英美文学毕业论文

PINGDINGSHAN UNIVERSITY

毕业论文

题 目: The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate

—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

院 系: 外国语学院 专业年级: 2008级英语专业 姓 名: 吴丽 学 号: 081020124 指导教师: 马慧莲（副教授）

2012年4月30日

Thesis: The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate

— On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

佳偶天成

—浅析简·爱和罗彻斯特浪漫爱情的现实可行性

School or Department: College of Foreign Languages Grade and Specialty: 2008, English Language and Literature Name: Wu Li

Advisor: Ma Huilian (Associate Professor)

April 30, 2012

毕业设计诚信承诺书

本人郑重声明：所呈交的毕业论文（设计）是本人在指导老师指导下取得的研究成果。除了文中特别加以注释和致谢的地方外，论文（设计）中不包含其他人已经发表或撰写的研究成果。与本研究成果相关的所有人所做出的任何贡献均已在论文（设计）中作了明确的说明并表示了谢意。

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年 月 日

Abstract

Jane Eyre is a novel with love as its theme. It‘s known to all that art copies life but in a more abstract way than the typical way. No doubt, in Jane Eyre there are lots of romantic colors, among which the love and marriage between Jane Eyre and Rochester is the most enchanting one. Romantic as their love is, this thesis aims at discussing its realistic feasibility of the love between the heroine and the hero: the right time and the right place make the two meet and love each other. They are the perfect match ordained.

Key words: feasibility; right time; right place; right person

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摘 要

《简爱》是一部以爱情为主题的小说。众所周知，艺术源于现实但也高于现实。《简爱》无疑是一部具有浓厚浪漫主义色彩的小说。主人公简爱和罗彻斯特的爱情和婚姻更为人所津津乐道。本文拟从三个方面论证其男女主角浪漫爱情背后的现实可行性：合适的时间，合适的地点使两人相遇相恋，他们是佳偶天成。

关 键 词: 现实可行性；合适的时间；合适的地点；合适的人

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Table of Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... i 摘 要 ............................................................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2 Literary Review ........................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 3 Feasibility Determined by the Right Time ................................................................ 5

3.1 Rochester‘s Standards in Choosing a Wife before Jane ..................................................... 5 3.2 Their Meeting to be Missed If Jane Inherits the Legacy .................................................... 6 3.3 The Match Meeting at the Right Time ............................................................................... 7

3.3.1 Rochester Meets Jane at His Right Time ................................................................. 7 3.3.2 Jane Meets Rochester at Her Right Time ................................................................. 8

Chapter 4 Feasibility Determined by the Right Place ............................................................. 10

4.1 Thornfield, a Completely New and Attractive Place to Jane ........................................... 10 4.2 Thornfield, Both a Blessing and Heartbreaking Place for Jane and Rochester ................ 11 Chapter 5 Feasibility Determined by Their Complementary Character ............................... 13

5.1 Rochester, Fascinated by Jane‘s Inner Workings ............................................................. 13 5.2 Jane, Attracted by the Charm of Rochester‘s Character .................................................. 14 5.3 The Spiritually Equal Match ............................................................................................ 15 Chapter 6 Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 17 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 18 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 19

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Chapter 1 Introduction

Of all Victorian literary names none has so proved its power to excite curiosity, stir dramatic imaginations, and evoke chatter and personal discussion, as has the name of Bronte. Among the four impressive novels Charlotte writes, Jane Eyre proves to be the most enduring.

On the Global issues of literary criticism Bronte Literature, Jane Eyre has been one of most concerned works by scholars from various countries. Since the publication of the magazine ―Woman‖ in 1917 which introduced Bronte sisters to Chinese readers the first time, Jane Eyre has been warmly welcome by the ages of Chinese readers and scholars, and criticism of Western literature in China has become a hot topic in that time. Tracing criticism on Jane Eyre history in china, during the past hundred years, it is in the current surging.

