In effect, Rochester contradicts himself in this passage. He apologizes for demanding her, tells her he truly loves her, then demands her and objectifies her, making her seem like his property instead of a person with a desire for independence. That this ‘love’ he admits of supposedly having for Jane when they first meet is not ‘true’ love as defined, but is a disordered ‘eros’ based on pleasure in imagination. This identification of Rochester’s ‘love’ to be disordered ‘eros’ can be seen when he tells her how he first meets her and “observes [her]…unseen…for half an hour” and “wait[s] for [the] evening” when he could see her alone and “ma[ke] her talk” (Brontë 360-361). Further in this conversation, Rochester acknowledges that in the beginning of their relationship he “was an intellectual epicure,”
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If Rochester does truly love Jane during the first phase of the relationship, then he would not command her and objectify her, nor desire and act in favor of bigamy. Instead, he would fully treat her as an equal. The next phase of the relationship between Rochester and Jane occurs a year later at the after Jane has a relationship with St. John Rivers, her clergyman cousin (Brontë 443-444, 505). At this new stage in their relationship, Rochester is blind and mutilated in his left arm after trying to save Bertha and his servants (Brontë 494-495, 499-500), and is overjoyed to have Jane charitably offer her aid as his “neighbor…nurse[, and]…housekeeper” (Brontë 502). Rochester’s love for Jane has changed into affectionate love, as he asks her whether or not he should “entertain none but fatherly feelings for [her],”
If Rochester does truly love Jane during the first phase of the relationship, then he would not command her and objectify her, nor desire and act in favor of bigamy. Instead, he would fully treat her as an equal. The next phase of the relationship between Rochester and Jane occurs a year later at the after Jane has a relationship with St. John Rivers, her clergyman cousin (Brontë 443-444, 505). At this new stage in their relationship, Rochester is blind and mutilated in his left arm after trying to save Bertha and his servants (Brontë 494-495, 499-500), and is overjoyed to have Jane charitably offer her aid as his “neighbor…nurse[, and]…housekeeper” (Brontë 502). Rochester’s love for Jane has changed into affectionate love, as he asks her whether or not he should “entertain none but fatherly feelings for [her],”