Mr. Rochester’s Secret

Student’s Name
Course
Instructor
Date
Jane Eyre
Secrets can be harmful to relationships and to a person’s reputation. This fact is evidenced in Bronte’s story of Jane Eyre as revealed through the character of Mr. Rochester. In the story, Mr. Rochester hides a very important secret from almost everyone at Thornfield including Jane Eyre, whom he is in love with. This secret that is well-hidden makes him to be perceived in one way before it is uncovered and a completely new manner after it is revealed. With this in mind, the scene in the story that seemed to change after reading about Bertha and after learning more about Mr. Rochester is the one of the marriage proposal.
Prior to the discovery of Bertha, the marriage proposal scene seemed like an honest one because at this point it is assumed that both Mr. Rochester and Jane are unmarried. The fact that Rochester was willing to leave Miss Ingram and marry Jane because of the former’s great interest in his wealth, gives the impression that Mr. Rochester is indeed seeking for true love in his life. Ideally, it seems that his negative attitude and undesirable behavior as seen before was due to lack of love in his life. Jane does not believe that the proposal is real and asks, “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless?” It is quite surprising that a person of Rochester’s class would want to take a poor girl like Jane as a wife and this makes us wonder about his decision. Before this, the story also talks about the Third Story where only one servant was allowed to work. From the fire incident, it was quite clear that Mr. Rochester was not willing to reveal to Jane what secrets were held there. This makes one also question if indeed he has pure intentions or hidden secrets.
Aside from the mentioned, the prior scene just before Bertha is discovered gives the interpretation that the relationship and marriage between Mr. Rochester and Jane would not last for a long time. For instance, Mrs. Fairfax expressed shock after seeing the two kissing just moments after the marriage proposal. Her shock can be attributed to the fact that she knew Mr. Rochester very well and was aware of the real situation that was seemingly still hidden from Jane Eyre. Accordingly, Mrs. Fairfax’s attitude in this scene gives the interpretation that something was amiss in the relationship. The other happening in this scene was the incident of the lightening. During the meeting, Mr. Rochester and Jane are said to have sat under a tree before the rain forced them to run back into the house. Moments after they were gone, a lightning bolt strikes the same tree splitting it into two. Before reading about Bertha, this happening can be interpreted to mean that something was going to happening to interfere with the relationship between the two or cause them to break apart just as the lightening divided the tree into two pieces. Overall, this scene of the marriage proposal provides important clues about wha...