BikeBookBread Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 (edited) I have read Jane Eyre several times before, but when I was reading the ending last night, this really jumped out at me: Bronte ended the book with Jane talking about St. John Rivers instead of her happiness fulfilled with Edward Rochester. She spoke extensively of her happiness with Rochester just prior to the end, but why THIS specific ending? It seems very deliberate. The end is a description of him and his mission work, and a benediction... she doesn't seem to be speaking poorly of him, as she speaks ill of other falsely devout people in her book...am I wrong in thinking that he represents "true" Christianity to her? Soft-hearted, devoted yet still principled? (even though she turned down his loveless marriage-proposal?) I'd love to hear your thoughts... Edited March 12, 2010 by BikeBookBread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikeBookBread Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 Selfishly bumping :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 You sent me back to my copy to re-read the ending, which I had entirely forgotten except for the "Reader, I married him" line. I think there are a number of things going on. The end to Jane and Rochester's story is really in the next-to-last chapter; the conclusion -- which separates itself somewhat from the story that came before by not being a numbered chapter -- ties up loose ends. It also establishes the larger community in which Jane's marriage happens and endures, a community that includes not only St. John but also Diana and Mary, Adele, servants, and children. So the marriage is not a turning inward, a closing off, an exclusive bond, but something that has a place within a larger context of relations and friends and children. The praise of St. John also seems multi-faceted to me. I have not taken a class in Victorian literature for about twenty years, but I remember there was a cult of rugged, manly Christianity (Matthew Arnold, etc.) and this surely plays into that larger conversation. St. John is not ruggedly masculine in the sense that Rochester is; he models a different sort of ideal Christianity, and in his unmarried state, it is almost a genderless form. Certainly he never seems to represent physical passion or strength, and his asceticism seems to cut him off somewhat from the body: from appetites of all kinds, from sexuality. His whole proposal to Jane is phrased in terms of her service rather than his love for her. He represents a kind of self-denying spirituality and expects that from others; this is a world where personal desire and love of things (entities) other than God does not enter the picture. And this is another strand: the definition of what love is, and what a woman's relationship to a man should be within the context of courtship and marriage. Bronte has to walk a fine line. Jane Eyre is so unconventional, and makes such radical claims for the spiritual equality of men and women, that she has to show a more conventional appreciation and value for the Christian martyr/missionary so as not to make readers feel that her love for Rochester threatens the spiritual status quo or the church. She ends on the fevered pitch of her admiration for St. John partly to re-establish herself within the cultural boundaries of what is acceptable; it's a reining in of her more radical claims to decide for herself what path to take. The fact that she mentions having gotten a letter from St. John also shows us the generosity of spirit that marks Jane Eyre; she has reached out to him despite their earlier conflict and has in that sense shown herself to be a larger person than he is, because he apparently held somewhat of a grudge when he stomped off to India without her (I remember he wasn't speaking to her). So if she has grown to appreciate his model of Christian service, he has grown to re-establish communication with her. I'm sure that there is a lot more going on but this is what I came up with at the moment. Thanks for sending me back to the book -- I had totally forgotten this ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikeBookBread Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 I'm sure that there is a lot more going on but this is what I came up with at the moment. Thanks for sending me back to the book -- I had totally forgotten this ending. Thank you so much for your very thoughtful and eloquent response! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2att Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Thank you so much for your very thoughtful and eloquent response! Yes, thank you--JE is one of my favorites, and it was interesting to read of the cultural context regarding the ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.