Chapter 26

On the morning of the wedding, Rochester hurries Jane to the church where she notices two strangers in attendance. As part of the wedding ritual, the priest asks if anybody assembled has an objection to the marriage. One of the strangers gets up and proclaims that there is an impediment to the marriage. Rochester attempts to hurry the wedding ceremony along, but the priests do not accept. The stranger is Mr. Briggs, a lawyer from London; he declares that Rochester is already married. He says that Rochester had married a Creole woman named Bertha who still lives in Thornfield. The second stranger, Mr. Mason, Bertha’s brother, confirms this news.

Rochester is extremely angry. While he concedes that the allegations are true, he emphasizes that neither Jane nor others knew about this. He also shares that Bertha is insane and had to be locked away in the mansion. All of them return to the third floor of Thornfield mansion to meet Bertha who is pacing around like a lunatic behind closed doors. To Jane she appears half-human and half-animal. Bertha attacks Rochester, and Rochester has to wrestle her into a chair. He says that Bertha’s family concealed her lunacy from him until after they were married.

Mr. Mason shares that he heard about the wedding from John Eyre, Jane’s uncle who is dying of consumption. It was through Jane’s letter that John Eyre was able to rescue her from the deceitful wedding.

Jane is overcome with sorrow and feels defeated because of the series of betrayals. She locks herself in the room and then turns to God and prays.

Chapter 27

Jane decides to leave Thornfield. As she steps out, she encounters Rochester who is right outside her door, begging for forgiveness. She internally forgives him but rejects his offer to elope and live in southern France. Jane does not want to accept the role of being his mistress. He admits that it was wrong and cowardly of him to have not shared the entire truth about his past with her. He shares that it was his father who made him Mason’s business partner and arranged his marriage with Bertha. He adds that his father had done so solely to acquire Bertha’s inheritance. He shares that he was briefly taken in by her exotic beauty, but soon realized that she too, like her mother, was extremely self-indulgent and had descended into violent madness.

He adds that his father and brother had passed away by that point, and he was legally bound to Bertha. He had then returned to England and given her a room on the third floor of the mansion. He had hired Grace Poole to keep an eye on Bertha and had left to find himself a European wife. He had been unable to do so and had instead become a philanderer and maintained relations with many mistresses, last of them being Celine Varens. He confesses that his relations with mistresses who did not necessarily like him made him feel like he was owning slaves, and he finally came back to England with Adele. He also confesses that he loved Jane from the moment he first met her.

For a moment, Jane considers living with a devoted man like Rochester after the difficult life she has led until then. However, reminds herself that she must do right by her own standards and leave Thornfield soon out of self-respect. One night at Thornfield, her mother appears in her dream and urges her to flee temptation. Against her own desires, Jane picks up her meager belongings and hires transport to an unknown destination.

Chapter 28

In her state of despair, she is dropped off by the carriage at a crossroads, and she suddenly realizes that she has left behind her belongings in the departed carriage. She then finds herself contemplating God and the stars. She is hungry and walks into a nearby village looking for a job. She does not get a job and is forced to beg for leftover porridge. Jane is distraught and walks into the wild, believing that these might well be her last moments. Following the distant flame of a candle in the woods, she reaches a cottage where she finds two sisters studying German, but their servant, Hannah, turns Jane away suspecting her to be a vagrant.

Jane collapses outside from exhaustion. St. John, who is the brother of the two River sisters arrives and takes Jane into the house and looks after her. The family gives her clothes and a bed. Jane does not want to identify herself and tells others that her name is Jane Elliott.

Chapter 29

Jane regains her consciousness after three days. She wakes up to find that her clothes clean and a hot meal by her side. Hannah apologizes for turning her away and tells Jane that the siblings’ father died three weeks ago after a financial crisis and that their brother, St. John, is a poor parson. The Rivers girls are in school and are being groomed to become governesses.

Jane shares a little about herself without revealing any personal details about her identity or her former employer. She shares that she has no connections in England and needs help finding a job. St. John is a strict man, but he promises to help Jane. The sisters warm up to Jane and assure her that she can continue to stay with the family.

Chapter 30

The Rivers sisters and Jane become good friends and have conversations and discussions about books and other matters. They also spend time together enjoying the beauty of the landscape. A month passes and it is time for the sisters to go away to wealthy families to serve their roles as governesses. They share that St. John is also planning to travel to far off lands to become a missionary.

Jane, after hearing a sermon by the stern St. John, returns to the house feeling sad. He remains pensive and spends a lot of time with his thoughts. They discover that their restlessness is of different kinds. St. John informs her about a job in Morton running a school for poor children in his parish. She accepts the job even though the pay is modest. A letter arrives for St. John and the sisters informing them that their wealthy uncle has left nothing for them, but has instead chosen to give away his inheritance to another relative. They inform Jane that this uncle was responsible for leading their father into the disastrous business decision.

Analysis of Chapter 26 – Chapter 30

Rochester’s belief that he would be able to avoid the civil and religious ramifications of his second marriage reveals his desperation as well as his self-centeredness. Jane’s letter to her uncle proves to be the divine intervention in this case: it reveals the complete truth about Rochester’s past to Jane.

Rochester reveals his secrets to Jane and suggests that he is the one who has been wronged. His decision to finally introduce Bertha to Jane is an attempt to prove his victimhood: he hopes that seeing Bertha in her confused state might persuade Jane to stay. His confessions also suggest that perhaps he only intends to escape his bad fortune, even if it means leaving for southern France with Jane. Even though Rochester is the one in the wrong, it is Jane’s life that is adversely affected by these events. This shows that women’s lives were deeply defined by the actions of men in the Victorian era.

Jane’s dilemma is religious in nature. She is overcome by her love for Rochester, and forgiving Rochester seems natural to her. However, she is aware that being with Rochester without marrying him would be a sin in the eyes of God. The message is also carried to her by her mother in her dreams when she urges Jane to make the right choice by running away from temptation. The novel’s foreign characters, Bertha and Celine, also showcase the Victorian prejudice against people outside of England, even as England actively sought to extend its commercial and colonial power in foreign lands.

Jane’s choice to leave Thornfield with her belongings shows her confusion, but also highlights that she values her independence and religious faith more than her love for Rochester. As a Christian, Jane being pushed to the point of begging and being close to death could be seen as repentance: it marks a time of penance for letting her passionate love for Rochester blind her duties toward God and herself as an individual. The flame she follows in the darkness is also a symbol of hope.

When Jane regains consciousness, it is as if she has had a rebirth and been given a second opportunity to lead a good life. Like Rochester, Jane conceals her identity from the Rivers household, fearing that she would be exposed otherwise. Jane’s camaraderie with the Rivers sister is similar to her relationships with Helen and Miss. Temple in her school. Female friendships are depicted as deep and safe connections through the novel. St. John is the new imposing male presence in Jane’s life. He represents piousness and Christian morality.