm. Rochester continued his teasing and tells Jane she could go work in Ireland taking care the five daughters of Mrs. Dionysious O’Gall of Bittermatt Lodge.
It is quite humorous for the reader but torturous to Jane. Jane is severely “wounded” by the teasing. Jane wants to sob but she doesn’t. She remains strong. Rochester makes his proposal challenging and provoking for Jane. He deliberately provokes Jane to encourage her to confide in him what she really feels. Rochester is intelligent. He soon changes his attitude and says to Jane if she leaves he’ll bleed from the inside and die.
Jane is passionate and vehement in this proposal. She is honest to Rochester and tells him why she is so sorry to leave Thornfield. She was never undermined in Thornfield and she felt equal there. Also she is frightened to leave Rochester. Jane in a way explodes here after Rochester teases her. Jane’s passionate character is revealed. She points out to Rochester that she is not an automaton a machine. She has feelings too even if she is poor.
Mr. Rochester after he debates with Jane to tell her how much she means to him he finally pops the question. Jane then mocks and tortures Mr. Rochester too by telling him she doesn’t trust him at all.
Rochester’s proposal has passion and lots of romance. This is how a proposal should be but also it is an original one like St Johns.
Both proposals have unique and elite characteristics. St John bases his whole proposal not on love but God and Rochester teases painfully Jane. Jane’s reactions are similar in the two proposals. She is passionate, outspoken and direct in both proposals.
