Rochester’s Transformation or Maybe Not?
In our class discussions two opposing ideas and observations were brought up: Rochester undergoes a transformation that drives him to be evil or that Rochester is inherently evil and has harbored this evil inside him from the very beginning. The consensus seemed to be that Rochester undergoes a transformation throughout the course of the book, however, I would like to argue that Rochester’s character and Englishness manifests itself as “evil” throughout the course of the novel. Our very first impression of Rochester is in part two of the book with his statement, “So it was all over, the advance and retreat, the doubts and hesitations. Everything finished, for better or for worse” (38). His voice strikes a similar tone to a conqueror drawing parallels to the British Empire’s expansions and demonstrating that he view his marriage militaristically. Rochester is the embodiment of the “English identity” and his mission ...