How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"I have been with my aunt, sir, who is dead."
"A true Janian reply! Good angels be my guard! She comes from the other world—from the abode of people who are dead; and tells me so when she meets me alone here in the gloaming! If I dared, I’d touch you, to see if you are substance or shadow, you elf!—but I’d as soon offer to take hold of a blue ignis fatuus light in a marsh." (2.7.21-22)
As usual Rochester is exaggerating quite a bit, but his suggestion that Jane is able to move between different worlds in a strange and uncanny way seems just about right. After all, Gateshead, Lowood, and Thornfield have practically been different planets.
(An ignis fatuus, or "false fire," is a little light you see in the distance when you’re lost in a swamp, but it turns out to be swamp gas on fire or something like that instead of a lamp in a cottage that could lead you to safety. Ironically, later in the novel, Jane finds Moor House by following a light that she thinks is an ignis fatuus, but it turns out to be a lamp in a cottage.)
Quote #8
"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.
Quote #9
"It seemed, sir, a woman, tall and large, with thick and dark hair hanging long down her back. I know not what dress she had on: it was white and straight; but whether gown, sheet, or shroud, I cannot tell."
"Did you see her face?"
"Not at first. But presently she took my veil from its place; she held it up, gazed at it long, and then she threw it over her own head, and turned to the mirror. At that moment I saw the reflection of the visage and features quite distinctly in the dark oblong glass."
"And how were they?"
"Fearful and ghastly to me—oh, sir, I never saw a face like it! It was a discoloured face—it was a savage face. I wish I could forget the roll of the red eyes and the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments!"
"Ghosts are usually pale, Jane."
"This, sir, was purple: the lips were swelled and dark; the brow furrowed: the black eyebrows widely raised over the bloodshot eyes. Shall I tell you of what it reminded me?"
"You may."
"Of the foul German spectre—the Vampyre." (2.10.73-81)
Is Bertha a vampire? Let’s go through our Handy Vampire Checklist. Is Bertha a "blood relative" of Count Dracula? No. Does she sleep in a coffin during daylight hours? No. Is she a good candidate for villain on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Maybe. Does she suck blood? Yes! Does she drain the life out of the people around her? Yes! Would a stake through the heart kill her? Yes, but it would kill you too and we’re guessing you’re not a vampire.
So, it’s complicated. (For more on this quote from a different thematic perspective, check out Quote #5 in the "Foreignness and 'The Other'" section.)