Adele

            I feel strongly for the character of Adele. She lost her mother and is now living in the foreign country and her life seems a little out of whack. The reader doesn’t really get too much from her later on in the novel, but her existence is important to the novel itself. She is used as a means of bringing Jane Eyre to Thornfield, which leads her to finding the one she truly loves. I for one believe that Adele is a means to make Rochester seem much more human. For one, we already know that without Adele, there would be no reason for Jane to come to Thornfield. Also, without Adele, Rochester would seem much more of a hush character. He takes Adele in and treats her like a part of his home, giving her new clothes and everything she would ever need so that he might not have ti worry about her when he is gone on his travels. Even though he gives her the finer things, he leaves her at his home while he prances away tending to his desire for a wife. Our first impression of Rochester is what he did for Adele in the first place, which is giving her a home when he wasn't even sure if she was his in the first place. He cared for her mother and extended his care after she was gone. We wouldn’t get an early interpretation of who he was without this knowledge of Adele's origins. If Adele was just some girl who lived there at Thornfield or was simply known as his daughter, the reader wouldn't really feel the same about Rochester. Him supporting this child because of an idea shows more of his character than if she was represented as his child from the start.
           Adele also brings to light Jane’s personality. Jane is Adele’s teacher and also sort of her mother figure. Her time with Adele sort of shaped her personality and forced her to focus on her wants and needs in the life she was given. Jane has been through a hard life and getting to take care of Adele let her be herself and show affection that she wasn’t able to before while in Gateshead. We can see Adele and Jane's interactions in the film itself and they seem a bit more minor in the 2011 film compared to the movie, but we can see how their interactions seems to change her. Adele usually ended up pushing Jane to move out of her comfort zone. We see this when Adele and Jane were told to join in on Rochester’s party and Jane is sort of forced to chit chat with others which leads to her affections towards Rochester to be shown. Adele's presence pushes Jane out of her comfort zone.
          I believe that Adele also represents a sort of reversed version of Jane. She starts out happy and without much worry then gradually goes off on her own to grow up and lose her childish demeanor. At the end of the novel, we are given a look into what happens to Adele and she ends up going off to school and sort of loses herself in ways. Jane went off to school after being in an un-liked relationship with her family and ends up finding herself in Thornfield. 

Bertha Mason

Bertha is a character that suffers from bad luck. She was born into a family that has madness in their blood, and was forced by that family to marry Rochester. What Bertha represents in other characters is haste in the younger years of Rochester’s life. He was also forced into a loveless marriage that segued into madness and deceit.

What Bertha represents in Jane is what she could have been and what she could be in the future. Jane lives a plain life whereas Bertha grew up in Jamaica and was manipulated by her family. I could see that Bertha also represents what Jane would be like if she were to marry Rochester initially and stay living the life of a Victorian wife. Lastly, she is the opposite in marriage to what Jane has with Rochester. Bertha was married into the Rochester family with hidden details packed away and was set on money. Jane on the other hand married Rochester out of love and for who he was, where money was the last thought on the mind.

As a character Bertha cannot be fully understood to the reader since she is mostly described in stories told by her captor. Charlotte portrays Bertha as an animalistic woman who is violent and destructive. This portrayal makes Bertha an unlikable character that is easily misunderstood if there is not further thought about the past and what has been leading up the story itself. The animalistic behavior can be seen as rage from being pent up in the same area with nothing to do for ten years. Since madness runs in her family, her rage could have easily made her just lose it one day. With no medical attention let alone thoughtful human interaction, her madness makes the violent behavior dismissible compared to what she married into.

