Tara Walker Anne Fleming English 295 2 March 2011 In Defense of the Master: A Closer Look at Jane Eyre’s Mr. Rochester In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester mournfully declares, “When fate wronged me, I had not the wisdom to remain cool: I turned desperate; then I degenerated” (Brontë 142). His poignant articulation is the excuse of many “other defaulters” who blame their poor choices on “ill fortune and adverse circumstances” (141 Brontë). Truthfully, the man was indeed a victim of ill fate. But his greatest misfortune was his inability to choose how to respond when the unfortunate conditions arose. Every situation is provided with a choice. The choice is not always between outcomes, particularly in constricting time periods like the Victorian Era, but there is always a choice of attitude. Jane is similarly wronged by fate, but unlike Rochester, she establishes a relationship with God and finds peace in making the most of her situation in life. Although Mr. Rochester is a victim of his circumstances, he lacks both the ability to make rational choice and the healing relationship with God that will free him from the guilt of his past; essential components for him to have a happy, fulfilling life with the woman he really loves. Born the second son of a wealthy father, Edward Fairfax Rochester was denied the position of joint-heir to the family estate because his father “could not bear the idea of divi[sion]” (Brontë 301). Consequently, as an impressionable young man he was presented with a single visible option for obtaining riches: marriage to a wealthy woman he did not know. It is possible that Rochester could have avoided the situation, but due to the expectations of his social class, the pressure from his father “that [no] son of his should be a poor man” (301), and his naiveté, “I was dazzled, stimulated: my senses were excited; and being ignorant, raw, and inexperienced, I thought I loved her” (301), he was unable to act for himself. The nature of his