love and romance

• It was as if a martyr, a hero, had passed a space or victim, and imparted strength


  the expression of love and inspiration in Helen’s eyes makes Jane feel she is heroic:

  she also sees her as martyr, which aligns with Helen’s deeply-held religious beliefs and foreshadows her premature death

  Brontë shows how the power of friendship can sustain a person, even when they are enduring terrible experiences

  Jane still treasures their friendship despite their opposing views on the afterlife
• I looked at my love: that feeling which was my master’s – which he had created; it shivered in my heart, like a suffering child in a cold cradle


  The child's image implies innocence and vulnerability, intensified by the cold cradle, heightening Jane's own distress. This suggests a contradiction in her behaviour, highlighting her lack of emotional autonomy.

  the suffering child in a cold cradle strengthens Jane's sense of helplessness, reflecting Brontë's view that emotional vulnerability is common in romantic love, and it can be personally disempowering.
• All my heart is yours, sir: it belongs to you; and with you it would remain, were fate to exile the rest of me from your presence for ever


  Brontë makes a distinction between Jane’s “heart” and her thoughts and actions:

  when done so, her moral convictions are stronger than her feelings reflecting Jane’s initial decision to leave Rochester when she discovers the truth about his previous marriage

  It shows Jane’s morality and actions contradicting her emotional preferences:
• Reader, I married him


  In this statement, Brontë reverses the more conventional “he married me”, making Jane the subject of the sentence:

  Brontë suggests a reversal of the power dynamic that has characterised Jane’s relationship with Rochester throughout the novel

  This could be due to Rochester’s injuries, which make him physically dependent on Jane

  Brontë presents their marriage as a happy one, with Rochester regarding Jane as his “equal”:

  This represents Brontë’s ideal of an egalitarian marriage, with mutual respect and enjoyment of each other’s company