Sacrifice In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

In Victorian England, a young heroine fell in love and became engaged to a rich socialite man, not knowing he had a secret; a secret that would be revealed on their wedding day. When found out by the heroine, this discovery would leave her utterly distraught and with no choice but to flee to the country. This is the situation that is faced by Jane Eyre in the book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Eventually, it is discovered that the man, Edward Rochester was already married. He was married to Bertha Mason, a Creole woman whom he married when he was much younger. This relationship began when his father and brother pressured him into marrying due to her wealthy dowry. The substantial dowry however, was being offered due to the family’s knowledge of Bertha’s unstableness. Rochester was not aware of this. When Rochester eventually did meet her, he was taken in by her beauty and immediately agreed to the marriage. His poor young …show more content…
They became engaged and, as was said earlier, a lawyer announcing that Rochester was still legally married interrupted their ceremony. Richard Mason, the brother of Bertha, followed the lawyer and thus Jane discovered the truth, leading to her leaving Rochester. However, Rochester had the choice of legally divorcing her. Should he have divorced his wife, or should he have stayed married, as was the situation in the book? There were multiple reasons that could explain as to why Rochester did not. Firstly, the money that he had inherited was from the Mason family, to which Bertha was attached. Perhaps he was afraid that, if he divorced Bertha, he would lose the large amount of wealth that had come with the marriage, which was the only way he had attainted his estate and socialite position. If he divorced Bertha, this money would be lost and he would be left