The Quest For Personal Enlightenment

The Quest for Personal Enlightenment John Hoffman, Amy Greulich, Alyssa Rosenbaum Jane Eyre: So, Charlotte, which event do you think was more enlightening for me; me discovering my love for Mr. Rochester, or me leaving him? Charlotte Brontë: Ah, interesting. I would not say that one was more enlightening than the other, only that they were different and that they enlightened different parts of your mind. In terms of your life, Jane, they were almost equally important, and to choose one as more important than the other would be false. In terms of the story, you loving Mr. Rochester is crucial. It is the most obvious enlightenment (at first), but you leaving him and discovering St. John and your sisters and the events that followed affirmed the genuine nature of your love for Mr. Rochester. John Hoffman: I think you’re right, Charlotte. I think that her running away and finding a new life outside of Mr. Rochester parallels that new show on ABC; “Wifeswap”, where two couples trade spouses and live in each other’s shoes for a period of time, and the usual outcome is a stronger relationship between the spouses after the show. I think that Jane needed to get out and see her options, to see how she would live if she took the opposite lifestyle; one of purely morals and little or no emotional attachment (a marriage with St. John). I think that once she did see how the other side lives, she was appalled and her love for Rochester only grew. Jane Eyre: How very interesting. I must say that your television shows are quite outrageous, but make for a very appropriate reference in this conversation. You are right, John, I was appalled by the lifestyle I would have with St. John, but I respect the man dearly. Charlotte, I must say that you are also dead on in your analysis. I personally think that leaving Mr. Rochester in and of itself was less enlightening than me falling in love with him, but that, in leaving, I began my search for a new life which would eventually lead to what I believe is the most important enlightenment in this entire book; my reaffirmation of my love for Mr. Rochester and my return to him. John Hoffman: Jane and Charlotte, on page 196, Jane has come back to visit the dying Mrs. Reed. Jane talks about how she “had left this woman in bitterness and hate”, but had “[come] back to her now with no other emotion than a sort of ruth for

her great sufferings”. Mrs. Reed, on the other hand, was described as “stern, relentless as ever—there was that peculiar eye which nothing could melt”. My question is, what is the main message here; that some people don’t change? That perhaps Jane’s departure had made Mrs. Reed nearly incapable of this change? Or was the message more focused on Jane her self; perhaps that expectations are not always met; that Jane needed to focus on the things that she could change? Jane Eyre: I don’t know how you feel about this, Charlotte, but I think that this moment had the most impact on me. My benefactress was mentally unstable; she was not fully aware of her actions, or at least their consequences. I think that I was most affected by her frozen state of bitterness in the fact that my will to reconcile our differences, my last chance to reach out to the person who could have been my motherly figure, was completely rejected. I realized that my ideal goals, of perhaps reconciling with my mother, or later, reconciling with St. John, were futile. I came to understand that my power and goodwill were not undefeatable, and that I should not always expect the best. These were superficial lessons, no doubt, but not until Mrs. Reed died did I truly understand them at heart. Charlotte Brontë: I can see where you come from Jane; those were important lessons that could only be gained with experience, but John, the moment was definitely more focused on Jane. I was not worried about Mrs. Reed’s character development so much as I was about what Jane needed to take away from their fateful last meeting. The enlightenment is directed towards Jane.