To tell me that I had already a wife is empty mockery; you know now that I had but a hideous demon. I was wrong to attempt to deceive you; but I feared a stubbornness that exists in your character. I feared early instilled prejudice: I wanted to have you safe before hazarding confidences. This was cowardly; I should have appealed to your nobleness and magnanimity at first…shown to you, not my resolution (that word is weak), but my resistless bent to love faithfully and well, where I am faithfully and well loved in return. Then I should have asked you to accept my pledge of fidelity, and to give me yours; Jane – give it to me now.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 27. Explaining his deceit in not disclosing that he had a wife, Rochester admits to Jane that he is a flawed man. He accepts that he was a coward and should have trusted her with the truth about his “demon” wife. Rochester is not the typical romantic hero. He is a moody and brooding Byronic hero who is rough, flawed and haunted by his dark secret. His strong love for Jane speaks loudly in this passage.