―Marxism, feminism, and Christian cultural studies, literary criticism and other narrative theories from the perspective of their theory of Jane Eyre have made a certain depth of research, which, undoubtedly, have achieved a lot of useful results in Chinese and foreign literature history. Jane Eyre was written in the 1940s, with the global democracy, freedom, equality, civil rights movement ongoing. Not only the peoples‘ class consciousness was awakening, but women‘s sense of equality with men was gradually self-awaring. Then in the literary criticism Feminist theory followed. Because Jane is the representatives of the rebellious spirit of the literature with a strong female character in British literary history, many domestic and foreign scholars have criticized the text from the feminist perspective.‖ (Liu Yan, 2011:5) Of course there are some scholars having made their researches from the perspective of love. But they always focus on Jane‘s vision of love. Some talk about why the plain and poor Jane can gain the love of Rochester, paying much attention to the charms of Jane‘s characters. So these studies are mostly one-way view to study the text, splitting the text to pieces.

The main focus of this thesis is to discuss the realistic feasibility of romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. The difference of this thesis is that it studies not only Jane‘s charming character but also some other factors, such as time, place and their complementary character. This study may lead to a better understanding of the reason why the two whose social status is different can go together in that hierarchical society. Besides, we can search for the relationship between the author‘s real life and the heroine Jane Eyre. It is helpful for us to have a good knowledge of the author, her vision of love, and love and marriage of her day. This text is

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

divided into six chapters. Chapter One is an introduction to the domestic and foreign situation of the research, the innovation and significance of this thesis. Chapter Two is some scholar‘s views about Jane Eyre. In the next three chapters, three points will be given to discuss the realistic feasibility of the love between the heroine and the hero: the right time and the right place make the two meet with and love each other, and finally they get married. They are the perfect match ordained. Chapter Six is a conclusion of this research.

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Chapter 2 Literary Review

In the book A Survey of English Literature, Doc.Chang says, ―Jane is neither good-looking nor rich. Hers is in fact the first image of an ugly duckling who becomes heroine in English literary history‖ Jane Eyre has its unique characteristics which make Jane an eternal appeal. ―She braves life with courage and hope and refuses to submit to the overwhelming odds of negative circumstance. Both practical and realistic, she has nonetheless, that human zeal and exuberance in her bosom that shines forth the grandeur of the persistent human quest for light through an otherwise ambient gloom until she finds it at the end of tunnel.‖ About the love between Jane and Rochester, he says ―The mutual attraction she and Rochester feel for one another is not so much romantic as it is based on the unique strength of character that they share. Jane leaves St. John Rivers and goes back to Rochester because her love for him never dies; it is a love firmly built on her morality and integrity. It is by the share force of her passionate character that she conquers her readers as well as Rochester and St. John Rivers.‖ He also mentions Rochester‘s character when he first appears, ―cynical，arrogant，and swashbuckling. There are hints that he may have been a dissolute rake. But to the curiosity of the readers, Jane begins to love him, and the two get close and unite in the end. The readers find to their joy that passion burns under a cool rational surface at the bottom of their souls, and that both exhibit the will to life and happiness and the readiness to meet life squarely in the face. It‘s the emotional intensity of the relationship that holds them together.‖ (Chang Yaoxin, 2006:251)

In the book A History of British Literature, Doc. Suo Jinmei talks about her opinions about how Jane gains her love: ―In this novel Jane learns how to gain love without sacrificing herself in the process. Jane thinks that being a mistress to Rochester would sacrifice her own integrity for the sake of emotional gratification. This she can‘t accept. That is why she leaves Rochester and runs away to Morton. At Morton she enjoys economic independence and engages in worthwhile and useful work，teaching the poor. Yet she lacks emotional sustenance. Although St. John proposes a marriage, offering her a partnership for a common purpose, Jane knows that their marriage would remain loveless because she does not love him. Only after proving her self-sufficiency to herself can she marry Rochester. The marriage can be one between equals.‖ (Suo Jinmei, 2009:220)

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

In The Common Reader, by Virginia Woolf, she expresses her opinion in the article Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. She says ―The drawbacks of being Jane Eyre are not far to seek. Always to be a governess and always to be in love is a serious limitation in a world which is full, after all, of people who are neither one nor the other. The characters of a Jane Austen or of a Tolstoi have a million facets compared with these. They live and are complex by means of their effect upon many different people who serve to mirror them in the round. They move hither and thither whether their creators watch them or not, and the world in which they live seems to us an independent world which we can visit, now that they have created it, by ourselves.‖ Woolf compares Charlotte Bronte and Tomas Hardy, says ―She does not attempt to solve the problems of human life; she is even unaware that such problems exist; all her force, and it is the more tremendous for being constricted, goes into the assertion, ?I love, I hate, I suffer‘.‖ (Virginia Woolf, 1948:53)

This paper discusses the love and marriage between the heroine and the hero in a different way. They are the right couple meeting at the right time and in the right place, which is favored by fate.

