Rochester was a charming, romantic
man who had made mistakes that he did not properly face. He was thus blinded by
his biggest fault to force him to see the morality in his relationship with Jane
over Bertha. Brontë blinded and crippled Rochester so
that he would be forced to see and accept what he did wrong with Bertha,
instead of keeping her hidden away just for him to not think about. Jane
rejecting him was a wakeup call, yet he still felt sorrow for himself instead
of making a change. Brontë takes away Rochester’s self-misery
ironically, by imposing worse punishment on him. When Bertha herself blinds
Rochester, he realizes he lost what mattered most to him, “I
did wrong: I would have sullied my innocent flower – breathed guilt on its
purity: the Omnipotent snatched it from me… You know I was proud of my
strength: but what is it now, when I must give it over to foreign guidance, as
a child does its weakness?” (Brontë 340).
Rochester discusses with Jane how he finally lost his strength that he was once
so proud of in order to take responsibility for his actions. He had a wife and
was looking for another, making any woman he sought after only a mistress,
which was degrading to both him and the woman. Although he did not intend to
be, his actions were sneaky and undermining but he was caught it the act.
Brontë’s
decision to impair Rochester was a good decision for it adds depth to both
Rochester’s character as well as Jane’s. The fact that Jane does not even
hesitate when she finds out Rochester is blind before marrying him, shows that
she is nonjudgmental and charismatic. She cares about Rochester for who he is
and can see past his issues, “Reader,
I married him. A quiet wedding we had: he and I, the parson and clerk,
were alone present,” (Brontë 342). Jane and Rochester do not need a
fancy, extravagant wedding as they were once going to have. They have come to
appreciate each other and found that is all they need to be happy. Rochester’s
blindness was a key to him really seeing what mattered most in his life, which
is subtly yet strongly exemplified by Brontë.
Work Cited
Brontë, Charlotte, Fritz Eichenberg, and Bruce Rogers. Jane
Eyre. New York: Random
House, 1943. Print.
