Introduction

Lord Byron’s Descendants 71
and never before encountered” (192) and is left with the knowledge of his errors
and failure in a true Byronic manner.
3.5 The Last Confrontation
Jane suffers in running away from Rochester; nevertheless, it is a necessary act to
escape the purely semiotic. Before she can achieve a balance of the two orders
however, she is once again confronted with the symbolic in the form of her
cousin St. John Rivers.
St. John Rivers is the embodiment of sexual and sensual renunciation, and
thus an opposing extreme to Rochester. Even physically, there is a contrast to be
found; where Rochester is depicted as the dark Byronic hero, St. John is presented
as a fair avenging angel. His total repression of sexuality seems to have transformed
him into something dangerous and harmful. Like Bertha, he has indications
of madness, but where Bertha’s madness is connected to fiery passion, his
madness derives from cold repressed desires. Like Helen’s inner fire, St. John’s
repressed passions are self-consuming. Through him, Jane moves once again into
a layer of the novel that is social and moral, rather than personally and sexually
characterised but demonstrates the danger of repressed emotions. This time however,
not female but male sexuality is repressed through a self-imposed renunciation
of desire.
The contrast of Rochester and St. John lies not only in their physical appearance
but also in their characters, which is demonstrated in their behaviour towards
Jane. When St. John asks Jane to marry him, she thinks: “To me, he was in reality
become no longer flesh, but marble. His eye was a cold bright, blue gem; his
tongue, a speaking instrument – nothing more” (361). With inhuman strength, he
directs his will towards self-sacrifice and tries to pressure Jane into the same direction.
Even Jane’s relationship to St. John is contrasted to Rochester, whereas the
latter acknowledges Jane’s independence and passion, St. John, on the other hand,
tries to oppress it. However, like Rochester, he exerts an inexplicable power over
Jane that she finds hard to resist:
By degrees, he acquired a certain influence over me that took away my liberty
of mind; his praise and notice were more restraining than his indifferences.
I could no longer talk or laugh freely when he was by, because a tiresomely
importunate instinct reminded me that vivacity (at least in me) was
distasteful to him. I was so fully aware that only serious moods and occupations
were acceptable, that in his presence every effort to sustain or follow
any other became vain; I fell under a freezing spell. When he said “Go,” I
went; “Come,” I came; “Do this,” I did it. But I did not love my servitude;
I wished, many a time, he had continued to neglect me.” (350)