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Chapter 3 Feasibility Determined by the Right Time

Just like the poet Zhang Ailing says ―Through thousands of years, with the boundlessness of time, one happens to meet the people one wants, neither earlier nor a bit too late.‖ Right time here means no sooner no later, or timely. That‘s to say, meeting earlier or later, a perfect couple may not fall in love with each other. According to a psychological study, ―Men like beautiful women when they are young, but after middle age they tend to choose a lover who has the complementary characters with them,‖ which can be taken to describe Rochester and Jane. After going through so much, Rochester‘s standards in choosing a wife have changed when he meets Jane. That is to say, Rochester meets Jane at his right time. Meanwhile Jane also meets Rochester at her right time because their meeting might be missed if Jane inherits the legacy. Meeting at Right time is the indispensable factor for the realistic feasibility of their romance.

3.1 Rochester’s Standards in Choosing a Wife before Jane

What kind of women can be Rochester‘s wife when he is young? From the novel, it is clear that what attracts young Rochester is beauty and wealth, even his annoying mad wife used to be beautiful and rich. Rochester‘s father chooses Miss Mason mainly because he knows she will get a fortune of thirty thousand pounds which can provide Rochester ―a wealthy marriage‖. He tells Rochester that ―Miss Mason was the boast of Spanish Town for her beauty‖. Rochester also thinks that it is not a lie and finds Miss Mason a fine woman ―tall, dark, and majestic‖. So at that time, he is fascinated by her beautiful appearance. But after marriage, he finds his wife‘s true nature, ―I was not sure of the existence of one virtue in her nature: I had marked neither modesty, nor benevolence, nor candour, nor refinement in her mind or manners.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:416) Then he tries to seek a woman of his ideal and changes his selection criteria in the past. But he can‘t find one in his own circle of life. ―Provided with plenty of money and the passport of an old name, I could choose my own society: no circles were closed against me. I sought my ideal of a woman amongst English ladies, French countesses, Italian signoras, and German grafinnen.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:424) Rochester has love affairs with at least three women besides his mad wife and all of them are beautiful or rich .The first one he meets is superbly beautiful Celine Varens, a France dancer, attracting him with her charms, and toward whom he has once cherished what he called a ―grander passion‖. He says ―my tenderest feelings receive a shock‖ when he first see Celine Varens appearing on the boards. After Celine Varens

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

are two successors: Giacinta and Clara, an Italian and a German, ―Both considered singularly handsome.‖ His love affairs with the women show clearly that before Jane, Rochester‘s standards in choosing a wife are beauty, wealth, or status. The plain, common and poor Jane does not match his standards, so they will miss if they meet earlier.

3.2 Their Meeting to be Missed If Jane Inherits the Legacy

Poverty and desire for independence drive Jane to Thornfield as a governess. But if Jane becomes rich after she inherits a fortune from her relative, would she advertise for a job? Definitely no. Her life will be deeply influenced by the Victorian values toward a female. In the Victorian era, people generally believe that man is rational, while woman is emotional and more susceptible to the temptation of the outside world. This concept becomes almost a consensus in the middle class society at that time: women are limited to the family‘s private space. ―They emphasized that women were dependent on and subservient to men, that women, once married, in the law, all belonged to her husband. Therefore in a middle-class family, treating boys and girls is different. Usually boys should go out to learn knowledge and earn money, but girls should stay at home, doing nothing.‖ (Carol Dyhouse, 2010:26) Therefore, it can be inferred that if Jane inherits great wealth, she is likely to be the same as other middle - class women of the Victoria era who are trained as a ―lady‖and the only romantic idea of love is to marry a ―gentleman‖ to increase their own wealth. She will not fall in love with Rochester who becomes blind and poor.

