Jane Eyre Blog #4

The boring days at Thornfield hall have turned around to be merry and busy for Jane, due to the visiting of Mr. Rochester's guests that must be entertained at the mansion. Jane obeys Mr. Rochester's wish to be present every night with him and his guests, but Jane usually just sits in a corner and watches the charades games that they play. There have been many charades where Mr. Rochester and Blanche Ingram act out the word "bride" and "bridewell" which Jane sees as an inference, as well as the way that they interact, that they will most likely be getting married. Some time later, Mr. Rochester had to go out of town and while waiting for his return, a new guest, Mr. Mason, came to Thornfield, and said that Mr. Rochester told him to stay there until he returned. The same day that Mr. Mason arrived, the guests planned on taking a walk to see a gipsy camp, but they did not because of the weather. Coincidentally, that night a gipsy came to Thornfield and said that she would not leave until she read every person's fortune there. The guests reluctantly agreed and the young ladies had their fortune taken including Jane. When Jane went to see this gipsy, she found out that it was Mr. Rochester in disguise wanting to find out particular information about particular people, such as how Jane felt about him and Miss Ingram getting married. Jane told him about Mr. Mason, and Mr. Rochester reacted with extreme uneasiness and displeasure. That night, Jane woke up to screams coming from Mr. Mason upstairs, she found out later that Grace Poole had attempted to kill him too, just like she did with Mr. Rochester. After Mr. Mason left with the surgeon early that morning, this attempted murder by Grace Poole was yet again kept a secret between Mr. Rochester and Jane, and Jane still did not know why.

I think that this story is starting to get even more interesting than it was, even strange in a way. I thought that it was very strange how Mr. Rochester was disguised, and to be honest, I am not exactly sure what his motive was for this. Mr. Rochester was described from the beginning as peculiar and now I am beginning to see the extent of his peculiarity. Another thing that adds to his eccentricity is how he wants to keep his attempted murder as well as Mr. Mason's a secret, and he still continues to live in the same house as the person who tried to kill them. Any normal person would fire that servant and have her arrested. At the same time, this is what makes the story interesting and what makes me want to continue reading to try and figure out what is going on in Mr. Rochester's head and find the method to his madness, so to speak. Jane continue's to show how intelligent she is through the way she speaks. I also like how she does not crack under pressure. For example, when she was instructed to clean the blood off of Mr. Mason and show little fear when the muderer was only a room away. I dislike Miss Ingram even more for multiple reasons. First, I feel that she is extremely conceited and feels that she is better than everyone else in everything she does when in fact that is not true. She belittles almost everyone especially Jane, when Jane clearly has much more intellect than her. I also do not like how she treats Adela so condescendingly as if she is not even there. Lastly, I don't think that she likes Mr. Rochester for who he is, but more for what he has. Jane appreciates who he is and even claimed that she no longer sees any flaws in him. "Now I saw no bad. The sarcasm that had repelled, the harshness that had startled me once, were only like keen condiments in a choice dish." Once again I think that the themes in this story are that beauty is only skin deep and that you should love a person and appreciate them for what is inside. I am not sure where this novel could be heading because I am kind of confused why certain elements are being kept secret such as the attempted muders of both Mr. Mason and Mr. Rochester. This novel suggests that people in this time period care a lot about marriage more than they do friendship. There is a deep friendship going on between Mr. Rochester and Jane but obviously Jane wants more an Mr. Rochester just wants to marry Miss Ingram because it is what is expected of him, when he cleary has a better relationship with Jane. I am very excited to see where this novel is heading next and hopefully some questions and secrects will be uncovered.