Complex Character Jane Eyre PowerPoint

1. Complex CharacterJane Eyre PowerPoint By: Emilia Cavallaro, Matthew Caddell, Braxton Kelly, Mohammad Almatrood, Jacob Breaux Period 7, 11/19/13

2. Prompt • “Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character’s actions alone be considered be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.” • Literal Meaning of the Prompt: • The prompt is asking us to identify a complex character in a novel whose actions are considered wrong and yet, when thought about in context of the character’s history and other traits, could be considered justifiable. As a result, the character is thought of more sympathetically.

3. Prompt’s Relation to the Novel • The prompt relates to the novel, specifically the character of Mr. Rochester, because Mr. Rochesteris definitely a complex character. His actions are often considered immoral throughout the novel and yet he is a character to be sympathized with. Mr. Rochester initially treats Jane without respect and continues to omit telling her about his deranged wife. The reader sympathizes with him however, because he was forced by his father to marry this deranged wife and compelled to live with the consequences. Mr. Rochester thus comes to believe that he is being punished by fate. As a result of falling in love with Jane and later becoming crippled, Mr. Rochester undergoes a change in character and begins to believe that fate is merciful. The humbling of his character also contributes to Mr. Rochester being a character to be sympathized with.

4. Example 1 “’I am not married. You shall be Mrs. Rochester… You shall go to a place I have in the south of France: a whitewashed villa on the shores of the Mediterranean. There you shall live a happy, and guarded, and most innocent life. Never fear that I wish to lure you into error—to make you my mistress’” (Bronte 328). • When Jane first finds that Rochester already has a wife, she decides that she must leave him. However, when she tells Rochester that she must leave, he assumes that she means that she wishes to leave Thornfieldbut still remain with him. Thus he proposes that they ignore his current marriage and move to the south of France so that she can be his mistress, despite his saying that this wouldn’t make her his mistress. When merely taking his actions into account, Mr. Rochester can be considered an immoral character in this instance. However, when considering the fact that Mr. Rochester is forced to live with the consequences of being compelled to marry Bertha and only wants to be happy by marrying Jane, he becomes a character to be pitied.

5. Example 2 “’Hitherto I have hated to be helped – to be led: henceforth, I feel I shall hate it no more… “I thank my Maker, that, in the midst of judgment, He has remembered mercy. I humbly entreat my Redeemer to give me strength to lead henceforth a purer life than I have done hitherto!’ Then he stretched his hand out to be led” (485-488). • This quote portrays the transformation that Mr. Rochester undergoes as a result of the accident that causes him to become blind and crippled. Before the accident and before Jane leaves him, Mr. Rochester is somewhat of an immoral character because he is arrogant and hates the idea of being anyone but “the giver and protector” (485). However, being crippled humbles him because he realizes that he actually needs the help of another person, Jane. Also, he starts to believe that he is no longer being punished by fate, the reason that originally causes him to act dishonestly and immorally, and is now being granted mercy in the form of Jane who inspires him to change his ways. Therefore, he becomes a character that can be sympathized with.

6. Example 3 An example pertaining to the deception of Mr. Rochester by his father allowing sympathy from the reader is: “My father and my brother Rowland knew all this; but they thought only of the thirty thousand pounds, and joined in the plot against me”(291) “I was rich enough now- yet poor to hideous indigence: a nature the most gross, impure, depraved I ever saw, was associated with mine, and called by the law and by society a part of me. I could not rid myself of it by any legal proceedings”(291-292). • It is precisely this explanation of the circumstances behind Mr. Rochester’s previous marriage that makes Mr. Rochester’s actions almost understandable though still immoral. It is understood that Mr. Rochester is the way he is because he is lonely and he only tries to marry Jane while still being married because he cannot get out of a marriage to a lunatic, which he considers not a real marriage.

7. Example 4 • "You are dumb, Miss Eyre... the fact is, once for all, I don't wish to treat you like an inferior... I claim only such superiority as must result from twenty years difference in age and a century's advance in experiences" (Bronte 124). • This is one of the first interactions between Jane and Mr. Rochester. He comes off as very arrogant but Jane is still intrigued by him because she is able to speak honestly with him. This arrogance is what makes him an imperfect character and yet it is clear that due to Jane’s influence he begins to reform himself.

