Quote 1
"It was a fairy, and come from Elf-land, it said; and its errand was to make me happy: I must go with it out of the common world to a lonely place—such as the moon, for instance—and it nodded its head towards her horn, rising over Hay-hill: it told me of the alabaster cave and silver vale where we might live. I said I should like to go; but reminded it, as you did me, that I had no wings to fly.
"'Oh,' returned the fairy, 'that does not signify! Here is a talisman will remove all difficulties;' and she held out a pretty gold ring. 'Put it,' she said, 'on the fourth finger of my left hand, and I am yours, and you are mine; and we shall leave earth, and make our own heaven yonder.' She nodded again at the moon. The ring, Adèle, is in my breeches-pocket, under the disguise of a sovereign: but I mean soon to change it to a ring again."
"But what has mademoiselle to do with it? I don’t care for the fairy: you said it was mademoiselle you would take to the moon?"
"Mademoiselle is a fairy," he said, whispering mysteriously. (2.9.122-125)
Even Adèle, who is less than ten years old, thinks this fairy tale of Rochester’s is ridiculous, but we think it might be just a little bit important that he uses a fanciful story about a magical flight to the moon as metaphors for marrying Jane.
Rochester expects his marriage to Jane to be a quick fix: he’ll marry her, and as soon as they’ve got their wedding rings on, she’ll transport him into another world and all their problems will be over. Yeah, not in this novel, buster.