Irony Becomes Her

Jane Eyre V: "Pungent aid"

Jane is engaged to the love of her life, Mr. Rochester, who tends to be physically and linguistically demonstrative. Since he is a passionate person, she plays sardonic ice queen to these advances lest they do something both will regret.

He fretted, pished, and pshawed. "Very good," I thought; "you may fume and fidget as you please: but this is the best plan to pursue with you, I am certain. I like you more than I can say; but I'll not sink into a bathos of sentiment: and with this needle of repartee I'll keep you from the edge of the gulf too; and, moreover, maintain by its pungent aid that distance between you and myself most conducive to our real mutual advantage."

From less to more, I worked him up to considerable irritation; then, after he had retired, in dudgeon, quite to the other end of the room, I got up, and saying, "I wish you good-night, sir," in my natural and wonted respectful manner, I slipped out by the side-door and got away.

The system thus entered on, I pursued during the whole season of probation; and with the best success. He was kept, to be sure, rather cross and crusty; but on the whole I could see he was excellently entertained, and that a lamb-like submission and turtle-dove sensibility, while fostering his despotism more, would have pleased his judgment, satisfied his common-sense, and even suited his taste less.

In other people's presence I was, as formerly, deferential and quiet; any other line of conduct being uncalled for: it was only in the evening conferences I thus thwarted and afflicted him. He continued to send for me punctually the moment the clock struck seven; though when I appeared before him now, he had no such honeyed terms as "love" and "darling" on his lips: the best words at my service were "provoking puppet," "malicious elf," "sprite," "changeling," &c. For caresses, too, I now got grimaces; for a pressure of the hand, a pinch on the arm; for a kiss on the cheek, a severe tweak of the ear. It was all right: at present I decidedly preferred these fierce favours to anything more tender. Mrs. Fairfax, I saw, approved me: her anxiety on my account vanished; therefore I was certain I did well. Meantime, Mr. Rochester affirmed I was wearing him to skin and bone, and threatened awful vengeance for my present conduct at some period fast coming. I laughed in my sleeve at his menaces. "I can keep you in reasonable check now," I reflected; "and I don't doubt to be able to do it hereafter: if one expedient loses its virtue, another must be devised."

Yet after all my task was not an easy one; often I would rather have pleased than teased him. My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol.

I just finished editing a book. Even in this minor forum, I won't steal any of the author's thunder other than to say it encourages abstinence from sex until marriage. He is far from alone in believing that the benefits of this self-denial far outweigh its thwarting of our short-term desires.

Jane's parrying of the male instinct to push toward intimacy is one of my favorite of her achievements. Though he naturally wants that total physical and emotional union which is a part of marriage, she reminds him of how precious it is by withholding it until that contract is signed and sealed. Simultaneously, she proves how well she knows and loves Rochester and accomplishes her purpose of delaying certain kinds of intimacy until the appropriate time. She knows that his wit and sense of humor have needs in addition to his desire for intimacy, and though she doesn't say this, she implies that these desires are actually more lasting and that she is more uniquely fitted to fulfill them than the fiery but temporary burning of erotic passions. Their intellectual union, the seed of their attachment, is what she chooses to feed and strengthen, because it is the first, strongest and promises to be the last of the bonds that attach them.

My uncle, a former chemist, says the effects of being in love are exactly the same as being on drugs -- in fact, chemicals are released in the brain during an attachment like this that are literally the same as the ones which operate under the influence of mind-altering substances. And, just as our judgment is impaired "under the influence," when we are in love we are unable objectively to judge its object -- perhaps other things as well. Even Jane, ever self-controlled and sensible, shows this in the last paragraph.

Her use of "in those days" reminds us that she is writing this later, aware of the consequences of this instance of love's blindness. She knows now that she failed to sense, because of her passion for Rochester, that her focus was improperly diverted by him. This blindness also kept her from seeing the warning signs that he hid an important secret from her during their courtship and engagement. She was blind and, more insidiously, unaware that she was so.

Jane's last word, "idol," is an instance of an increasingly rare usage of the biblical meaning of this word. Neither golden statues nor popular singers accurately illustrate what the Old Testament prophets railed against. Any object, pursuit or person, unworthy of the firstfruits of our attention and devotion (for Christians, anything or anyone other than God), to which we give such attention and devotion, is an idol. Mr. Rochester, while neither totally evil nor personally responsible for Jane's choices, still becomes a stumbling block of massive proportions in her path. Her idolatry exacerbates the enormity of the consequences when his actions soon force her to make an extremely difficult decision.

By "pungent aid," Jane is able to preserve herself from one form of heartbreak when this crisis comes. Her idolatry precipitates another, deeper form of heartbreak, which will become apparent in our next installment.

Labels: Jane Eyre

posted by Lynn @ 4:48 AM