Why Mr. Rochester is the Worst

...and Jane Eyre, too.

To keep this brief, I have been listening to audiobooks because I am grading too many essays to want to read literally anything else. The first couple of audiobooks I turned to are ones I have listened to before- Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.

I started with the former, which I love, but because I had initially listened to these two books while running, I mixed their plots together. Essentially, I spent most of Wuthering Heights waiting for Heathcliff to fall in love with some servant and then find out he his ex wife was somehow still alive. About halfway through my listen, I finally Googled what book had a wife burn down the house- and that was, obviously, Jane Eyre.

Why Jane Eyre is the Worst

Poor Jane Eyre is an orphan who is somewhere between painfully practical and insanely whimsical. She’s often referred to as having a fairy look and spends quite a long time staring at other people. (I have listened to countless descriptions of characters and side characters… I can see why others are stand-offish to her).

She goes from a bad situation to a worse situation. From being abused in her aunt’s house to being starved in a charitable school. Once her life turns around (after a lot of children die), her school becomes a great place, and she uses the successes she’s had at school to land a great job- governess at Thornfield, which is owned by Mr. Rochester.

Quite early on in their working relationship, Mr. Rochester asks Jane what makes her happy. And she cannot give an answer. This was the beginning of my annoyance with this character. No matter how hard your life is, there is always something that brings you joy. And, AND she is a devout Christian. So, she is essentially saying that she does not find joy in her salvation. I digress.

Chapter 24 truly pushed me over the edge with this character. So, picture this, you’re freshly engaged- less than 24 hours- and your betrothed is a wealthy man who wants to shower you with presents. Even if gifts aren’t your love language, the gesture seems nice. Also, he isn’t even purchasing the most luxurious items- he already owns them. But, you insist on him taking an extra step of returning these items to his bank and refuse any fine fabrics for your own wedding gown.

Once you put your foot down to get plain fabric because you are a plain Jane, you insist on continuing on as a governess and receiving an income after you get married. I understand the feminist gesture here- wanting to remain independent post-marriage. I even understand that this could be some sort of traumatic response because she has been alone the majority of her life. But to insist on being paid by your own husband and continue to call him “master” after the fact… that’s just absurd.

(And she still refers to him as master when the relationship falls apart).

On a final note for where I am at with this book (chapter 32 if you are curious), Jane finds herself destitute and alone after running away from Thornfield. She is graciously taken in by the Rivers family on the brink of her death. They care for her and let her stay with them for a month while St. John Rivers, the town’s clergyman, finds her a job. In fact, he found her a job within a week of her staying with them, but decided to let Jane rest and hang out with his sisters. He asks her to be the teacher for the new charity school, which is so convenient because, earlier in the book, Jane even states that she wanted to save up money to then set up a charity school. But, she is unhappy there- because it’s a step down in station. I get that she was a governess, and that, in this society, is a higher rank than a teacher, but she wanted to do this, and an opportunity landed in her lap, and she’s still unhappy. Granted, she is still heartbroken over Mr. Rochester, but this is what she stated she wanted. So… I can’t.

Also, this point is beyond what I have listened to, but she is given the opportunity to marry St. John- who is handsome, age-appropriate, and kind. AND SHE STILL GOES WITH MR. ROCHESTER. While there may be some who are pro Jane and Rochester, I find him awful, so I do not understand her. If I was her friend, I would be staging an intervention.

Why Mr. Rochester is the Worst

I want to start out with the fact that Jane Eyre is 18 when she reaches Thornfield. And Mr. Rochester is over 40. Ew. I know these were different times, but even the other characters note how gross the age difference is. (Shout out to Mrs. Fairfax).

The most obvious and egregious reason I despise this character is the fact that he 1) got married and then 2) decided at some point that his marriage is over without a divorce or death. He conceals this marriage so much so that there are only a few living souls that we meet throughout the plot that are aware that he is even married. Once he decided to be single, he ran all over Europe pursuing women to marry, and, when that failed, had many mistresses.

He takes pains to ensure that Jane never finds out about his wife- even his bed is lit on fire, his brother-in-law is stabbed and bitten, and she herself comes face to face with the wife. He offers lies, blaming Grace Poole, and, when the lies run out, tells Jane that he will tell her the truth ONE YEAR after they are married.

When the truth comes out, he puts his poor, insane wife on display to attempt to prove that there is no way he could consider himself married when this “monster” is his wife.

On top of all of this, he then tries to persuade Jane to stay with him, despite the fact that he is married… because he still does not consider himself to be married. If Jane cannot be his wife, then she can be his mistress in France. Sounds so appealing. And, he knows that she is a devout Christian. She herself states that she did not want to live in sin in this way.

And, when she refuses, he threatens violence and shakes her. What a loving man. (Maybe Jane has Stockholm Syndrome, and that’s why she returns to him?)

The only redeeming quality of Mr. Rochester is that he seems to adore and see the beauty in Jane. She is called ugly (to her face) by most of the other characters in this book. He is the only one who notices that she has a beauty about her. She doesn’t believe him, but he does see it. That seems genuine, and does gain him some credit here.

All of this considered- and the fact that he tried to make Jane jealous with another woman, told her that he would always speak to her in a cruel tone, and pretended to be a gypsy to try to see if he was effectively making Jane jealous- is why he is the worst. I’ve read quite a few books with awful characters, but Mr. Rochester truly takes the cake.