Redemption

Joanna Branch

Redemption: I do think that Rochester has redeemed himself by the end the book. I think this because he doesn’t go after Jane when Bertha dies. He let her go, to me this is the whole quote “if you set something free and it comes back to you then it was always yours but if it doesn’t come back to you then you never had it to begin with.” Yes, Rochester did some awful things but he loved Jane and wanted her to be happy if that included him or if it didn’t. That is why I believe that he redeemed himself.

                I also think that he was able to redeem himself by trying to save bertha’s life. Although it would have been easier for him to not have tried to save her he still went after her. In the process he knew that he was in danger of dying himself. This to me is the biggest sign of redemption somebody could have. I say this because to me throughout the whole story of Jane Eyre I see Rochester as a selfish person. Everything is about him and what he wants, such as marrying Jane without even telling her that he is actually married. In this simple act of heroism he becomes selfless and acts out of care instead of pride or what will work for him best in the end.

                Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of Jane for some reason I truly felt for Rochester, to me this question could be turned around “Has Jane redeemed herself by the end? Is she worthy of Rochester?” I know that this is kind of a weird question to ask but I really didn’t have sympathy for Jane like I had for Rochester. She caused a lot of her own problems, but in the end I think she did the best thing she could. She left him! To me this just showed that although she loved him so much she had morals and she was going to stick to those! So do I think that Jane redeemed herself; I would have to say kinda….   I say this because although she left him (which was good) she still went back, she had, had no idea that bertha was died at this point. So to me this looks like she is turning from those morals and running back to him with the intent of being “more then friends.”