Mr. Rochester Quotes

This was all the account I got from Mrs. Fairfax of her employer and mine. There are people who seem to have no notion of sketching a character, or observing and describing salient points, either in persons or things: the good lady evidently belonged to this class; my queries puzzled, but did not draw her out. Mr. Rochester was Mr. Rochester in her eyes; a gentleman, a landed proprietor – nothing more: she inquired and searched no further, and evidently wondered at my wish to gain a more definite notion of his identity.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 11. Jane is curious about her new employer Mr. Rochester and asks Mrs. Fairfax questions about him. But she is left none the wiser by the housekeeper who cannot tell what kind of person he is, except that he is a landowner and gentleman. Jane’s new employer must remain a mystery to her until she can find out for herself what kind of man he is.

Something of daylight still lingered, and the moon was waxing bright: I could see him plainly. His figure was enveloped in a riding cloak, I traced the general points of middle height, and considerable breadth of chest. He had a dark face, with stern features, and a heavy brow; his eyes and gathered eyebrows looked ireful and thwarted just now; he was past youth, but had not reached middle age; perhaps he might be thirty-five. I felt no fear of him, and but a little shyness. Had he been a handsome, heroic-looking young gentleman, I should not have dared to stand thus questioning him against his will, and offering my services unasked…I had a theoretical reverence and homage for beauty, elegance, gallantry, fascination; but had I met those qualities incarnate in masculine shape, I should have known instinctively that they neither had nor could have sympathy with anything in me and should have shunned them as one would fire, lightning, or anything else that is bright but antipathetic.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 12. Jane is out walking on her way to Hay to deliver a letter for posting. On the way she unknowingly meets Mr. Rochester for the first time, when a horse and rider slip and fall on a sheet of ice. There is an air of mystery about the stranger she goes to aid and will eventually marry. Here Bronte depicts the masculine in the person of Rochesteer as not having “beauty, elegance, gallantry.” Instead he is the anti-hero – stern, gruff, brooding, and not at all handsome and heroic looking. But despite Rochester’s dark, intense and stern appearance, Jane is immediately drawn to him. She later learns that he is Rochester. Their first meeting, set against the backdrop of the moon-lit hills, has a Gothic air about it. On first hearing the horse approach, Jane thinks of Bessie’s ghost stories about “Gytrash,” a spirit creature that is sometimes horse and sometimes large dog.

Two wax candles stood lighted on the table, and two on the mantel-piece; basking in the light and heat of a superb fire lay Pilot; Adele knelt near him. Half reclined on a couch appeared Mr. Rochester, his foot supported by the cushion; he was looking at Adele and the dog; the fire shone full on his face. I knew my traveller, with his broad and jetty eyebrows, his square forehead, made squarer by the horizontal sweep of his black hair. I recognised his decisive nose, more remarkable for character than beauty, his full nostrils, denoting, I thought, choler; his grim mouth, chin, and jaw – yes, all three were very grim, and no mistake…I suppose it was a good figure in the athletic sense of the term, broad-chested and thin-flanked, though neither tall nor graceful.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 13. Jane meets with Mr. Rochester inside Thornfield for the first time. She recognizing that he was the traveler she met on the road the night before. His facial looks have more character about them than beauty. In her physical description of him Jane uses words like “decisive” and “grim,” suggesting that he was like that in character also.

“Oh, don’t fall back on over-modesty! I have examined Adele, and find you have taken great pains with her: she is not bright, she has no talents; yet in a short time she has made much improvement.”
“Sir, you have given me my ‘cadeau’; I am obliged to you: it is the meed teachers most covet; praise of their pupils’ progress.”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 13. In Rochester’s and Jane’s first conversation in Thornfield, he praises his new governess for being a good teacher to the 10-year-old French girl, Adele, who is daughter to Rochester’s mistress Celine Varens.