8. Significant Moment 1 "'It was all his own courage, and... kindness... he wouldn't leave the house till every one else was out before him. As he came down the great staircase at last, after Mrs. Rochester had flung herself from the battlements, there was a great crash - all fell. He was taken out from under the ruins, alive, but sadly hurt... he is now helpless, indeed - blind, and a cripple'" (Bronte 467). While Jane is staying at Moor House, Bertha burns Thornfield to the ground. When Rochester becomes aware of this, he does his best to save everybody, including evacuating all of his servants, and trying to save Bertha, who jumps off the top of the house before he can stop her. In trying to save everyone before himself, Rochester loses both his vision and his hand. When Jane hears this news she realizes that Rochester has undergone both a physical and spiritual transformation while she has been away, and she feels deeply sympathetic towards his plight. Jane feels sympathetic because Mr. Rochester’s act of sacrifice in order to save all of his servants, as well as the wife that she believed he hated, shows that he became much more humble and caring during her time at Moor House. Therefore, this moment is significant to the novel because it not only serves to transform Mr. Rochester’s character, it also leads to Jane coming back to marry Mr. Rochester and the resolution of the novel.

9. Significant Moment 2 Mr. Mason getting attacked by the his sister Bertha Mason, who is also Mr. Rochester’s deranged wife, is significant to the novel because it later leads to the wedding between Jane and Mr. Rochester being called off. Jane does not know that Mrs. Rochester was the culprit behind Mr. Mason’s attack because Mr. Rochester insists on lying to her by omission. Because of his dishonest actions, Mr. Rochester is described as an immoral character. The consequence of this dishonesty is that Jane learns about the deranged Mrs. Rochester on the day that she is supposed to be married to him and feels betrayed. The fact that Mr. Rochester still wants her to stay with him further illustrates his immorality and causes Jane to run away because she is very moral. However, when one considers the full presentation of Mr. Rochester’s character, one sympathizes with his situation because the consequences of marrying Bertha have followed him all his life and he only wants to be happy. “’You have passed a strange night, Jane… And it has made you look pale – were you afraid when I left you alone with Mason?’ ‘I was afraid of some one coming out of the inner room… Will Grace Poole live here still, sir?’ ‘Oh, yes! Don’t trouble your head about her…Mason will not defy me; nor knowing it will he hurt me – but unintentionally, he might in a moment…deprive me, if not of life, yet for ever of happiness.” (Bronte 231).

10. Significant Moment 3 “’An insuperable impediment to this marriage exists…Mr. Rochester has a wife now living’… ‘Bertha Mason is mad…you shall see what sort of a being I was cheated into espousing, and judge whether I had a right to…seek sympathy with something at least human” (312, 315). While Jane is at Thornfield she begins to fall in love with Mr. Rochester. With the thought of Mr. Rochester marrying Blanche Ingram and losing him, Jane expresses her true feelings to Mr. Rochester by telling him that she loves him. Afterwards, he asks her for her hand in marriage. Just before they get married, Jane is told that Mr. Rochester is already married and she falls into a deep depression because she knows she has to call off the wedding and run away from Thornfield even though she loves him. Although Mr. Rochester is evil for locking away his insane wife, he apologizes to Jane, telling her that he never intended to hurt her and that he truly loves her.

11. Significant Moment 4 • “Hitherto I have hated to be helped – to be led: henceforth, I feel I shall hate it hate it no more. I did not like to put my hand into a hireling’s… I preferred utter loneliness to the constant attendance of servants; but Jane’s soft ministry will be a perpetual joy” (485). • After Mr. Rochester is left deformed and handicapped due to the fire he is left to depend on the help of others in order to function. This moment is significant in that it contrasts with Mr. Rochester's earlier prideful and independent nature. This moment also allows the readers to sympathize with him as he has gotten more than his fair share of punishment for concealing his wife from Jane and attempting to marry her as a mistress.

12. Works Cited • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte • Pictures: www.thesqueee.co.uk http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sKrMWHPnJwo/T8FBuWTgSvI/AAAAAAAACg8/dNueFpoXyb0/s1600/bronte.jpg http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/e4/2c/80/e42c8015a1ff8e099cc7505924728ef2.jpg http://www.pichaus.com/+edward+rochester/ www.fanpop.com www.thecultureconcept.com www.tvsa.co.za marinacarlson.wordpress.com