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.