God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife. It is not personal but mental endowments they have given you; you are formed for labour, not for love. A missionary’s wife you must – shall be. You shall be mine; I claim you – not for my pleasure, but for my Sovereign’s service.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 34. St. John makes the marriage proposal from hell to Jane, as he commands her to marry him and become a missionary in India. He believes that he knows God’s will for Jane better than she does. Instead of doing her the courtesy of asking her, St. John instead “claims” Jane as his wife. God and nature made her for this role, he feels. Not a man given to romantic gestures, St. John treats Jane like she is a possession. He displays a shocking lack of regard for Jane’s feelings, telling her that she was made for work, not love. He sees her, not as a woman, but a tool to enhance his missionary work.