Mr. Rochester, as he sat in his damask-covered chair, looked different to what I had seen him look before – not quite so stern; much less gloomy. There was a smile on his lips, and his eyes sparkled, whether with wine or not, I am not sure, but I think it very probable. He was…more expanded and genial, and also more self-indulgent, than the frigid and rigid temper of the morning; still, he looked preciously grim, cushioning his massive head against the swelling back of his chair, and receiving the light of the fire on his granite-hewn features, and in his great, dark eyes.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Jane is looking at Mr. Rochester more favorably than she did during her earlier encounters, when she described him as “grim,” “ireful” and “stern.” Now he is smiling, his eyes are sparkling and he is more genial. He is no longer as stern or gloomy, she says, putting his good humor down to the effects of the dinner wine.

“You examine me, Miss Eyre,” said he. “Do you think me handsome?”
I should have deliberated, have replied to this question by something conventionally vague and polite; but the answer somehow slipped from my tongue before I was aware: “No, sir.”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Mr. Rochester gets flirtatious with Jane here, asking if she thinks him handsome. When Jane defiantly and cheekily says “no,” she is speaking the truth as Rochester is not classically handsome. But she is also showing that she is a woman with an independent mind who speaks honestly and refuses to flatter him.

“Ah! By my word! There is something singular about you,” said he: “you have the air of a little nonnette; quaint, quiet, grave, and simple, as you sit with your hands before you, and your eyes generally bent on the carpet (except, by-the-bye, when they are directed piercingly to my face; as just now, for instance); and when one asks you a question, or makes a remark to which you are obliged to reply, you rap out a round rejoinder, which, if not blunt, is at least brusque.”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. As Mr. Rochester and Jane chat and get to know each other, he makes these observations about her after she blurts out “no” to the question of whether she thinks he is handsome. Clearly fascinated by Jane, he describes her as having the air of a little nun, quiet and humble. He comments on her blunt speaking and upfront honest answers to questions, recognizing and admiring similar personality traits in Jane as in himself. From the outset it becomes clear that this is more than a master-servant relationship. The social barriers are not there. Mr. Rochester is seeing in Jane a kindred spirit, a soul mate.

I am sure most people would have thought him an ugly man; yet there was so much unconscious pride in his port; so much case in his demeanour; such a look of complete indifference to his own external appearance; so haughty a reliance on the power of other qualities, intrinsic or adventitious, to atone for the lack of mere personal attractiveness, that in looking at him, one inevitably shared the indifference; and even in a blind, imperfect sense, put faith in the confidence.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Jane doesn’t find Mr. Rochester a handsome looking man in the conventional sense. But she is able to go beyond surface looks and sees that there is an attractiveness in his manner and bearing and his personality.

I should never mistake informality for insolence: one I rather like, the other nothing free-born would submit to, even for a salary.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Jane flatly tells her Rochester that no free person like herself would tolerate insolence, even if they are being paid. The two are having a conversation about masters and servants, during Jane refers to herself as his “paid subordinate.” Rochester then replies with a suggestion: “I had forgotten the salary! Well then, on that mercenary ground, will you agree to let me hector a little?” But there are some things “free-born” Jane is unwilling to tolerate, even from the “master” who pays her salary. So she tells him where to go with his suggestion, to which Rochester angrily replies: “Humbug! Most things free-born will submit to anything for a salary; therefore, keep to yourself and don’t venture on generalities of which you are intensely ignorant.”

I…was thrust on to a wrong track at the age of one-and-twenty, and have never recovered the right course since: but I might have been very different; I might have been as good as you – wiser – almost as stainless. I envy you your peace of mind, your clean conscience, your unpolluted memory. Little girl, a memory without blot of contamination must be an exquisite treasure – an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment: is it not?

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Rochester becomes particularly chatty with Jane while they are sitting by the fire, helped by the wine he drank earlier with dinner. In a conversation about morality, he admits to faults and mistakes and mentions his murky past. He tells Jane that had he not been put on a wrong path at 21, he might have been different and “almost as stainless” as her. He is envious of Jane’s untroubled conscience and unpolluted memories.

