Despite the happiness and the sense of acceptance that
Thornfield and Rochester’s love offer, Jane knows that staying would
be a type of self-imprisonment. Jane must choose between emotional exile
and spiritual and intellectual imprisonment. She knows she must
flee while she can.
Throughout the narrative of Jane’s trials, the reader
not only gains insight into Jane’s personal constitution and character,
but also into the society in which she lives. When Jane experiences
the plight of the poor, the novel presents us with a bleak glimpse
of a society in which the needy are shunned out of tightfistedness
and distrust.
