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Summary and Analysis of Volume II, Chapters 6-11
Volume II, Chapter 6 Summary: Robert Leaven, the coachman at Gateshead for years who is now married to Bessie, visits Jane. He brings news that John Reed, who was in gambling debt, died last week, perhaps of suicide. The shock gave Mrs. Reed a stroke; she has since recovered slightly and asked for Jane. Rochester grants his permission for Jane to leave for a week and gives her some money. Jane arrives at Gateshead in the early evening and reunites with Bessie, who tells her that Mrs. Reed is expected to last another week or two. She also talks with Eliza and Georgiana, who are as cold as ever, though they no longer hurt Jane's feelings. The girls are reluctant to let Jane see their ailing mother, but Bessie arranges a meeting. Mrs. Reed, her mind clearly elsewhere, does not realize who Jane is, and speaks harshly of Jane's character. Jane prompts her to discuss her feelings about Jane, and Mrs. Reed reveals that she always disliked Jane's mother, her husband's sister, since Mr. Reed always favored her and, subsequently, the orphaned Jane. Mrs. Reed is also under the impression that John is still alive. Jane leaves her bedside. For ten days Jane does not see Mrs. Reed again, and busies herself with sketching. One day she sketches a portrait of Rochester that attracts the attention of the Reed girls, whom she also sketches. The episode fosters new intimacy between Jane and Georgiana, who is hung up on her former life in high society London. Eliza maintains her distance from both of them; one night she lashes out at Georgiana for her immaturity and slothfulness, and says they will have nothing to do with each other after their mother's death. Jane visits Mrs. Reed one afternoon while no one is around and reveals her identity. Mrs. Reed apologizes for not bringing her up as one of her own, and for spitefully withholding from her a three-year-old letter from her uncle, John Eyre, who wanted Jane to come to him at Madeira. Though Jane says she offers her forgiveness, Mrs. Reed is unable to let go of her hatred for Jane, and she dies that night. AnalysisJane's ample growth is demonstrated when she returns to Gateshead. Whereas John Reed fell into a dissolute lifestyle, Georgiana became a spoiled debutante, and Eliza became an aloof, emotionless woman, Jane has dedicated her life to helping others with humility. The initial cold reception from the Reed girls, then, does not disturb Jane as it once might have, nor does Mrs. Reed's unforgiving hatred on her deathbed. In fact, Jane tells her aunt that "'you have my full and free forgiveness: ask now for God's; and be at peace.'" Jane seems to have found a third way with religion, far from the evangelical posturing of Mr. Brocklehurst and removed from the all-encompassing and self-destructive tolerance of Helen Burns. Jane is forgiving for the past ills done her by Mrs. Reed; they did not destroy her, but only made her stronger. Helen, on the other hand, seems to have been destroyed by her utter forgiveness. The meek, in Jane's eyes, shall not inherit the earth, but neither do the powerful. In the midst of this emotional chapter, Brontë throws in a twist with the letter from John Eyre. He hints at having accumulated a fortune, so Jane's economic status is again complicated: a poor tutor who squabbles with her wealthy employer over a few pounds before she leaves for Gateshead, she may finally be due some money. Volume II, Chapter 7 Summary: Jane leaves Gateshead after a month, helping the Reed daughters longer than expected; she mentions that after this Georgiana married a wealthy man and Eliza became a nun. Jane returns to Thornfield and is surprised to see Rochester, who has just returned from London, where he bought a new carriagemost likely to prepare for his wedding. Rochester is in an infectiously good mood, but Jane worries that after his marriage to Miss Ingram he will no longer need her services. However, the wedding is never mentioned and no preparations are made, and Jane hopes it has been called off. Analysis: Rochester's impending marriage is vague. Not only does Rochester avoid answering questions about it, he only says that his carriage "'will suit Mrs. Rochester exactly.'" The name could apply to any woman who marries him and, as such, leaves open the possibility that he intends to marry Jane. Volume II, Chapter 8 Summary: The summer is glorious at Thornfield. One evening Jane runs into Rochester in the gardens. He reveals that he will marry Miss Ingram in a month and Jane must leave Thornfield; he already has another governess position lined up for her in Ireland. A devastated Jane says she does not want to leave Thornfield or Rochester, but Miss Ingram's presence makes it necessary. Rochester suddenly reverses position, asking her to stay, but Jane will not do so if she means so little to him that he is willing to marry someone else inferior to him. Rochester asks her to marry him, but she does not believe he is serious. He is aware that Miss Ingram only wants him for his money, and he does not love her. After Jane is convinced of his earnestness, she accepts. Rain forces the overjoyed lovers inside, where they retire to their separate quarters; Rochester checks on Jane three times during the storm to make sure she is all right. Analysis: The long build-up to Jane and Rochester's romance culminates in Rochester's marriage proposal, but a greater change comes about within Jane. Oppressed much of her life because of her poverty, she asserts her validity as a person to Rochester, regardless of her material wealth: "'Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you, and full as much heart!'" Jane has so much soul and heart, in fact, that she is not necessarily willing to submit her desires to those of someone else. While her search for being loved drives Jane Eyre, Jane is understanding that attachment to others comes at a price, and she will not sacrifice her autonomy: "'I am a free human being with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you.'" Her relationship with Rochester, however, promises the opportunity for a balance of love and independence. Volume II, Chapter 9 Summary: The next morning, Jane feels she looks prettier. Rochester compliments her, says they will marry in four weeks, and says he is sending for jewels from London for her, though Jane makes him rescind the ordershe will feel uncomfortable wearing such ostentation. He also vows to take her traveling with him around Europe and pledges his love to her, and confesses that he feigned interest in Miss Ingram to make Jane jealous. Jane gets ready for a drive