But when Jane finds her family members and inherits great legacy, why she chooses to return to Rochester who has become poor and blind? The first and the most important reason is her deep love to Rochester. Jane has to leave Rochester when she knows he has married. But she can‘t control her heart and the pain of leaving her lover. ―It (the sad heart) plained of its gaping wounds, its inward bleeding, its riven chords. It trembled for Mr. Rochester and his doom; it bemoaned him with bitty pity; it demanded him with careless longing; and, impotent as a bird with both wing broken, it still quivered its shattered pinions in vain attempts to seek him.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:442) Though Jane later gets a ―calm‖ and ―useful‖ existence in the village-school in Morton as a respectable teacher, she often rushes into strange dreams which are all about Rochester. ―I still again and again met Rochester, always at some exciting crisis; and then the sense of being in his arms, hearing his voice, meeting his eye, touching his hand and

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

cheek, loving him, being loved by him—the hope of passing a lifetime at his side, would be renewed, with all its first force and fire.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:501) After St. John proposing to her, Jane has considered to ―put love out question, and thought only of duty‖. But at that time she hears a ―known‖, ―loved‖, ―well-remembered‖ voice from the moorland. She knows that is the voice of Rochester and she still loves him deeply. So she refuses St. John and goes back to Rochester. Love is the main reason why Jane goes back to the poor and blind Rochester. Of course, there are other reasons to explain this, such as Jane‘s good nature. Jane is a tolerant and benevolent woman: ―She can forgive Mrs. Reed who once abused and maltreated him and go to see her when she is seriously ill; she can forgive Rochester though he cheats her of hiding his marriage and proposing to her; she can come back to Rochester when he becomes empty-handed.‖ (Feng Lichun, 2010:4) Meanwhile, after experiencing so much, Jane has a deep comprehension of life. She knows clearly that money is not everything and what she needs is love and family. For her, owning five thousand pounds will please and benefit her. But having twenty thousand will torment and oppress her. So she would rather ―abandon‖ the money, which she thinks is ―superfluous‖ to her, to her cousins to achieve the ―family ties‖ and ―domestic happiness‖.

3.3 The Match Meeting at the Right Time

3.3.1 Rochester Meets Jane at His Right Time

When Rochester meets Jane, he is middle-aged. He has experienced a lot in life, especially, the emotional hardships of his first marriage. When he talks about his first suffering marriage with Jane, he says ―being ignorant, raw, and inexperienced, I thought I loved her. There is no folly so besotted that the idiotic rivalries of society，the prurience，the rashness，the blindness of youth, will no hurry a man to its commission.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:416) These words can explain that at that time, Rochester is too young to choose his lover. What the first marriage brings to him is all the pain and unbearable memories. He finally finds that the woman he marries is not a woman he loves but a woman who only has appearance and wealth without soul and mind. ―I found her nature alien to mine, her taste obnoxious to me, her cast of mind common, low, narrow，and sinularly incapable of being led to anything higher，expanded to anything larger…I found I could not pass a single evening, nor even a single hour of the day with her in comfort…‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:417) After the horrible marriage, Rochester thinks a lot and

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

he has a fixed desire to seek a good and intelligent woman whom he can love. He tries，but fails. ―I could not find her. Sometimes，for a fleeting moment，I thought I caught a glance，heard a tone，beheld a form, which announced the realization of my dream; but I was presently undeserved….I longed only for what suited me, and I longed vainly.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:424) Suffering makes a person grow up. Rochester has gained lessons from his experience and become mature in love. He knows that appearance and wealth are of no use for him and what he need is the one suitable for him. It is just at that time that Jane appears before him. Jane is plain, without money or status. But she is open, independent and can think keenly, who fits Rochester‘s ideal life partner after he has learned a lesson from a painful experience. 3.3.2 Jane Meets Rochester at Her Right Time

When Jane meets Rochester, she has stayed in the charity school for about eight years. During the period, Jane suffers a lot, but at the same time she gains a lot, especially, she enriches and accumulates her knowledge. And it‘s the knowledge and experience acquired at Lowood that lay a good foundation for the future work. Mr. Rochester is not easy to approach, and looks down upon others, especially persons ignorant of knowledge. If she has not studied for six years and taught two years at Lowood School, Jane won‘t advertise for a job in the newspaper and get the job as a governess and she has no chance to communicate with her master at Rochester‘s home. If they can‘t communicate with each other, they can‘t know each other and it‘s impossible for them to understand and even love each other. Meanwhile, the life in Lowood has made a unique Jane different from the women Rochester has met earlier. Jane is plain-looking, but her speech and deportment reveal her extraordinary temperament—her self-respect, her independence, her wisdom and her genteel generosity, all of which fascinate Rochester deeply. In Thornfield, Jane is a governess. It is a humble profession at that time. But whoever to face, she is neither supercilious nor obsequious without any humbleness. Facing such a man much older than her in age, much seasoned in experience, higher in status, Jane still emphasizes the equality. It is because of this that Jane talks with Rochester with ease and wisdom. When Rochester looks Jane‘s paintings they have a talk:

