Choosing The Path Between The Stars

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Fri, 24 May 2013 09:17:11 -0500

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Fri, 24 May 2013 09:16:30 -0500

me: makes a mistake

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:14:38 -0500

me: makes a mistake
me: thinks about mistake every night for the next 7 years

On equality in Jane Eyre

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:13:58 -0500

On equality in Jane Eyre:

illuminating-lbd:

anonsally:

aeternamente:

I get the whole equality thing, and it’s beautiful and everything, but I really wish Rochester hadn’t decided to arrive at this point of prodding Jane to assert her equality by the douchiest means possible. I still attest that the whole Blanche Ingram courtship thing was just cruel (also a weird stylistic departure from the rest of the book—it’s like there’s a few random chapters of Jane Austen in there, only Brontë isn’t as good an Austen as Austen is).

True: Rochester is by no means someone I admire. He does a lot of shitty things, perhaps the worst of which is his not telling Jane about Bertha. The whole making Jane jealous thing was definitely pretty cruel—potentially to both Blanche and Jane. (In his defence, he already knows that it’s not actually cruel to Blanche because he can see that she does not actually love him…)

I also agree that his methods of provoking Jane into asserting herself were manipulative and cruel to Jane—in that they were designed to cause her pain. But I think that it’s a part of his search for the woman who will bring out the best in him. He knows that he is cruel, and he is looking for a woman who will not let him be cruel to her. He has to find out how Jane reacts to his cruelty. [This leaves a terrible taste in my mouth, but I think it’s who he is.]

What matters to Rochester is that he wants to be loved, truly loved for himself, not for his position or wealth. Furthermore, remember that he is not actually at liberty to woo a woman to marry him.

Now, Rochester knows that if he declares his love to Jane, he will never know if a positive reception means that his feelings are truly reciprocated. As it is, she has not responded to his hints. But here’s the tricky thing: in those days, women were never supposed to explicitly express their love for a man. In fact, they would be putting themselves in a certain amount of danger if they did, even if the man they loved was of an equal social rank.

Jane has been very careful not to express her feelings. Because she does attempt to behave properly, he knows that only a very passionate love will induce her to declare her feelings.

So, Rochester is looking for Jane to prove a few things:

that she loves him for himself.

that she does not care about his social position or wealth.

that she considers herself his equal and will behave accordingly. (these first 3 are somewhat related)

that she is willing to buck societal rules that are unjust.

That last one is important: Rochester wants her to agree to spend her life with him even though he cannot actually marry her. In his eyes, it is unjust that he is shackled for life to a woman he cannot love and whom he barely considers human. [I am not going to get into the problematic stuff here regarding mental illness and race. Those issues complicate things considerably, but I am brushing it all under the rug for now and hoping the AoJE team will handle it better than that!]

Rochester’s hope is that if Jane loves him enough to rebel against some societal rules, like the one prohibiting her from expressing her love, or the one that puts her in a lower rank than him, then maybe she will also be willing to reject the rules that would label her a whore for living with a man without being married.

I definitely agree that the way Rochester treated Jane was not admirable. But I often think people overlook the fact that Bertha was not the only person who was dealing with mental health issues. Mr Rochester himself clearly struggled with depression in the immediate wake of his marriage, and that depression, in (not much) time, manifested itself by his withdrawing into an impenetrable shell with cynicism as a mask.

Rochester is often seen as a very strong personality. But in reality, he isn’t. Of the two, Jane is the much stronger, and the much more emotionally stable.

Mr Rochester views the world through a cynic’s eyes in order to protect himself from hurt. And he resorts to passive aggression, by pushing Jane to make the first admission of love, because he does not have the nerve to make the (admittedly, rather monumental) call, and because he can’t risk leaving his heart in a vulnerable position if there’s a chance his love is not requited.

In summary: Rochester prodded Jane to be assertive because he needed her to be strong, both for her sake and his.

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Fri, 24 May 2013 09:09:45 -0500

scienceheroextraordinaire: 0ver-doze: lamp guaranteed to make...

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:07:05 -0500

scienceheroextraordinaire:

0ver-doze:

lamp

guaranteed to make your friends shit themselves

-Victor Hugo ‘Les Misérables’

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:06:13 -0500

-Victor Hugo ‘Les Misérables’

every-loki-lies: Suit up

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:04:52 -0500

every-loki-lies:

Suit up

lohrien: Illustrations by Midori Yamada

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:44:24 -0500

lohrien:

Illustrations by Midori Yamada

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Fri, 24 May 2013 08:43:09 -0500

richard-sp8-jr: in first period a girl got dress coded for wearing a tank top with a jacket over it...

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:41:36 -0500

richard-sp8-jr:

in first period a girl got dress coded for wearing a tank top with a jacket over it and this scrawny little boy stood up and yelled “OH MY GOD SHE HAS SKIN THE SKIN IS TOO MUCH FOR ME HER SHOULDERS ARE BEAUTIFUL THIS IS TOO MUCH” and the teacher got so annoyed with him that she didn’t get to dress coding her

Les Misérables (2012)

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:37:15 -0500

Les Misérables (2012)

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Fri, 24 May 2013 08:36:02 -0500

par-liam-ent: You know you need a transparent 3D Nick saying...

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:34:41 -0500

par-liam-ent:

You know you need a transparent 3D Nick saying “Objection!” on your blog.

"♫ Far too many notes for my taste, and most of them are not on key ♫"

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:34:18 -0500

“♫ Far too many notes for my taste, and most of them are not on key ♫”

- Me, on bad high school productions of Phantom of the Opera (via rjdaae)

when you ship a ship so hard you don’t even care about the smut; you just want a billion page book...

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:21:19 -0500

when you ship a ship so hard you don’t even care about the smut; you just want a billion page book about their entire lives beginning to end and how their lives are intertwined with one another’s and how beautiful their love is

ticktocksheep: queersuperteens: muffarino: Friendly reminder...

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:19:59 -0500

ticktocksheep:

queersuperteens:

muffarino:

Friendly reminder that Tom Felton improvised this scene because he forgot his line.

A+ acting, would cackle again.

I love how he looks genuinely impressed in the last gif.

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Fri, 24 May 2013 08:18:01 -0500

aerithbunny: Cloud Smiles

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:17:30 -0500

aerithbunny:

Cloud Smiles

“Identify yourself!” “I’m Clarice Starling, FBI!”

Fri, 24 May 2013 07:59:35 -0500

“Identify yourself!”

“I’m Clarice Starling, FBI!”