St. John wants all the more urgently to go to India, and does his level best to exploit his ascendency over Jane to get her to go with him as his wife, using both their 5,000 pound shares to finance a mission and both a boys' and a girls' school.
His sisters are fine with the marriage, though they, he, and Jane are completely aware he does not love her for one second.
But they fear she would die in India in less than a year, a belief she and he seem also to share.
Still, so great is his power over her that, though it defies everything she actually wants, she agrees to run off with him to die soon as a missionary schoolmistress but refuses the loveless marriage.
He is all the more firm and refuses to let her come along at all without binding herself once and for all to him, his life, and his control of her by marrying.
Of course he guilt-trips the hell out of her about it, forcing upon her the idea she has a religious duty to go with him to an early death in divine service, an idea which he seems to be quite successful in imposing on her, though no such thing ever in life for a moment entered her head, neither before nor after she first encountered her cousins.
He goes away for two weeks during which he wants her to think about it.
Before leaving he hectors her one last time.
She nearly surrenders, cries out to God, "What shall I do?"
She hears the voice of Rochester calling, "Jane! Jane! Jane!"
St. John leaves the next morning to begin his two weeks preparation for India.
Jane leaves to find Rochester.
Jane Eyre.
No comments:
Post a Comment