―Where did you get your copies?‖ ―Out of my head.‖

―The head I see now on your shoulders?‖

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

―Yes, sir.‖

―Has it other furniture of the same kind within?‖

―I should think it may have: I should hope—better.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:167)

―Brief and clever answer shows a clear brain. Facing her employer, Jane doesn‘t behave mean and cowardly. When Rochester asks Jane whether he is beautiful, Jane answers ?no‘. She explains, ?Sir, I was too plain; I beg your pardon. I ought to have replied that it was not easy to give an impromptu answer to a question about appearances; that tastes differ; that beauty is of little consequence, or something of that sort.‘ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:176) The honest even a little daring manner is out of Jane‘s true feeling. She knows she is only a governess employed by Rochester, but she doesn‘t think she is inferior to him in thought.‖ (Liang Ying, 2010:8) From what has been discussed, it can be concluded that after suffering so much, Jane becomes a mature, charming and learned woman who attracts Rochester deeply.

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Chapter 4 Feasibility Determined by the Right Place

Jane and Rochester meet at Thornfield Hall and fall in love with each other there. What does Thornfield Hall mean to Jane and Rochester? For Jane, an orphan sojourning in other‘s house from childhood and living in the terrible charity school for eight years, Thornfield is completely a new and attractive place. Meanwhile here, Jane and Rochester meet each other, know each other and love each other. For them, Thornfiled is a blessing place filled with many happy memories. But Thornfield is also a heart-breaking place for both Jane and Rochester: the mad wife, the obstructed marriage, the forced separation, etc. They feel the suffering of love.

4.1 Thornfield, a Completely New and Attractive Place to Jane

At the beginning of the story, Jane is an orphan and is brought up till ten by Mrs. Reed who maltreats her and her cousins bulling her very often. Then the next eight years at Lowood is rather horrible: the rigid and ruthless circumstances (board, food, infectious diseases which makes many girls die including the silent, kind and gentle Helen). Mr. Rochester, who even hasn‘t been there, knows it well, ―I thought half the time (four years) in such a place would have done up any constitution.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:163) Then eight years later, she comes to Thornfield Hall where she feels warm, safe, and comfortable. Staying there, to Jane, is staying at home. When she first enters the hall, ―she (the servant) ushered me into a room whose double illumination of fire and candle at first dazzled me …A snug small room；a round table by a cheerful fire …‖(Charlotte Bronte, 1847:126) Focusing on the words by Jane: lights, candle, fire, snug and cheerful, everyone can feel it home-like, warm, and safe. ―The scenery belongs to the observer‖, Jane must have warmer feeling to Thornfield compared with Gateshead and Lowood which are so heavy, gloomy, and horrible. The red house in Gateshead ―looked colder and darker in that visionary hollow than reality: and the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:17) In Lowood, it is the time of pain ―while disease had thus become an inhabitant of Lowood, and deaths its frequent ?visitor‘; while there was gloom and fear within its walls; while its rooms and passages steamed with hospital smells, the drug and the pastille striving vainly to overcome the effluvia of mortality.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:97) But Thornfield is heaven to Jane ―after a day‘s of bodily fatigue and mental anxiety, I was now at last in safe heaven…At once weary and content, I slept soon and soundly.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:141) After a night‘s rest, she desires to be more beautiful and doesn‘t

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

know why she has the aspiration and the regrets. The answer is obvious: it is the hearty atmosphere of Thornfield that makes her long for more besides board and food, which has troubled her before. Now she has time and energy to pay attention to people around her as a young girl. All of these she could own neither in Gateshead nor in Lowood. So it is not at all exaggerated to say that it is Thornfield that gives her a feeling of at home, a chance to meet Rochester and love him and to be loved.

4.2 Thornfield, Both a Blessing and Heartbreaking Place for Jane and Rochester

As what has been depicted above, for Jane, Thornfiled is a warm heaven where she gains friendship of the servants, the respect of Adele. And most importantly, she owns the love of Rochester. For Rochester, Thornfield is a hell before he meets Jane. But now it becomes a cosy and fascinating heaven because of Jane‘s coming. The hall shares with them so many beautiful and unforgettable memories. Here is the blessing place they meet, know and love each other.

