The Subject of Nature and Behavior – identify for each passage in the group:  The speaker  Occasion  Explain what the passages have in common in regard to the subject in Jane Eyre – what is the theme?

Read these passages, identify speaker, context of passage, and then find the common theme of the passages

 “Mrs. Fairfax had just written a letter which was waiting to be posted, so I put on my bonnet and cloak and volunteered to carry it to Hay” (Vol. I 110).

 Speaker – Jane  Occasion – Jane is going to take a letter to be mailed for Ms. Fairfax; she is about to meet Rochester for the first time, though she will not learn of his identity until later.

 “I made for the wicket leading to the shrubbery and I see Mr. Rochester entering. I step aside into the ivy recess…” (Vol. II 248).

 Speaker – Jane  Occasion – Jane tries to hide from Rochester before he sees her in the garden on the night of their engagement

 “I did not like to walk at this hour alone with Mr. Rochester in the shadowy orchard; but I could not find a reason to allege for leaving him” (Vol. II 249).

 Speaker – Jane  Occasion – Jane is in the Garden with Rochester, and still thinks he is to marry Ms. Ingram. She wants to get away to avoid revealing her emotions or to be seen with an engaged man she loves.

 “ ‘But Jane, I summon you as my wife: it is you only I intend to marry.’ I was silent: I thought he mocked me. ‘Come Jane – come hither.’ ‘Your bride stands between us.’ He rose, and with a stride reached me. ‘My bride is here,’ he said, again drawing me to him, ‘because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me?’ ” (Vol II. 254).

 Speaker – Rochester  Occasion – Jane, after going for a long walk with Rochester, admits her love to Rochester. Rochester then asks Jane to be his wife. He admits he made up his engagement with Blanche in order to make Jane jealous. Jane accepts.

 “I struck straight into the heath; I held on to a hollow I saw deeply furrowing the brown moorside; I waded knee-deep in its dark growth; I turned with its turnings, and finding a moss-blackened granite crag in a hidden angle, I sat down under it… Nature seemed to me benign and good; I thought she loved me, outcast as I was; and I, who from man could anticipate only mistrust, rejection, insult, clung to her with filial fondness. To-night, at least, I would be her guest, as I was her child” (Vol. III 323).

 Speaker – Jane  Occasion – Jane, having eaten all of her food and spent all her money, is forced to sleep outside and go hungry. She proceeds to beg for food and work the next day.

 All of these passages relate to Jane’s love for Rochester. Even the 5 th passage, in which Jane is miserable after exhausting all of her food and money, is because she has been without Rochester’s presence and love. The love shared between Jane and Rochester is a central theme of the novel. It also ties back to an even more important theme – Jane, the orphan, finding a home in which she is with people who love her.

 "I have served here eight years; now all I want is to serve elsewhere. Can I not get so much of my own will! Is not the thing feasible!...What do I want? A new place, in a new house, amongst new faces, under new circumstances" page 78

 Jane has decided to leave Lowood and seek a servant role elsewhere. This will aid in her own happiness, as she is free from the restrictions of Lowood, but most importantly, this decision will put her and Rochester in each other's paths.

 "You think I have no feelings, and that I can live without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity" page 30

 Jane speaks out against Mrs Reed before she leaves for Lowood, revealing her strong personality. Jane's personality is one of the reasons she and Rochester have an equal relationship, as she can hold her own with him. Also, Jane states that she needs to be loved to feel happiness, which draws her to Rochester and eventually reunites them in the end.

 “My eyes were covered and closed: eddying darkness seemed to swim round me, and reflection came in as black and confused a flow. Self-abandoned, relaxed, and effortless, I seemed to have laid me down in the dried-up bed of a great river; I heard a flood loosened in remote mountains, and felt the torrent come: to rise I had no will, to flee I had no strength.” ( 282).

 Jane is absolutely miserable after it has been revealed that Rochester is secretly married to Bertha, the woman in the attic. Although she loves Rochester, she knows that she must leave him because she cannot trust him anymore. Having no one to turn to, she prays to God to be with her.

 “I might have said, “Where is it?” for it did not seem in the room—nor in the house— nor in the garden; it did not come out of the air—nor from under the earth—nor from overhead. I had heard it—where, or whence, for ever impossible to know! And it was the voice of a human being—a known, loved, well-remembered voice— that of Edward Fairfax Rochester; and it spoke in pain and woe, wildly, eerily, urgently.” (401).

 Jane, who was almost compelled to marry St. John after his prayer for Jane, suddenly hears the voice of Rochester in the wind. This instantly breaks her feelings for St. John, as she is reminded of her one true love, Rochester.

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