Orientalism in Jane Eyre: The Other, Passion, and Salvation

Introduction: The Oriental Current in Jane Eyre

The quality of Orientalism in Jane Eyre is that of the exotic, wild, and impassioned element that lurks within both the mysterious character of Mr. Rochester and his imprisoned, insane wife in the attic. The "oriental" character is viewed as something foreign, in need of order, restraint, and reason, yet which attracts the novel's central figures—including both Mr. Rochester and the missionary St. John—albeit for different reasons. The former seeks to lose himself; the latter seeks to find and redeem those who are lost. Yet the effects of the "oriental" on the spirits and moods of these two extremes are similar: each becomes a kind of representation of death. Rochester is trapped by a former, erotic love, now cut off from romantic love due to the laws of God and Church (expressed by Jane in her refusal to marry a man already wed). St. John, meanwhile, is cut off from romantic love—his feeling for Jane—because of his commitment to a kind of crusade within his own mind to preach in the East.

There is also the scene of the "gypsy"—who is really Rochester in disguise—which represents a distinct strain of the oriental current running through the book. It is at once mysterious, forbidding, and alluring, and yet reflective of who the characters really are. After all, it is Rochester pretending to be the gypsy that allows him to penetrate Jane's consciousness, hitherto closed off from him. This essay discusses the complex ways in which Orientalism features in Jane Eyre, and how it holds both a cautionary meaning within the context of the novel and an allegory for the deep mystery that runs through the heart of nature, life, and passion.

Jane as Feminist Missionary and the Sultan–Slave Dynamic

Jane's refusal of St. John's request to accompany him to the East, and her subsequent response to the passionate voice calling her back to Thornfield, suggests that even Jane—the voice of reason and order for Rochester—is not incapable of surrendering to the current of love and romance that connects her to him. Her return to Rochester at the end is, in some ways, like St. John's voyage to the Indians: he goes to save them; she goes to save both herself and Rochester by giving in to the love impulse that calls to her. "Jane! Jane! Jane!" she hears in her mind (Brontë 805). According to Zonana, Jane thus becomes the "slave" of the "sultan" who is Rochester when she finally succumbs to that voice and submits to the will of the heart (Zonana 593). Zonana's view is that through the sultan/slave imagery Jane uses to describe her own feelings of submission to Rochester, a "culturally acceptable simile" is offered to the audience, which accepts the "despotism" Rochester wields over Jane by viewing it through the romantic and impassioned veil that Jane herself supplies (Zonana 593).

Like St. John, Jane goes out to redeem the "other"—which is how Senel describes the "oriental" in the novel—as one who stands outside mainstream and accepted society, whether that is Rochester, who is deliberately asocial, or his mad wife (Senel 38). St. John is a missionary of the spirit and intellect for Christ, seeking to save the infidel. Jane is a missionary of the heart and will, seeking to save Rochester from his reckless passions. As Zonana (593) argues, Jane becomes the true missionary of the book—the representative of "feminist orientalism."

The 'Other' Within: Rochester, St. John, and the Oriental Outsider

In this manner, the "oriental"—the "other" who lives and breathes within the novel, taking various forms within forms—functions as a fluid and layered category. Rochester, already an outsider, dresses as an even greater outsider when he dons the gypsy's robes. Yet, ironically, he does so in order to gain access that even an insider would hardly obtain: a window into Jane's heart. Likewise, Jane, who is an insider—an accepted member of the social hierarchy—remains an outsider to the world of love and romance. St. John, too, remains an outsider to the actual experience of salvation for as long as he stays entirely within his intellect and performs none of the works he upholds so strongly. This is why his story must take him to the East, where he will interact directly with the "other" he professes to love. And this is why Jane must return to Thornfield: so that she can fulfill her obligation to love the "other"—the "oriental" Rochester.

Thus, the "oriental" attracts these characters for reasons that can be described as good or noble because such attraction is situated within the context of saving. Jane is, in every sense, the novel's most complete figure of redemption—one who can be simultaneously of the world and for the other.

Conclusion: Salvation, Restoration, and the Oriental Allegory

Across the novel, the "oriental" holds both a cautionary meaning and an allegory for the deep mystery that runs through the heart of nature, life, and passion. Rochester's blind and broken state after the fire, and his eventual restoration through Jane's return, encapsulates the novel's central argument: that unchecked indulgence in the exotic and excessive leads to ruin, but that principled love—Jane's missionary love—can restore the self. Bertha Mason's death without salvation and Rochester's rebirth into society through Jane's love stand as the novel's two poles of what the oriental encounter can produce.

Jane herself occupies the most complex position: she is simultaneously insider and outsider, rational and passionate, missionary and beloved. In this sense, Brontë uses Orientalism not merely as atmosphere or exotic backdrop, but as a sustained moral and psychological framework through which the novel interrogates passion, reason, redemption, and the boundaries of self and other.

Works Cited

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Planet PDF. Web. 5 Jun 2016.

Senel, Res. Asst. Nese. "A Postcolonial Reading of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys." Dil ve Edebiyat Egitimi Dergisi, vol. 11 (2014): 38–45.

Zonana, Joyce. "The Sultan and the Slave: Feminist Orientalism and the Structure of 'Jane Eyre.'" Signs, vol. 18, no. 3 (Spring 1993): 592–617.