Redemption & Forgiveness

Redemption & Forgiveness 

While reading Jane Eyre, I constantly questioned Edward Rochester, finding him lovable at times and harsh at others.  A great deal of his motives for his actions are unknown until much later in the novel, and he remains mysterious and unreadable throughout a great deal of the story. As a reader, I was constantly rooting for Jane, on her side and wanting what she wanted, which was for her to find true love and to be treated with the genuine respect that she gave others.  Also, as much as I did not like Rochester's actions at times, It it was not hard to see that Jane only wanted Edward Rochester to love her, for she was deeply in love with him. With this being said, I do not believe that Jane and Rochester would ever truly become a functional couple until Jane saw herself as an equal.  Along with Rochester technically being Jane's boss, throughout the novel, Rochester toys with Jane's emotions, flirting with Blanche Ingram one minute, then calling to Jane at the next, all leading Jane to believe that she is beneath him, and this intricate relationship is depicted very well within the 2011 film. With good reason, Jane's  troubled past did not help the situation or confidence, and allowed her to have the predisposition that she may never be loved as she loved others.  The only person that unconditionally loved Jane, Helen Burns, passed soon after they met, and even Bessie constantly reminded Jane of her flaws.  Again, Jane's past is shown very well within the 2011 film, along with the novel, making it simple to sympathize and connect to Jane, and also allowing us to see why Jane did not see herself as an equal to Rochester. 

Despite all of Rochester's flaws and wrongdoings, Jane unconditionally longed for him, but it is not until Jane leaves the shadows of Thornfield that she is able to experience the big world in front of her, for she had only experienced small sections of it.  I fully believe that Jane had to leave Thornfield and Rochester in order to truly see what she left behind and to forgive Rochester, leading her to believe that Rochester is worthy of her love.  Once Jane connects with old family, runs her own school, gains wealth, and denies a decent man of his love for her, may she finally realize that she is an equal to Rochester, smart, loving, and able to forgive others.  I am not undermining Rochester's mistakes, but no matter how small or large, it is true that everyone has skeletons in their closet, and despite his own, Rochester showed kindness to Adele, Jane, Fairfax, and even Bertha as she jumped from the roof of Thornfield, leading me to believe that he is not a terrible person, just lost and confused.  I truly believe that Jane had to leave the small world of Thornfield and travel into the big world of England to notice this about Rochester, opening her eyes to who she was, who she wanted to be, and allowing herself to truly forgive Rochester. Jane went back to Thornfield seeing herself as an equal, and not knowing what had happened to Thornfield or Rochester, ready to love and forgive him while she was ignorant to his injuries, proving her unfaltering love and willingness to forgive him.  Despite their dark and twisted paths, and regardless of how broken either Jane or Rochester may become, everyone is worthy of redemption and forgiveness, it just may take some time and soul-searching for one to realize it.  

Adele

When reading Jane Eyre, the reader may skip over Adele without taking into consideration what she adds to the novel. If the reader takes a closer look, Adele acts as a comparison to Jane. First, we can compare and contrast Jane and Adele’s backgrounds. Jane grew up as an orphan who was treated as “less than a servant.” Her aunt took her in only because she felt obligated to due to the promise she made to her late husband. While Adele’s mother had abandoned her and it is not know who her father really is. Rochester felt obligated to take in Adele because he was having an affair with her mother when she was pregnant. Second, we can look at the similarities and differences in their personalities. Adele is Rochester’s doll who he dresses up and pampers. He will give her anything she wants just to stay out of his way. This is shown in the novel when Rochester returns to Thornfield and Adele continually questions and asks about what he bought for her. She is fully of energy and distracted easily. She is concerned with singing and dancing, unlike Jane, who, at this age, was concerned with her education and her independence. Jane takes a different approach when Rochester tries to spoil and pamper her. She refuses the extravagant gifts that Rochester attempts to give. Another important role that Adele holds is the significance that she holds in Jane’s life. Jane’s whole life all she wanted is to find a sense of home and to feel loved. When she arrives at Thornfield, Jane finds a place where she can call home. Although Rochester plays a vital role in this, Adele also contributes to her feelings of home. Jane never truly had a mother figure to look up to until Miss Temple. Miss Temple shows Jane loyalty and trust, two things that Jane did not have growing up. When moving on to Thornfield, Adele gave Jane a chance to become the mother-like figure. Adele adores and, most importantly, loves Jane. Adele gives Jane what she has been searching for. Adele is not the simple character that many people see her as, she has a much more important part in Jane life and the novel as a whole.

