Jane's Diary

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Jane’s Diary

Dear Diary,

        The night before my wedding night I recall having a strange dream which “I interpreted as a warning of disaster. I feared my hopes were too bright to be realised” and now I know that what I had feared had now become true. Today was the worst day of my entire life. The one person I most truly loved in the whole world has left me with no other choice but to leave him and never return. “Mr Rochester was not to me what he had been; for he was not what I had thought him.” “Real affection, it seemed, he could not have for me.” “Oh, how blind had been my eyes! How weak my conduct!”

         When I awoke this morning “I knew not whether the day was fair or foal.” Sophie came to dress me and when I looked into the mirror “I saw a robed and veiled figure, so unlike my usual self that it seemed almost the image of a stranger.” Mr Rochester then took me into the dining room and said “he would give me but ten minutes to eat some breakfast.” I felt as though everything was in a rush because then, “I was hurried along by a stride I could hardly follow; and to look at Mr Rochester’s face was to feel that not a second of delay would be tolerated for any purpose.”

          When we arrived at the church, I noticed “two figures of strangers straying amongst the low hillocks.” I wondered who they were but in the end I assumed they were going to witness the ceremony. Mr Rochester and I entered the church and the ceremony began. “My conjecture had been correct: the strangers had slipped in before us.” Everything was going according to plan but when asked if there was a reason why Mr Rochester and I should not be married, a voice said that the marriage could not go on because there had been an impediment. I could not believe what I was hearing; everything was such a blur. Mr Rochester is already married to a woman named Bertha Antoinetta Mason and is she is living at Thornfield! “My nerves vibrated to those low spoken words as they had never vibrated to thunder- my blood felt their subtle violence as it had never felt frost or fire; but I was collected, and in no danger of swooning.” At first Mr Rochester refused to see what was being accused of him, but “I felt the spasmodic movement of fury or despair run through his frame.” Mr Rochester then admitted that he was committing the crime of bigamy and ordered everyone to come and see his wife. Before I could say anything I was hurried along back to Thornfield and was lead to the third story of the house.

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          Mr Rochester then opened a door which was hidden behind a tapestry and “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; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing, and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face.” Mr Rochester introduced us to his wife who everyone could then see was ...

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