“
On the moor, Jane Eyre learns her lessons: She existed before she met Edward Rochester, and can go on existing without him, if she must. She didn’t really know him in the first place; she was marrying her ‘dear master.’ Now she sees him with different eyes, loving him none the less but seeing him with a twinge of pity mixed with horror….she learns what she can live without….Without a husband. Without motherhood. Without love, if she can substitute work that has a compelling purpose. Even without happiness, so long as she has a chance for growth.
Spinning Straw Into Gold: What Fairy Tales Reveal About the Transformations in a Woman’s Life by Joan Gould
