Final Blog Post For Jane Eyre

At the conclusion of Jane Eyre, author Charlotte Bronte creates an interesting dynamic between two of the main characters shown through their interactions with each other and their own personal changes due to the events that transpired throughout the book. When Rochester is left blinded due to a house fire, it is his wife Jane who must care for him- effectively changing the balance of dominance and dependence in the relationship.

Throughout the book, it is extremely evident that an almost philosophical juxtaposition is being set up between various types of complementary opposites. Wealthy and poor, dominant and submissive, male and female, dependancy and self-sufficiency. These things are all simultaneously represented in depth with the relationship between Jane and Rochester.

As the relationship between Jane and Rochester progressed, it first became apparent that Jane was far more attached to him than he was to her. The tide of “power” in the relationship ebbed and flowed throughout the course of the novel, and only at the end of it did the relationship, in a sense, equalize in terms of power and dependancy. This is because of Rochester’s tragic loss of sight. Previously, he had supported Jane monetarily and materialistically and therefore was imperative to her ascent into a higher class standing. She did, however, learn to stabilize her own financial situation after this point in time, and by the time Rochester had gone blind she had no longer any dependancy on him for capital. Specifically after Rochester had gone blind, it was Jane who inverted the stereotypical gender roles in the relationship and became the supporter and “man” of the relationship.

I do not believe that the relationship as depicted at the end of the novel represents the highest state of fulfillment that could have been achieved by Jane and Rochester together. This is because in the end of the story, Jane has already established herself as an independent unit and therefore did not depend on Rochester, while he on the other had absolutely depended on her for his safety, mobility, and above all, her sight.