to Millcote with Rochester, and he tells Mrs. Fairfax about their upcoming marriage. Mrs. Fairfax expresses her shock to Jane, and warns her to be on her guard, as wealthy men rarely marry their governesses. Adèle wants to go to Millcote with them, and Jane convinces Rochester to bring her along. They ride off, and Rochester jokes to Adèle that he is bringing Jane with him to the moon, and makes a veiled reference to their marriage that Adèle does not understand. In Millcote, the clothing and jewelry Rochester lavishes on Jane embarrasses her. She tells Rochester that she will not be his "English Céline Varens," but will continue to work as Adèle's governess and maintain her financial independence. She also declines his dinner invitation, though she spends time with him in the evening as he sings and plays piano. He sings a love song and advances toward her, but she refuses to submit to his charms. Jane maintains this distance between them as she falls deeper in love with Rochester, believing it will serve them better. Analysis: Jane discusses her shock at hearing Rochester call her "Mrs. Rochester": "'Because you gave me a new name Jane Rochester; and it seems so strange.'" She reminds us that the title of the book is Jane Eyre, and that this name will always define her identity as an independent woman. "Eyre" is a 14th-century word that means "a circuit traveled by an itinerant justice in medieval England or the court he presided over," and derives from the Old French word "errer," "to travel." If this etymology was Brontë's intention, then the name is ironic. While Jane travels far mentally as she develops into a womanshe is an avid reader, an artist, a musicianher physical journeys are quite circumscribed compared to those of the globe-trotting Rochester. Jane asserts her desire for both economic and emotional independence. She wants to earn her keep at Thornfield, and her teasing of Rochester, as she calls it, is to ensure she does not completely submit her will to his. Volume II, Chapter 10 Summary: A month passes, and the household has finished preparing for Jane and Rochester's marriage tomorrow. Jane is disturbed by something she saw last night. She waits for Rochester to return from business and tells him about it. Last night, with a strong wind blowing, she seemed to hear a howling sound while she lay in bed. She then had a series of nightmares revolving around her care of a little child. She woke up in the night to see a strange woman who, after looking through her closet, ripped Jane's wedding veil. The woman then looked at Jane, who fainted. Rochester tries to convince Jane the episode was a dream, but she is adamant it was notthe wedding veil is ripped in two. Rochester is horrified, and grateful that nothing more harmful happened to Jane. He tells her the woman must have been Grace, and says he will one day explain why he keeps her in the house. Jane appeases him, though she is not satisfied with the explanation. Jane sleeps in Adèle's room that night, though she does not fall asleep. Analysis: It should be obvious by now that the woman who entered Jane's room is related to the laughter from the third story and from the fire in Rochester's room (especially because the woman uses a candle as she investigates Jane's closet). It is also clear from the ripped wedding veil that the woman harbors hostility toward the wedding, and that Rochester is still covering something up by claiming the woman was Grace. Jane's devotion to children, both in her dream and when sleeping with Adèle, also speaks, as she says, to her departure from her childhood identity of Jane Eyre and her ascent into married adulthood as Jane Rochester. Volume II, Chapter 11 Summary: Jane prepares for the marriage ceremony in the morning, and she and Rochester head to the nearby church. Jane notices two strangers enter the church before they do. The priest begins the ceremony, but when he asks Rochester if he will take Jane as his wife, one of the strangers objects to the marriage. The man, Briggs, a solicitor from London, comes forward and claims that Rochester already has a living wife from a previous marriage 15 years ago. He has a witness to attest to the wife's being alive three months ago: Mason. Mason steps forward and reveals that Rochester's wife is living at Thornfield, and that he is her brother. Rochester confesses that the accusation is true, and that his insane wife, Bertha Mason, who he married not knowing of her family's history of madness, lives upstairs in his attic under careful watch of Grace. He invites everyone to see Bertha and judge for themselves whether or not he was justified in seeking remarriage. The party goes to Thornfield and up to the attic. In the room where Mason was stabbed and bitten, Grace cooks food while the crazed Bertha runs around like an animal. Bertha lunges at Rochester and bites him, and he wrestles her into submission and ties her to a chair. They all leave the room. Briggs informs Jane that her uncle is on his sickbed but wanted to prevent the marriage, which Mason told him about. He suggests Jane stay in England until she hears more from her uncle. Briggs and Mason leave, and Jane goes into her room alone, reflecting on the sudden change of fortune. She feels she cannot love Rochester anymore; even though she does not consider it a betrayal, he is no longer who he once was to her. She thinks of a prayer to God, unable to summon the energy to speak them. Analysis: The loose ends are tied up with the revelation of Rochester's marriage to Bertha: the laughter from the third story, Rochester's early error in life and desire for a new wife, Mrs. Fairfax's warning to Jane to be on her guard, the fire in Rochester's room, and the interloper in Jane's room. Just as Jane has trouble deciding how to judge Rochester, the reader, too, is in a difficult position, especially since the times are different now. Obviously, in modern times Rochester would simply divorce his insane wife and be done with her; in Victorian England, such an arrangement was not so easy, and his imprisonment of Bertha would not be considered quite so barbaric. Jane narrates the bad turn of events with relentless imagery of ice: "A Christmas frost had come at midsummer; a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples" As before, ice symbolizes destruction, cruelty, hopelessness, and death. In this moment of despair, Jane reaches out to God. While she does not have blind faith in Him (as evidenced by her inability to speak the prayer), God is her last salvation and her last chance (so she believes) to be loved by another.
ClassicNote on Jane Eyre
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