326 ‘I do not want to leave him – I cannot leave him’ – Brontë emphasises the strength of Jane’s temptation to stay with Rochester.

328 ‘this tent of Achan’ – In the Book of Joshua, Achan steals gold, silver and a Babylonian garment from spoils of wars that have been ‘dedicated as an offering to God’ (Hebrew: cherem ). As a result, Achan, himself becomes cherem and is stoned to death and then burnt. The resonances with Rochester’s later fate are particular powerful in the King James’ Version that Brontë would most likely have used:

Achan…of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing …And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.
(Extracted from Joshua, Chapter 7)

328 ‘this narrow stone hell, with its one real fiend’ – Rochester’s view of Thornfield Hall, and a further characterisation of Bertha as a demonic figure.

328 ‘Ferndean M