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What do you already know? Brainstorm your ideas. Rochester. Learning Objectives. Explore the character of Rochester (AO2). Understand the qualities of a Byronic Hero & how these relate to Rochester (AO3). Map the changing relationship between Jane & Rochester (AO2).
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What do you already know? Brainstorm your ideas Rochester
Learning Objectives • Explore the character of Rochester (AO2). • Understand the qualities of a Byronic Hero & how these relate to Rochester (AO3). • Map the changing relationship between Jane & Rochester (AO2).
Rochester • Mr. Rochester is stern-featured, heavy-browed, rude, abrupt, horny, twice Jane’s age, always on the edge of violence, likes to order people around, keeps his wife locked in the attic, and teases Jane on at least one occasion until she cries. Here’s the crazy part: that’s why he’s so awesome. • He’s a genuine-seeming character, not some stuck-up, pompous, handsome young man who smoothly says all the right things and doesn’t have any personality of his own.
Rochester Continued… • An example of the Byronic hero. • Passionate man, often guided by his senses rather than by his rational mind. • When he first met Bertha Mason, he found her dazzling, splendid, and lavish — all qualities that excited his senses and resulted in their catastrophic marriage. • Similarly, he let himself be ruled by his "grande passion" for Céline Varens, despite its immorality. • Not afraid to flout social conventions. • With Jane, rather than maintaining proper class boundaries, he makes her feel "as if he were my relation rather than my master."
The Byronic Hero • Read the handout on the characteristics of the Byronic Hero. • What are the key qualities? • How does this fit with the character of Rochester?
Learning Check On your whiteboards write down: 3 features of the Byronic hero. 2 quotes that you have memorised about Rochester. 1 example of Rochester as Byronic hero.
Rochester’s Magical Powers • Like Jane, Rochester is connected with almost psychic powers. • His "wealth" of power for communicating happiness seems magical to Jane, as are his abilities to read people's unspoken thoughts from their eyes with incomprehensible acumen. • As gypsy fortune teller, he weaves a magical web around Jane with words and looks directly into her heart so that she feels as "unseen spirit" is watching and recording all of her feelings. • He also peers into Blanche's heart, recognizing her for a fortune hunter. • His telepathic cry to Jane when she's at Moor House shows his psychic ability. • Like Jane, he taps into the magical powers of the universe in professing his love.
Despite these desires for a new life, Rochester is still caught in a web of lies and immorality: He attempts bigamy and then tries to convince Jane to be his mistress. At the end of the novel, Rochester is symbolically maimed and a suitable “equal” for Jane. Why is this controversial? Rochester Rochester's goal is self-transformation, a reformation to be enacted through his relationships with women. Longing for innocence and purity, he wants Jane to be the good “angel” in his life, creating new harmony. Rochester plans to change his lifestyle, giving up his wild, dissipated life on the continent, he's searching for freshness and freedom.
Map it! Draw a tension graph to represent the changing relationship between Jane & Rochester throughout the novel. Tension Chapter
Learning Check On your whiteboards write down: 3 features of the Byronic hero. 2 quotes that you have memorised about Rochester. 1 example of Rochester as Byronic hero.