Edward Rochester is a controversial and fictitious character in the two books; Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. In both novels, Mr. Rochester played a significant role though it is challenging to draw parallels between the two works. In both books, Rochester plays the same position, that is, the partner of the protagonist, and he is not the main character (Sidorova 159). There exist various aspects of an individual that characterize who they are, and this applies to Rochester. His extreme and outside look, ideas, and morals are essential in acquiring the concept of his character and in comparing him within the two texts. Based on the evidence from the two novels; this essay explains and presents an analysis of the exact and real characteristics of the character, Edward Rochester.
From the two novels, Mr. Rochester is the immediate enforcer and manifestation of the network of patriarchal codes that imprisons Antoinette Cosway in Wide Sargasso Sea. The codes include colonialism, sexism, the law that creates and demarcates insanity and sanity, and the English law. On the other hand, he is the desired object of the romantic quest of Jane in Bronte’s novel. He is paired up with Antoinette, the protagonist, but is depicted as a hard and cold character who used his wife for money and sex while keeping himself believe that she was going mad. In this case, he performed the part of the villain in Wide Sargasso Sea. Even though he is described as a fairly immoral, brooding, and dark character, he is presented as the story’s hero, and the reader hopes that they end up together with Jane.
Indeed, Rochester is the hero of the text of Jane Eyrie. He can be said to be a Byronic hero. According to Carter and McRae (p. 24), a Byronic hero is a romantic hero and often a person who is isolated and challenges the authorities of the age and attacks social conventions but never finds happiness and peace. Since Mr. Rochester lives at Thornfield with servants whom he ignores and travels alone around, he fits into this ideal. He is evidently impatient with the kinds of polite social intercourse. For instance, Jane elucidates that “it appeared he was not in the mood to notice us, for he never lifted his head as we approached” (Hope 56) when Mrs. Fairfax and Jane joined him on his first night at Thornfield. Mrs. Fairfax spoke to him regarding his perseverance and hard work, but he responded that she just wants to take some tea and nothing else. On the other hand, he challenges the authority of the church by trying to marry another wife while the first one was still alive.
While reading Wide Sargasso Sea, it may be difficult to discard the thought of Rochester as a hero altogether, just as it is almost impractical to overlook the horrible things that he did to Antoinette. Aforementioned should be considered a beneficial idea as a technique of uniting the two texts and adding more layers to Mr. Rochester to make him a more interesting character. In both the texts, we see that he is a passionate man, who was often guided by his rational mind and somewhat his senses (Hope 63).
Mr. Rochester does not bear a resemblance to a hero depicted or represented in fairy tales, the character that stays put static all the way through the plot of the story. Preferably, he is a liberal and dynamic character that notably changes throughout the plot. He has features and values that are far from integrity, freedom, and respect. One can notice dramatic changes in his behaviors to Jane (Hope 69).
In Jane Eyre, Rochester may seem mysterious and proud in the beginning, even though not sufficiently proud to ask for help from other characters when he needs. Reading the two texts brings an understanding that he was harsh and cruel. This is evident from the way she barely looked at her and using her in getting back on the horse. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Rochester is portrayed as a horrible individual who was mistreating Antoinette. Therefore, this shows that Rochester was an evil character as depicted in both the texts.
Rochester was a victim of his circumstances and era. First, we see that he was obsessed and guided by his senses rather than his mind thus dragging him to marrying a woman who is insane. Despite his high social status, he seems an outcast due to marrying a mad woman and being tricked for money matters by his family. In the end, he feels trapped and fascinated and believes that all the fabrications forms a sense of distrust and thus making him grow more distant from the community. He became a victim of the era and circumstances by marrying an insane woman.
On the contrary, Mr. Rochester is a skeptical and pessimistic rebel who refused to acknowledge and yield to other orders of the general public. The sensitivity of this character was revealed when he meets the two women presented in the two texts. Jane and Antoinette are women who are depicted to be intellectually equal to him, who understands his true nature and were morally superior to him. He ignored the opinion of other people and thus failed to notice his social rank (Carter and McRae 19). Bronte used Jane as a tool of shedding light on the character of Rochester. In the end, we find that he becomes a new being, his qualities, and dark secrets ceased to be part of his life.
As mentioned earlier, the foundation of the flawed life of Rochester was his past along with scandals and his dark secrets. When the actual circumstance is portrayed, and all the facts are pointed out, all his flawed life becomes forgivable. Before meeting Jane, the character of Rochester was impulsive and wild. In this case, Jane assisted him in healing wounds.
In the two texts, Rochester is a controversial character who played significant roles in shaping the plot of the story. He plays the same role, that is, the partner of the protagonist, and he is not the main character. His outside look, ideas, and morals are essential in acquiring the concept of his character and in comparing him within the two texts. Based on the evidence from the two novels; the essay presented an analysis of the true nature of the character, Edward Rochester. Indeed, he was a cruel and a Byronic hero. Besides, he became the victim of his own circumstances and era.
Works Cited
Carter, R., and J. McRae. The Penguin guide to literature in English: Britain and Ireland. 2016.
Hope, Trevor. "Revisiting the Imperial Archive: Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, and the Decomposition of Englishness." College Literature, vol. 39, no. 1, 2012, pp. 51-73.
Sidorova, O. G. "Rewriting Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys)." Izvestia of the Ural federal university. Series 2. Humanities and Arts, vol. 18, no. 3 (154), 2016, pp. 157-169.
