I was struck by two passages in Volume 3 because of their inherent similarity.\u00a0 The bottom of pages 293 and 301 both provide references to power struggles and familial dynamics.\u00a0 On page 293, Rochester says, \u201cIf the man who had but one little ewe lamb that was dear to him as a daughter,\u2026 had by some mistake slaughtered it at the shambles, he would not have rued his bloody blunder more than I now rue mine\u201d.\u00a0 Rochester equates his betrayal against Jane to a man who injures a lamb; the man and lamb are also compared to a loving father and daughter.\u00a0Also on page 301, Rochester describes love, more specifically Jane\u2019s love, as a daughter that he waits to embrace, like a father.\u00a0 He explicitly states, \u201cI accept it, Jane; let the daughter have free advent \u2013 my arms wait to receive her\u201d (301).<\/p>\n
These metaphors seem to imply a father\/daughter dynamic between Rochester and Jane. As their relationship encompasses a large age difference, it is easy to imagine this familial dynamic placed upon them.\u00a0 Jane has lived without a family her entire life and Rochester has a need to care for vulnerable characters, which leads to these implications of familial belonging and patriarchal affirmation within their romantic relationship.\u00a0 I do not mean to suggest that Jane and Rochester explicitly desire this type of relationship.\u00a0 However, their interactions demonstrate implications of this dynamic, whether directly or indirectly, which allows for this type of reading.\u00a0 The frequent comparisons to a father\/daughter relationship in Jane Eyre <\/em>may simply be a tool to demonstrate the complex power dynamics present between Rochester and Jane.\u00a0 As he started as her employer, their relationship always implied an imbalance of power.\u00a0 In these passages, Rochester asserts power over Jane by inhabiting a father figure in his comparisons.\u00a0 Each time, he describes a fragile, or even wounded, female figure who he wishes to protect and embrace; thus, these passages reaffirm his position in Jane\u2019s life after his betrayal.<\/p>\n As Rochester is the one speaking in these quotations, he believes himself to be in a position of power.\u00a0Yet, in Jane\u2019s own thoughts, she describes this same notion regarding herself.\u00a0 She states that she has power over Rochester by having the ability to influence his actions and emotions (297).\u00a0 Jane seems to have subtle control over Rochester, which he has yet to realize as he thinks of himself as Jane\u2019s savior.\u00a0 The two passages I selected both surround Jane\u2019s inkling of her own power, perhaps as Rochester desperately tries to reinsert himself into Jane\u2019s narrative.\u00a0 Ultimately, his comparisons fail as Jane leaves Thornfield of her volition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was struck by two passages in Volume 3 because of their inherent similarity.\u00a0 The bottom of pages 293 and 301 both provide references to power struggles and familial dynamics.\u00a0 On page 293, Rochester says, \u201cIf the man who had but one little ewe lamb that was dear to him as a daughter,\u2026 had by … Continue reading Who Really Has the Power Anyway?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3893,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138877],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}