Ruby Canary
St.John is said to be a cold representation of Rochester, he believes in a moral christian way of life, where love and lust has no part to play in a christian life such as his, in much contrast to Rochester who has many romances with women from all over the world, Rochester embraces passion as well as his byronic personality.
Is St.John a good man? St.John is a good man in terms of his ambition, he is driven to becoming a missionary and devotes his whole life towards it; given the time and place a missionary was seen as being a positive thing to do with your life from the English upper/middle-class aristocracy, however is converting/forcing a culture/race of people such as those in India to a strange and unknown religion something moral? I believe that the drive of St.John is described as something that is definitely strong, however his set of morales seem ignorant and forceful, as he believes that Christianity is the way forward and that people in India should conform to his preach of Christ and convert, making St.John a terrible man in his belief in that he believes everybody should think a certain way, in the way of christ, life without passion and things deemed wrong in christianity.
In terms of association between Jane and St.John, Jane describes St.John as a cold man, well she describes his eyes as 'rock-like' and icy, in comparison Jane describes Rochester's eyes as 'passionate', 'flashing' and 'flaming', this suggests the emotions that the two have, Rochester is a man of warmth, heat and passion and St.John is cold as if he has no emotion or passion. A marriage with Rochester is what Jane desires, she would marry for love and passion but marriage to St.John as he states in the book would be formal and simply practical, as he again believes that passion isn't an associate of life in marriage. Is St.John a bad man for believing this? I believe that St.John is entitled to his belief and opinion of marriage, he is deeply in love with a beautiful woman, but he turns to Jane for a wife, as he is so set in his belief that marriage is something practical, and he believes that plain Jane will fit for the job, I don't believe the man has no emotion, but he believes and devotes himself to a life of strong will and Christianity, which may be his ideal way of life that keeps him contemp.
In conclusion, St.John is a good man in that he is driven and
dedicated to God and his religion, he wishes to spread the word of God, but
because of this he is passionless and feels a life of love wouldn’t be acceptable
in God’s eyes, and ignorant in that he feels he should spread the word of God
and force religion onto a foreign country.