Nature meant me to be, on the whole, a good man, Miss Eyre: one of the better end; and you see I am not so…Then take my word for it, – I am not a villain: you are not to suppose that – not to attribute to me any such bad eminence; but, owing, I verily believe, rather to circumstances than to my natural bent, I am a trite common-place sinner, hackneyed in all the poor petty dissipations with which the rich and worthless try to put on life.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Is Rochester hero or villain? Here tries to justify his wrongdoings to Jane. He blames them on circumstances rather than nature, which he says meant him to be a good man.

“Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre; remorse is the poison of life.”
“Repentance is said to be its cure, sir.”
“It is not its cure. Reformation may be its cure; and I could reform – I have strength yet for that – if – but where is the use of thinking of it, hampered, burdened, cursed as I am? Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life: and I will get it, cost what it may.”
“Then you will degenerate still more, sir.”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Rochester does not believe in repenting his sins. He sounds almost hedonistic when he says that he has the right to take pleasure out of life, since he is denied happiness because of his hardhips and trials. He metaphorically describes remorse as the “poison of life.” Jane on the other hand believes that religious repentance is the cure for remorse and warns him that he will degenerate even more if he does not reform.

“Why would I, if I can get sweet, fresh pleasure? And I may get it as sweet and fresh as the wild honey the bee gathers on the moor.”
“It will sting – it will taste bitter, sir.”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Rochester asks Jane why he should reform if he can enjoy the taste of sweet, fresh pleasure. He uses a simile to compare the freshness and sweetness of such pleasure to the wild honey gathered by the bee on the moor. The very moral Jane warns him that such pleasure will metaphorically sting and taste bitter.

I am paving hell with energy…I am laying down good intentions which I believe durable as flint.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. The passionate Rochester says this to Jane during their discussion on sin and redemption. Jane has been telling him that if he wants to reform and correct his imperfections he will. Rochester is alluding to the saying “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” meaning that the best of intentions can become corrupted and turn to bad. Good use of metaphor is made by Bronte here with the “Paving hell” image.

“You seem to doubt me; I don’t doubt myself: I know what my aim is, what my motives are; and at this moment I pass a law, unalterable as that of the Medes and Persians, that both are right.”
“They cannot be, sir, if they require a new statute to legalise them.”
“They are, Miss Eyre, though they absolutely require a new statute: unheard-of combinations of circumstances demand unheard-of rules.”
“That sounds a dangerous maxim, sir; because one can see at once that it is liable to abuse.”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Rochester acknowledges that he has done wrong in the past, but he is determined to be a better person. Here he uses a simile to describe how he will enact an unchangeable law like the Medes and Persians to make sure he becomes good. Jane questions this, saying that power can be abused by humans. Jane may be Rochester’s employee, but they have a special relationship where she can speak to him with openness and frankness.

You are afraid of me, because I talk like a Sphinx.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Rochester tells Jane that she is afraid of him because he talks in riddles. Using a simile, he compares himself to a sphinx. However, Jane assures him that while she is confused by his puzzling language she is unafraid: “Your language is enigmatical, sir: but though I am bewildered, I am certainly not afraid.” The sphinx is a mythical creature with the head of a woman and body of a lion. She killed those who could not answer her riddle.

I see, you laugh rarely; but you can laugh very merrily; believe me, you are not naturally austere, any more than I am naturally vicious. The Lowood constraint still clings to you somewhat; controlling your features, muffling your voice, and restricting your limbs; and you fear in the presence of a man and a brother – or father, or master, or what you will – to smile too gayly, speak too freely, or move too quickly; but in time, I think you will learn to be natural with me, as I find it impossible to be conventional with you; and then your looks and movements will have more vivacity and variety than they dare offer now. I see at intervals the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close-set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. As Rochester gets to know Jane he believes there is more to her behind her outward reserve. Her time in Lowood has held her back and stifled her as a person, he feel. As a result she is afraid to laugh, speak freely or move too fast. He is confident that she will loosen up and be more natural around him. Using an extended metaphor he compares her to a caged bird that will soar when set free.

