Perfection and Darkness: Choice in Jane EyreWhen I read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, I find myself rooting for Rochester. After finishing the book, I wonder why Jane chooses Rochester over St. John. After all, Rochester has a "crazy" wife, Bertha Mason, locked in the attic of Thornfield Hall at the same time he proposes marriage to Jane. A neighborhood lives with him, perhaps the son of an illicit relationship with a French dancer. He's arrogant, pushy, and basically bad-tempered. St. John, on the other hand, is polite, respected and has a promising future. To answer my question, therefore, it is essential to look at how each man fits into the idea of ​​masculinity in Victorian society, how each man relates to Jane, and why Bronte creates her two main men in such opposite ways. . John Rivers displays all the qualities of a respectable Victorian man. His father "was a plain enough man; but a gentleman, and of the oldest family one could find" (Bronte 383). St. John's father, although a gentleman, had lost a large amount of money "through a man he trusted who had gone bankrupt" (384). In short, St. John's position in life is that of a gentleman, although he lacks a legacy of any kind. As he describes himself to Jane, "because I am poor and obscure, I can offer you nothing but a service of poverty and obscurity... for I find that, when my father's debts are paid, all the estate I have left will be this farm dilapidated" (395-396). St. John sees his financial situation as a virtue. It is obvious that his financial situation does not distress him; he still goes to college and becomes a minister. In the story of his personal life he leaves nothing out. His past is known, a... middle of paper... property of the typical Victorian man. Works Cited Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Michele Massone. London: Penguin, 1996. Gilbert, Sandra and Susan Gubar. The madwoman in the attic: the writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. Harmon, William and C. Hugh Holman. A literature manual. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996. Peterson, M. Jeanne. "The Victorian Governess: Status Incongruity in Family and Society." Suffer and be still: women in the Victorian age. Ed. Marta Vicino. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973. Roberts, Helene E. “Marriage, Redundancy, or Sin: The Painter's View of Women in the First Twenty-Five Years of Victoria's Reign.” Suffer and be still: women in the Victorian age. Ed. Marta Vicino. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973.