Essay "The Theme of Love in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre"

The Theme of Love in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

A constant theme throughout Jane Eyre is the search for love.  Although this could be shown through many of the novel's key characters, it can most readily be shown in the experiences of Jane Eyre herself.  The novel begins with her searching for love and it finally ends with her finding it, for good, in Mr. Rochester.

Jane Eyre has two love interests in the novel, Mr. Rochester, whom she grows to love after serving as his daughter's governess, and St. John Rivers, a minister and her cousin who repeatedly asks for her hand in marriage so she can work with him as a missionary in India.

Both relationships have complications. St. John is a good man, but Jane refuses to marry him because she does not love him and she knows thier marriage would lack the passion she desires.

The man she truly loves, Mr. Rochester, is already married. His wife, Bertha Mason Rochester, is insane and hidden in the attic. Just when Jane thinks she has her dream and will marry Mr. Rochester, she learns of Bertha's existance and flees.

Jane's love for Rochester is clearly noticible throughout the novel. But Jane's true love for Rochster becomes appearent in only a few of her actions and emotions. Although it may seem Rochester manipulated her heart's desire, this can be disproven in her actions towards him. Jane followed her heart in the end, by returning to Rochester.

Jane's true love for Roshester becomes appearant during her walks with him at Thornfield. Jane is affected by him so much that "[her] blanks of existance were filled up; [her] bodily health improved; [she] gathered flesh and strenght". She felt like his "presence in a room was more cheering than the brightest fire". When Blanche - a new woman in Rochester's life - came along, Jane began to grow jelous, which reveals how much she actually really loves Rochester. She begins to hate herself saying "he is not of your order: keep to your caste, and be too self-respecting to lavish the love of the whole heart, soul, and strength, where such a gift is not wanted and would be despised. With the presence of Blanche, Jane begins pointing out her insuficiencies and the things she hates about herself. This clearly expresses jelousy, and how much she is actually in love with Rochester.

Jane's struggle to resist St. John shows that Miss Bronte disapproved of a legal and highly respectable union where there was no genuine love. Jane realizes that St. John "has no more of a husband's heart" for her than a rock. She also states that he is "as cold as an iceberg." Even so, St. John is very persuasive, and Jane almost gives in, against her better judgment. She is saved by the mysterious voice. The last part of the book, which describes the reunion of Jane and her "master", is Charlotte Bronte's picture of an ideal marriage. Their relationship is marked by deep tenderness and passion, mingled with lively teasing. When they meet and she is "entwined and gathered to him," Jane cries "God bless you, sir! I am glad to be so near you again." When she, wondering if she has been too anxious, tries to withdraw from his embrace, he presses her closer. His helplessness touches her deeply, while to him she is his skylark, bringing music and sheer. All in all, it has been shown that the theme of love happens to be the key theme is Bronte's Jane Eyre.