“Now for the hitch in Jane’s character,” he said at last, speaking more calmly than from his look I had expected him to speak. “The reel of silk has run smoothly enough so far; but I always knew there would come a knot and a puzzle: here it is. Now for vexation, and exasperation, and endless trouble! By God! I long to exert a fraction of Samson’s strength, and break the entanglement like tow!”
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 27. Jane is resisting Rochester’s plea to Jane to leave England with him for the south of France, where they can live as man and wife. The “hitch” in Jane’s character is her moral code, which won’t allow her be Rochester’s mistress as his wife is still alive. The reel of silk he talks of is a metaphor for the smooth and loving relationship they have had until now. The knot in the reel is Jane’s morality and Rochester wishes that he had the strength of Sampson to untie it.