Rochester as the Rake in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay -- Jane Ey

Rochester as the Rake in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre The rake became one of the most recognized figures of the retort Comedies. The rake character was seen as unmarried, cynical, coarse but with the manners of a gentleman, manipulative and self serving. By the twentieth century the rake had addicted away to the Regency dandy and the dark Byronic hero of Victorian literature. However, the rake does non completely disappear from twentieth century novels. Charlotte Bronte resurrects the Restoration hero in the creation of Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre. Edward Rochester exhibits many of the qualities associated with the Restoration rake he manipulates the adult female around him and his actions are self serving. Brontes rake varies just plenty that she can present her character as both hero and scoundrel which eventually allows for his reformation. Readers are often deceived into believing that the rake should be viewed as a villain, hence their resistance in accepting Edward Roch ester as a rake. However, as Harold Weber suggests that readers should not be concerned with whether or not the rake emerges as a hero or a villain he must . . . be both (Weber 53). The rakes mistreatment of women categorizes him as villain. Rochesters mistreatment of Jane and the other women in the story is detestable. He confesses that he utilise Blanche Ingram to make Jane jealous. Rochester admits that he feigned courtship with Miss Ingram (261 ch.24). Rochester deceives Blanche into believing his disembodied spirit was marriage ceremony yet she was merely a pawn in his amorous conquest of Jane. The whole time Rochester pursues Jane he is already married to Bertha. Rochester hides his marriage in an attempt to find his definition of a more fit wife. He t... ...tion. In the creation of her hero, Edward Rochester, Charlotte Bronte resurrected the Restoration rake. Rochester posses many characteristics associated with the rake. His past manner is nonexistent without discuss ing some former lover. He deceives Jane into believing he is unmarried. exchangeable many rakes, Rochester can be viewed as both villain and hero. small-arm his actions towards the other characters in the novel are villainous, Bronte presents them in such a manner that the readers sympathies lie with Rochester. Rochester repents for his debauched lifestyle and is rewarded by the death of Bertha and his marriage to Jane. Works Cited Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Beth Newman. Boston St. Martins, 1996. Weber, Harold. The Restoration Rake-Hero Transformations in sexual Understanding in Seventeenth-Century England. Madison U of Wisconsin P, 1986.