They meet on a calm evening for the first time, the scene is very beautiful ―On the hill-top above me rising moon; pale yet as a cloud, but brightening momentarily…That evening calm betrayed alike the tinkle of the nearest streams, the sough of the most remote‖ The appearing of Rochester breaks the fine ― rippling‖ and ―whispering‖, for Jane, which is as in a picture, ― the solid mass of a crag, or the rough boles of a great oak, drawn in dark and strong on the foreground, efface the aerial distance of azure hill, sunny horizon, and blended clouds when tint melts into tint‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:148)

They share so many beautiful and unforgettable memories in Thornfield. In the dining -room, before the marble mantelpiece and on the warm light of fire, they talk about so many things, things which sound strange and puzzling for other people in Thornfield, like ―the man in green‖, the appearance of Rochester, the life of young Rochester and so on. In Spring, ―while the sun drinks the drew –while all the flowers in this old garden awake and expand, and the birds fetch their young one‘s breakfast out of Thornfield, and the early bees do their spell of work‖, (Charlotte Bronte,1847:294) they talk about life seating on the arbour which is lined with ivy. In summer, when the sun goes down, the honey-drew falls, the silence reigns, the gloaming gathers, they walk on the laurel walk and slowly strays down in the direction of the sunk fence and the horse-chestnut, where they pour out their heart and express their love toward each other.

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Though Thornfield is the seedbed of their love, it is always in unbalanced and unstable state. The existence of his mad wife makes Rochester feel ―To live, is to stand on a crater-crust which may crack and fire any day‖ (Charlotte Bronte,1847:293) In Thornfield, Jane is constantly hunted by a mysterious phantom which she feels will endanger her happiness. Their wedding is finally stopped by the cruel fact that Rochester was married. Thornfield now becomes a heart-breaking place for them. ―A Christmas frost had come at midsummer; a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hayfield and cornfield lay a frozen shroud: lanes which last night blushed full of flowers, to-day were pathless with untrodden snow; and the woods, which twelve hours since waved leafy and fragrant as groves between the tropics, now spread, waste, wild, and white as pine-forests in wintry Norway.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847: 402) Jane doesn‘t want to be the one of Rochester‘s so many mistresses, so she chooses to leave Thornfield, a heart-breaking place for her now. The realistic love is not always smooth and romantic. It is filled with suffering and tribulation. ―Just like the implied meaning of the name of the hall Thornfield suggests, their love is full of thorns inevitably. Thornfield brings to them the confusion, troubles of life, and also the heart-breaking love. Thornfield implies the trails and tribulations that they must experience before they harvest the true love.‖ (Zhu Liyan, 2006:7)

When Jane returns back to Rochester again, Thornfield has been burned into a pile of ruins, alluding to the thorns and obstacles in front of them disappear. They finally build a new happy and warm home in Ferdean. Despite this, Thornfield is still their blessing place, without which they may not meet, know, and love each other. And here is the right place for them to gain true love after experiencing all the sufferings. Just like Doc.Zhang Boxiang says ―Jane Eyre is a fable. Only after a series of physical and moral test to mature, can Jane gain the true happiness ultimately.‖ (Zhang Boxiang, 1999:120)

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Chapter5 Feasibility Determined by Their Complementary

Character

The romantic poet Shelley thinks that ―love is a unique feeling or passion - the love of the ancient Greek experience is only to be elegant or aristocratic sex; love is in fact not just a desire for sensory exchange, it is a desire of communication for one‘s all nature.‖ (Richard Homles, 1980:74) His ―nature‖ refers to imagination, sensitivity, and other aspects. In Jane Eyre, the description of love between Jane and Rochester reflects Shelley‘s ideal love, that is, a high degree of harmony in many ways of their nature. Jane and Rochester‘s love dose not originate from sexual appeal but spiritual attraction.