Redemption: Is Rochester Really Worthy of Jane?

Throughout the book, Rochester feels the need to put on an act that everything is perfectly fine in his life and he has all the money he could ever need. Jane feels herself drawn to him, but never understood why at first. By the end of the book, Jane and Rochester are happily married as Jane blatantly points out to the reader. But through the course of the book’s events, the reader learns of Rochester’s dark secrets and how Jane copes with them. With his biggest secret of all – keeping his actual wife hidden in his attic at Thornfield – Jane obviously forgives him in the end and the questions of whether Rochester redeems himself and if he is really worthy of Jane. I think Rochester has definitely redeemed himself by the end of the book because his actions when Jane was away have proven that his moral compass is on the same level as Jane’s. I also believe he is worthy of Jane because he knows he made some mistakes, but he has apologized profusely for them and Jane understands he really means well with all of his actions.

In my opinion, Rochester really redeems himself and shows he is worthy of Jane when his estate is set on fire by his wife, Bertha Mason. He performs a selfless act in the process. This happens after Jane has run off after she learns of Rochester already being married to someone else. Bertha sets Thornfield on fire slowly, but surely as she throws lighted candles onto every floor. She then goes to a windowsill, preparing to jump when Rochester finally finds her and tries to coax her away from the windowsill. He could have just let her jump because then he could finally be happily married to his intellectual equal, Jane, for the rest of their lives. But no, he tries to save Bertha, but he’s too late and she jumps. He also loses his eyesight in the process and has to rely on his other senses to live his life. By losing his eyesight and performing the selfless act of trying to save Bertha, I think Rochester redeems himself in the end and shows that he also worthy of Jane.

Bertha: Strongly Symbolic, But She's Just as Human

     People have an amazing ability to label others. Someone who rings you out at a grocery store is merely a cashier to customers, a flower is just a seed that grew, and a family walking down the street is just that: a picture perfect family. However, there is always more than what meets the eye, but humans have the ability to allow all the little things we run into during the day to just be that. Little things. Let's just take a quick glimpse back over those three things that someone labelled and disregarded on first glance. The woman at the cash register is going to school, she has three jobs and manages to be an honors student at the same time. The flower was planted there as a memorial of a loved one. That picture perfect family isn't blood related, the kindness and amazing hearts of the couple led to a beautiful adopted family. Let's use this new lens to look into Bertha as a character.
     Of course Bertha is a symbol of all the things that are hidden in Jane. There's the burning bed which symbolizes her sexual desires, the craziness in which Bertha acts with symbolizes the built of frustration and turmoil that Jane has carried within herself over the years, and Bertha jumping off of the building symbolizes the death of an old part of Jane and the welcoming to a new, more independent and financially stable Jane. A Jane that is now an equal to more of the people she wishes to associate with. However, it's in reading into Bertha excessively that we as the reader lose sight that there is a story and a history in Bertha. She is, none-the-less, someone's daughter, a loved family member. She has thought's and feelings, maybe even hopes and dreams if they had not been crushed by Rochester. Wide Sargasso Sea is a great story of Bertha and how she came to be who she is. The greatest thing that hits me hard as a reader is her constant repetition of Rochester being referred to as "the man who hates me". Bertha is more than just symbolism. She's a scared woman who has been driven crazy measures to finally achieve freedom in death. Maybe Rochester does deserve forgiveness in what he has done after losing his hand and his sight, but we as reader's still should have a bit of a struggle in forgiving him. Most importantly, we should try not to lose sight of humanity just to make sense of a story.


Side note: what is this even supposed to mean? That all people are supposed to have big, gigantic, terrible secrets that they hid from you? Glad to see the trust in other's these days.

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.”