Summary: Chapter 22
Jane remains at Gateshead for a month because Georgiana
dreads being left alone with Eliza, with whom she does not get along.
Eventually, Georgiana goes to London to live with her uncle, and
Eliza joins a convent in France. Jane tells us that Eliza eventually
becomes the Mother Superior of her convent, while Georgiana marries
a wealthy man. At Gateshead, Jane receives a letter from Mrs. Fairfax,
which says that Rochester’s guests have departed and that Rochester
has gone to London to buy a new carriage—a sure sign of his intention
to marry Blanche. As Jane travels toward Thornfield, she anxiously
anticipates seeing Rochester again, and yet she worries about what
will become of her after his marriage. To her surprise, as she walks
from the station at Millcote, Jane encounters Rochester. When he
asks her why she has stayed away from Thornfield so long, she replies,
still a bit bewildered, “I have been with my aunt, sir, who is dead.”
Rochester asks Jane whether she has heard about his new carriage,
and he tells her: “You must see the carriage, Jane, and tell me
if you don’t think it will suit Mrs. Rochester exactly.” After a
few more words together, Jane surprises herself by expressing the
happiness she feels in Rochester’s presence: “I am strangely glad
to get back again to you; and wherever you are is my home—my only
home.” Back at the manor, Mrs. Fairfax, Adèle, and the servants
greet Jane warmly.
Summary: Chapter 23
After a blissful two weeks, Jane encounters Rochester
in the gardens. He invites her to walk with him, and Jane, caught
off guard, accepts. Rochester confides that he has finally decided
to marry Blanche Ingram and tells Jane that he knows of an available
governess position in Ireland that she could take. Jane expresses
her distress at the great distance that separates Ireland from Thornfield. The
two seat themselves on a bench at the foot of the chestnut tree, and
Rochester says: “we will sit there in peace to-night, though we should
never more be destined to sit there together.” He tells Jane that
he feels as though they are connected by a “cord of communion.”
Jane sobs—“for I could repress what I endured no longer,” she tells
us, “I was obliged to yield.” Jane confesses her love for Rochester,
and to her surprise, he asks her to be his wife. She suspects that he
is teasing her, but he convinces her otherwise by admitting that
he only brought up marrying Blanche in order to arouse Jane’s jealousy.
Convinced and elated, Jane accepts his proposal. A storm breaks,
and the newly engaged couple hurries indoors through the rain. Rochester
helps Jane out of her wet coat, and he seizes the opportunity to
kiss her. Jane looks up to see Mrs. Fairfax watching, astonished.
That night, a bolt of lightning splits the same chestnut tree under
which Rochester and Jane had been sitting that evening.
Summary: Chapter 24
Preparations for Jane and Rochester’s wedding do not run smoothly.
Mrs. Fairfax treats Jane coldly because she doesn’t realize that
Jane was already engaged to Rochester when she allowed him to kiss
her. But even after she learns the truth, Mrs. Fairfax maintains
her disapproval of the marriage. Jane feels unsettled, almost fearful,
when Rochester calls her by what will soon be her name, Jane Rochester.
Jane explains that everything feels impossibly ideal, like a fairy-tale
or a daydream. Rochester certainly tries to turn Jane into a Cinderella-like
figure: he tells her he will dress her in jewels and in finery befitting
her new social station, at which point Jane becomes terrified and
self-protective. She has a premonitory feeling that the wedding
will not happen, and she decides to write her uncle, John Eyre,
who is in Madeira. Jane reasons that if John Eyre were to make her
his heir, her inheritance might put her on more equal footing with
Rochester, which would make her feel less uncomfortable about the
marriage.
Summary: Chapter 25
The night before her wedding, Jane waits for
Rochester, who has left Thornfield for the evening. She grows restless
and takes a walk in the orchard, where she sees the now-split chestnut
tree. When Rochester arrives, Jane tells him about strange events
that have occurred in his absence. The preceding evening, Jane’s
wedding dress arrived, and underneath it was an expensive veil—Rochester’s
wedding gift to Jane. In the night, Jane had a strange dream, in
which a little child cried in her arms as Jane tried to make her
way toward Rochester on a long, winding road. Rochester dismisses
the dream as insignificant, but then she tells him about a second
dream. This time, Jane loses her balance and the child falls from
her knee. The dream was so disturbing that it roused Jane from her
sleep, and she perceived “a form” rustling in her closet. It turned
out to be a strange, savage-looking woman, who took Jane’s veil
and tore it in two. Rochester tells her that the woman must have
been Grace Poole and that what she experienced was really “half-dream,
half-reality.” He tells her that he will give her a full explanation
of events after they have been married for one year and one day.
Jane sleeps with Adèle for the evening and cries because she will
soon have to leave the sleeping girl.
Analysis: Chapters 22–25
After her stay at Gateshead, Jane comes to understand
fully what Rochester and Thornfield mean to her. Having been acutely reminded
of the abjection and cruelty she suffered during her childhood,
Jane now realizes how different her life has become, how much she
has gained and how much she has grown. In Rochester she has found
someone she truly cares for—someone who, despite periodic shows
of brusqueness, nevertheless continues to admire Jane and care for
her tenderly. Moreover, Rochester gives her a true sense of belonging,
something she has always lacked. As she tells him, “wherever you
are is my home—my only home.”
Although Rochester’s declaration of love and marriage
proposal make Jane exceedingly happy, she is also very apprehensive
about the marriage. Her feelings of dread may stem in part from
a subconscious intimation of Rochester’s dark and horrible secret,
which will be divulged in the next few chapters: the eerie laughter
she has heard, the mysterious fire from which she rescued Rochester,
the strange figure who tears Jane’s wedding veil, and other smaller
clues may have led Jane to make some subconscious conclusions about what
she will consciously find out only later.