5.1 Rochester, Fascinated by Jane’s Inner Workings

Rochester is originally fascinated by Jane‘s spiritual strength and independent attitude. In each glance Jane gives him, he feels penetration and power. He later says to Jane: ―Your mind is my treasure.‖ It shows that what he puts emphasis on is intellectual and spiritual beauty, but this does not mean that he doesn‘t have sexual desire. He is very clear that he admires both Jane‘s soul and body. He says to Jane clearly:―And it is you, spirit-with will and energy，and virtue and purity-that I want；not alone your brittle frame.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847: 433) So, his love refers to both spiritual and sexual love. But what attracts him first is something in Jane‘s spirit. In his first encounter with Jane, they have body contact: Jane takes hold of Rochester to his hurt horse. Rochester later recalls: ―When once I had pressed the frail shoulder，something new –a fresh sap and sense-stole into my frame.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:426) It tells that what physical contact touches him is primarily spiritual stimulation but not sexual desire.

Rochester claims to be ―an intellectual epicure‖. At the beginning, he enjoys the ―joy‖ Jane‘s spirit brings to him. Rochester says to Jane, ―your look revealed rather the sweet musings of youth when its spirit follows on willing wings the flight of Hope up and on to an ideal heaven‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:427) which suggests that his feeling to Jane is completely beyond the superficial physical cognition. ―Jane dose not first arouse his sexual desire, but inspires his rich imagination, creating a kind of artistic feeling which sublimates his spirit. Rochester‘s love is based on the spiritual attraction, so his love can stand the test and grow up to maturity.‖（Liu Ying, 2010:8）

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Rochester, in choosing a wife has committed errors of judging by appearance and the result is a painful lesson. He marries his wife because of the temptation of her beautiful appearance. But after marriage, he finds that she is out of tune with his character. And finally his marriage becomes a thorough tragedy. He tells Jane: ―To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither souls nor hearts—when they open to me a perspective of flatness, triviality, and perhaps imbecility, coarseness, and ill-temper: but to the clear eye and eloquent tongue, to the soul made of fire, and the character that bends but does not break- at once supple and stable, tractable and consistent— I am ever tender and true.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:354) The last words are used to praise Jane, which shows that he is mainly attracted by Jane‘s spirit and character.

5.2 Jane, Attracted by the Charm of Rochester’s Character

When Jane first meets Rochester, she thinks his face is not handsome, and his shape also does not belong to the kind of tall and strong, but she soon falls in love with Rochester. She feels Rochester is ―the only qualified judge of her art and soul‖. So it is obvious that Jane is attracted mainly by Rochester‘s spirit rather than appearance.

In the novel, Charlotte arranges a quite handsome man— Rochester‘s brother-in-law, for making a comparison with Rochester in appearance. All of Rochester‘s female guests think Mason is ―a beautiful man‖ and ―a love of a creature‖. But Jane does not think so. For her, ―There was no power in Mason‘s smooth-skinned face of a full oval shape; no firmness in that aquiline nose and small cherry mouth；there was no thought on the low，even forehead；no command in that blank，brown eye‖. (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:257) Most true is it that ―beauty is in the eye of the gazer.‖ In Jane‘s eye Rochester is different from the one in other people‘s eyes. This is Rochester in her eye, ―My master‘s colorless，olive face，square，massive brow，broad and jetty eyebrows，deep eyes，strong features，firm，grim mouth，— all energy，decision，will，—were not beautiful，according to rule；but they were more than beautiful to me；they were full of an interest，an influence that quite mastered me, —that took my feelings from my own power and fettered them in his‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:235) Jane compares Rochester and Manson. She thinks ―the contrast could not be greater between a sleek gander and a fierce falcon: between a meek sheep and the rough-coated keen-eyed dog, its guardian‖（Charlotte Bronte, 1847:257）This can be concluded that, for Jane, the charm of men mainly comes from spiritual

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

power and strength of character but not appearance. Jane thinks that when she talks with Rochester, she feels like talking with an ―original‖, a ―vigorous‖, and an ―expanded‖ mind.

