Deviation Actions
I know this deviation you made is just over ten years old, but I still love it, anyway, so I’m still going to comment. It seems like this Jane and Rochester you drew are based on Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton from the 1983 Masterpiece Edition. I love your sketches from POTO, and Jane Eyre is my favorite novel of all time ever since I first read it nearly ten years ago when I was 14! Jane’s a strong and feminist heroine who’s usually rational, but not completely without a melodramatic and sadomasochistic streak that enjoys the thrill of potential for danger with Rochester!
And Mr. Rochester...I have such a love/hate relationship with this brilliantly written character, and I’m certain that Charlotte Brontë intended for him to be that way! Was he arrogant, delusional, selfish, illogically controlling, deceptive, and, at worst, somewhat creepy and intimidating? Absolutely. Did Jane deserve better? Objectively, yes. Would I want to date or marry someone like him in real life? LOL, no way!
Yet, it’s impossible for me to hate Mr. Rochester because all his issues are clearly rooted in his own deep self-loathing and cowardice, rather than any sort of malicious intent. He’s clearly not a neurotypical man. He seems to have traits of manic depression and NPD, and back then there wasn’t much you could have done to treat those issues. There is still good in him deep down, he never intended Jane any harm, and for the most part, he meant well, or at least, he genuinely believed he did. Plus, he does genuinely love Jane, and even if he didn’t always do it very WELL, he genuinely LEARNED by the end of the novel.