rochester's defenses
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Posted by greg on October 01, 1997 at 22:11:47:
In response to Mrs. O'Gall too, written by Laraine on October 01, 1997 at 15:51:24
I think the Blanche thing is hard to forgive him for, but he has much to learn about treating people decently. The five daughters of Mrs. Dionysius O'Gall of Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland, are another example. Just plain nasty, but he gets what he wants from doing it. There's not much question about him needing to have the stuffing knocked of him.
as far as his flirting with blanche, i see a little of the frank churchill(flirting with emma) there: like frank, he's afraid of the consequences of showing his true feelings(though for somewhat different reasons) - he's not as strong as jane. plus i think he's "trying blanche on", just to see how it feels - and when he does he finds that even scarier!
i see his story about mrs. o'gall as even clearer evidence of his fear and defensiveness - in a very scary situation, you must admit! these defenses also work in the sense of enhancing the novel: jane eyre the novel is nothing if not distinctly human, and we see rochester in all his frail humanity in these episodes.
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