5.3 The Spiritually Equal Match

Jane and Rochester‘s family background, age, and social experience are very different, but those are not the obstacle of their mutual inductance of ―suitable‖ and ―congenial‖. Their first conversation declares that they are equal in many levels, such as in intelligence, knowledge, artistic accomplishment and imagination, so they are very easy to understand each other. They talk about the men in green. For other people in Thornfield, like Mrs. Fairfax, they may wonder what sort of talk this is. But Jane is different, she answers naturally and fluently. They feel that they can resonate and talk about anything. When they talk for the second time, Rochester talks about his life experience to Jane, like talking to a bosom friend. At the third time talking, he confesses his secret, talking about his private life, the absurd experience in France. Rochester himself also feels very strange to tell Jane about this, ―Strange that I should choose you for the confidant of all this, young lady; passing strange that you should listen to me quietly, as if it were the most usual thing in the world for a man like me to tell stories of his opera-mistresses to a quaint, inexperienced girl like you!‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:193) But he clearly knows that the listener he chooses is quite loyal. ―I know what sort of a mind I have placed in communication with my own; I know it is one not liable to take infection；it is a peculiar mind; it is a unique one… I cannot blight you, you may refresh me.‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:193) Rochester thinks Jane is his ―sympathy‖, his ―better self‖, his ―good angel‖ and he is bound to Jane with a strong attachment. Jane also thinks she is of Rochester‘s kind: she has certain tastes and feelings in common with him. She loves him firmly ―while I breathe and think，I must love him‖. She thinks she can understand each of Rochester‘s facial expressions and movements. Otherwise, Rochester can also understand her concealed thoughts. He feels that in her mind, her heart, her blood and nerve, there is something that ties their souls together firmly.

In addition to the same knowledge level and common tastes, equal personality is also a very important factor for their love. That is to say, people cannot become self-abased or conceited because of his social status or identity. True love is not to sacrifice one soul to accommodate another one. In love between Jane and Rochester, they show the equal personality, just as Jane

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

says ―I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom…it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; …and we stood at God‘s feet, equal,—as we are!‖ (Charlotte Bronte, 1847:344)

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Chapter 6 Conclusion

Jane Eyre is a beautiful and attractive story. In this novel, the love between Jane and Rochester is more complicated and more romantic than that in the real life. However after careful reading and understanding of it, its realistic feasibility through the whole novel can be easily detected.

Through this thesis, it can be concluded that under their romantic love lies three realistic aspects high lighting its possibility in the real world—Three ―Rs‖—the two Right persons meet in the Right place and at the Right time, — the factors of love. It‘s these features — realistic and romantic color interweaving together that have made and do and will make the love of Jane and Rochester eternalize.

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Bibliography

Carol Dyhouse. Glamour: Women, History, Feminism. London. 2010.

Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre. Bei Jing: Central Compilation & Translation Press.1847. Elizabeth Gaskell. The Life of Charlotte Bronte. Manchester. 1857.

Richard Homles. Shelley on Love. California: University of California Press. 1980. Viginel Woolf. The Common Reader. London: The Hogarth Press. 1948. 常耀信. A Survey of English Literature [M]. 天津：南开大学出版社,2006. 冯丽春. 简?爱—性格决定爱情的有力证据[J].电影文学. 2010 (4).

梁艳华.论简?爱的经久性魅力及其对当代女性的启示[J].电影文学. 2009 (8). 梁 颖. Interpretation of Jane Eyre [J].安徽理工大学外国语学院人文社科报. 2010 (2). 刘 瑛.爱情的真谛:了解、尊重和吸引—关于《简爱》的沉思[J].现代企业教育.2010 (8).

刘 艳. Feminism and Feminist Literary Criticism in the Postmortem Context[J].广东大学报, 2010 (5). 索金梅. A History of British Literature [M]. 天津：南开大学出版社,2009.

田恩波. 知识决定命运—论简爱作为罗彻斯特爱人的命运[J].中国科技信息.2005 (14). 邢 颖.走不出的女性困境—解读简?爱的出走与回归[J]. 蚌埠医学院外语教研室, 2011 (17). 张伯香. 英美文学选读 [M].北京：北京外语教育与研究出版社,1999.

朱丽艳.《简?爱》中地名“Thornfield”的内涵探究[J]. 牡丹江教育学院选报，2006 (7).

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The Perfect Match Ordained by Fate—On Realistic Feasibility of Romance between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

Acknowledgements

With the composition of the thesis coming to an end, I have at last obtained an opportunity to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Ma Huilian, who has not only given me her generous and instructive advice, and valuable materials, but also spent much time reading and correcting the manuscript of the thesis. Besides, teachers‘ constant encouragement and help during my study here could not be underestimated for the fulfillment of this thesis.

I am also thankful to other teachers of College of Foreign Languages, whose lectures I have attended and from whom I have learned much.

I would also like to acknowledge my deep indebtedness to my parents who spare no pains bringing me up.

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