Trying to sort some thoughts about Jane and Rochester.
I started by liking Jane and dreading Rochester coming on the scene.
Rochester showed up and was funny. He added a necessary element of humor to the book. I liked that he was here.
Last time, Rochester lost me with the gypsy fortune teller stunt. This time, it was hilarious.
No, this time, he lost me with the Blanche Ingram stuff. He's courting a woman he actively hates who is actively cruel to a child under his protection. Then he keeps pretending he wants to marry her up until the moment of proposal to Jane???
I can't wrap my head around his reasoning here. Best I've got is maybe he thinks that since he's married and can't chase after Jane, he's got to make Jane chase after him.
The worst part is that I'm also starting to dislike Jane.
Rochester seems like the only person she completely likes and respects. Everyone else doesn't measure up in some way. Her family's horrible, of course. None of Rochester's visitors get any positive description. She likes Mrs. Fairfax but considers her too silly. She judges all of Adele's flaws.
I know I said I'd take this book on its own terms, but I can't help comparing it to Austen and Gaskell.
Austen had a sense of humor. She recognized varying personalities, and even when she skewered them, she could still like them, respect them or sympathize with them. Jane and Rochester's humor is all very detached and dry, separating them into their own little world. There's no fondness for the ridiculousness of others.
Gaskell has compassion. A skill at tracing out and sympathizing with varying personalities. Here, everyone who doesn't fit into Jane's narrow mold comes under scrutiny in some way.
I'm being unfair to Jane. She likes Bessie and Robert. She likes Adele and Mrs. Fairfax. But the disapproval of their flaws is presented in a way that shades the entire relationship.
Maybe I'm supposed to dislike Jane here. Maybe that's the point.
She's about to enter into an unholy union with an unrepentant sinner--maybe that's making her worse.
Jane herself admits that her inexperienced eighteen-year-old self was blind to his flaws.
I've got to give her a chance to grow from here.
But for now I'm skeptical as to how much of Jane's behavior I'm supposed to think she's meant to grow past.
