Forgive and Forget

Jane: "Gentle Reader, may you never feel what I then felt! May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonised as in that hour left my lips: for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love." (pg. 327)

Jane clearly tells the reader that she was really hurt when she found out Mr. Rochester was already married. She is not a selfish person at all. She tells the reader that she hopes nothing like what happened to her happens to anyone else. Just from this passage, you can tell what kind of woman Jane is. She is a caring individual that respects not only Mr. Rochester but herself as well. Leaving Thornfield meant willing to leave everything and everyone behind and forgiving those who hurt her. If she didn't respect herself, she wouldn't have cared about her reputation and would've stayed in Thornfield as Mr. Rochester's mistress, but she respects herself enough to recognize that it would be a stupid thing to do. Jane forgave Mr. Rochester and left. She is a smart woman. Forgiving and leaving show that she respects Mr. Rochester and his marriage, even though she loves him.


Here's a link to a picture of a lonely and almost sad-looking bird. Jane was sad about leaving and she was hurt, but she managed to leave everything behind and move on.

Title: Bird and surfers
By: Mel B.