Chapter 38

Summary

It is ten years on.

Jane and Rochester enjoy a loving and contented marriage.  They receive regular visits from Jane’s cousins Diana and Mary, and St. John writes occasionally from India, but never mentions Jane’s marriage.

Ad'le attended a Boarding School, but when Jane visited her she did not like the severity of the school, and Jane brought Ad'le home.  Jane then found a more appropriate school close by, and slowly Ad'le lost her French defects (a Victorian view) and grew up to be a well-mannered and moral young woman.

After consulting with a London doctor, Rochester regained the vision of one of his eyes, just in time to see his newborn son.

Diana married a sea captain, and Mary a clergyman. St. John is slowly wearing himself out in India. 

Interpretation

The reader should not lose sight of the fact that Charlotte Bront' was a minister’s daughter, and much of her own personal experiences are reflected in this book.  She makes clear comments concerning the caliber of some ministers in Victorian North England, but in the end, the message is that true love will find a way, especially for those that observe God’s laws.

Jane is rewarded by not succumbing to temptation by being Rochester’s mistress.  In the end she has a lasting, permanent relationship with Rochester, her husband, and their child is born in wedlock.

There is a warning to those who are over zealous in their service to God.  Early in the book we see how Brocklehurst’s injustice and hypocrisy lead to evil being done at Lowood School, where innocent children succumb to death and disease. He eventually loses his power and status. 

So far as St. John is concerned, he will obtain little enjoyment out of life because he has denied his true self, although the last paragraph of the book indicates that he will be rewarded in heaven.

Rochester himself indicates that he is like the prodigal son returning to his father, and wishes forgiveness for his lax morals in the past, but even out of this behavior came the rescue of Ad'le who Bront' shows as not having inherited her mother’s sins.

Remember, the story started with Jane being a miserable, solitary orphan.  It ends with her being surrounded by a loving husband, caring cousins, a child of her own and a close friend in Ad'le.