Introduction

Lord Byron’s Descendants 63
stay at Thornfield, a gothic setting underlines a certain dangerous and uncanny
atmosphere; yet, Jane strongly renounces her fancies by trying hard to rely on
reason only. This effort is scattered by the arrival of Mr Rochester. Her already
acknowledged passions and desires are catalysed through his appearance to such
an extent that Jane has to struggle hard in order to not lose herself completely in
the semiotic.
The first description that Mrs Fairfax, the housekeeper at Thornfield, gives
Jane of her new master already establishes Rochester as a Byronic hero: “[h]is
character is unimpeachable, I suppose. He is rather peculiar, perhaps: he has travelled
a great deal, and seen a great deal of the world, I should think. I daresay he is
clever” (92). When Jane asks her, in what way Rochester is peculiar Mrs Fairfax
answers:
I don’t know – it is not easy to describe – nothing striking, but you feel it
when he speaks to you: you cannot be always sure whether he is in jest or
earnest, whether he is pleased or the contrary; you don’t thoroughly understand
him, in short – at least, I don’t … (92)
As numerous critics have already pointed out, Jane’s and Rochester’s first meeting
is constituted within the perfect fairy-tale setting, accordingly it takes place in the
semiotic realm. 35 The moon illuminates a cold twilight-scenery; just moments
before their first actual encounter Jane contemplates about her imagination, which
was nourished by the stories of her childhood that Bessie, the maid, used to tell
her:
In those days I was young, and all sorts of fancies bright and dark tenanted
my mind: the memories of nursery stories were there amongst other rubbish;
and when they recurred, maturing youth added to them a vigour and
vividness beyond what childhood could give. As this horse approached, and
as I watched for it to appear through the dusk, I remembered certain of
Bessie’s tales, which figured a North of England spirit, called a “Gytrash;”
which, in the form of a horse, mule, or large dog, haunted solitary ways,
and sometimes came upon belated travellers, as this horse was now coming
upon me. (98)
Through this paragraph, Brontë not only places emphasises on that Jane is already
in the semiotic realm but she also demonstrates the willingness of her protagonist
to leave the real world behind and to decent into a realm of romantic love. It also
constitutes Rochester within the context of demonised and animalised male sexuality.
As soon as Rochester appears, he lures Jane into the interior world of
dreams, desires and passions:
35 For a further discussion of fairy-tale elements in Jane Eyre see, among others: Sandra Gilbert and
Susan Gubar, Huang Mei, and Helen Moglen.