You never felt jealousy, did you, Miss Eyre? Of course not: I need not ask you; because you never felt love. You have both sentiments yet to experience: your soul sleeps; the shock is yet to be given which shall waken it.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 15. Rochester says this to Jane as he tells her of Adele’s origins and the passionate affair he had with her mother, French opera dancer Celine Varens. He is commenting on Jane’s sexual inexperience. While Jane has felt love (for her friend Helen Burns), Rochester is correct in that she has little or no experience of romantic or familial love.

During the moment I was silent, Miss Eyre, I was arranging a point with my destiny. She stood there, by that beech-trunk – a hag like one of those who appeared to Macbeth on the heath of Forres. “You like Thornfield?” she said, lifting her finger; and then she wrote in the air a memento, which ran in lurid hieroglyphics all along the house-front, between the upper and lower row of windows. “Like it if you can! Like it if you dare!”
“I will like it,” said I. “I dare like it.”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 15. Rochester makes this speech to Jane after they ascend the avenue at Thornfield and he stops and lifts his eyes up to the battlements. His eyes are said to reflect pain and shame as he refers to the as yet unknown hag he describes as “my destiny.” The hag is Bertha, the secret wife he keeps locked in his attic. Using a simile Rochester compares the hag to the witches of Macbeth, giving an other-worldly and Gothic atmosphere to the passage. Like Macbeth, Rochester too has a wife who went mad.

The ease of his manner freed me from painful restraint; the friendly frankness, as correct as cordial, with which he treated me, drew me to him. I felt, at times, as if he were my relation, rather than my master; yet he was imperious sometimes still, but I did not mind that; I saw it was his way. So happy, so gratified, did I become with this new interest added to life, that I ceased to pine after kindred. My thin-crescent-destiny seemed to enlarge; the blanks of existence were filled up; my bodily health improved; I gathered flesh and strength.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 15. Jane says this about Rochester after listening to him give an account of his past. Their relationship is growing and they are clearly falling for one another. Jane feels happy and better physically and mentally when she is with Rochester. To her he feels more like a relation than her employer. This passage suggests that orphan Jane’s true happiness lies is in finding that one thing she has been searching for in her life: family.

And was Mr. Rochester now ugly in my eyes? No, reader: gratitude, and many associations, all pleasurable and genial, made his face the object I best liked to see; his presence in a room was more cheering than the brightest fire.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 15. Jane is beginning to fall in love with Rochester. The face of the man she thought earlier as not handsome and sometimes stern is now transformed into something beautiful to her. It is the thing she likes best in Thornfield. The image of a bright, cheery fire is used to describe how Rochester’s presence in a room makes Jane feel.

Yet I had not forgotten his faults: indeed, I could not, for he brought them frequently before me. He was proud, sardonic, harsh to inferiority of every description: in my secret soul I knew that his great kindness to me was balanced by unjust severity to many others. He was moody, too; unaccountably so; I more than once, when sent for to read to him, found him sitting in his library alone, with his head bent on his folded arms; and, when he looked up, a morose, almost a malignant, scowl blackened his features. But I believed that his moodiness, his harshness, and his former faults of morality (I say former, for now he seemed corrected of them) had their source in some cruel cross of fate. I believed he was naturally a man of better tendencies, higher principles, and purer tastes than such as circumstances had developed, education instilled, or destiny encouraged. I thought there were excellent materials in him; though for the present they hung together somewhat spoiled and tangled.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 15. Jane describes how she feels about Mr. Rochester after his revelations about his past. Despite his many faults and lapses in morality, she accepts him for who he is, warts and all. She puts his moodiness, harshness and past moral failures down to some cruel misfortune that he suffered. Jane chooses instead to see the good in Rochester and clearly cares deeply for him.

Tongues of flame darted round the bed: the curtains were on fire. In the midst of blaze and vapour, Mr. Rochester lay stretched motionless, in deep sleep.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 15. After seeing smoke coming from Mr. Rochester’s bedroom, Jane rushes in to discover his bed engulfed in flames and the curtains on fire. We later learn that the fire was started by Rochester’s wife Bertha Mason. This is foreshadowing of the burning of Thornfield Hall by the violently insane Bertha.
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