Jane Eyre by Charlotte

166 ‘a memory without blot or contamination must be an exquisite treasure’ – another reference to Rochester’s secret. His hints to Jane are as much as he can manage to confess.

167 ‘hampered, burdened, cursed as I am?’ – A strong hint to Jane that Rochester has made mistakes in the past that still affect his life now. Brontë throws out many hints to the reader that there is danger for Jane in Rochester’s love for her, but has Jane remain oblivious and innocent of the implications of her master’s words.

167 ‘And I may get it as sweet and fresh as the wild honey the bee gathers on the moor.’ – This taps into a Byronic strain of Romanticism. Why should not love be free, unfettered and natural? Rochester asks. He is attracted to a creed of love that would allow him ignore social conventions and laws.

168 ‘he seemed to enclose in their embrace the invisible being’ – The reader understands by this that Rochester – who has already obliquely confessed his love for Jane – is folding her to his breast in his imagination. In this meeting, he rather uses Jane, deliberately baffling her with his impenetrable comments, but also hinting a confession of his marriage to Bertha; hinting his love for her and hinting this final embrace. None of this is meant for Jane’s understanding – he is playing out a fantasy for his own solace.

170 ‘I see at intervals the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close-set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high.’ – This is a perceptive comment. Jane is entirely conscious of her own confinement, and it is Rochester that will make her free.

171 ‘it has left me that French floweret on my hands’ – Why does Rochester imply that he is Adèle’s father? He has a far worse secret of course. He has attempted to draw Jane to him in this dialogue, but he also pushes her away. In blackening his reputation in this way, he is seeking to discover whether Jane will be repulsed, or whether she will remain intrigued by her grim-faced master. On another level, the suggestion of a profligate past abroad further establishes Rochester as a Byronic hero.