You can’t judge a book by it’s cover. In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, we meet Jane Eyre, who finds her true love to be someone she is not attracted to. Jane is attracted to people who contain the same intellectual capacity as her, and has no regard for those who have only beauty and money to give. After attending an all girls seminary until she reached the age of eighteen, Jane advertises for a job as a governess, and receives one at an estate named Thornfield. This is where she meets, Rochester, the owner of the mansion, and her true love.
When she learns of a dark secret he has been keeping, she flees to another part of England where she meets St. John, a man who she does find good looking, but doesn’t like his personality. From here she returns to Thornfield where she marries Rochester. If Jane had gone through her life looking for beauty instead of someone who shared a mental similarity with her, she never would of found happiness. Jane is attracted to Rochester, even though she does not find him to be handsome. “… it was not easy to give an impromptu answer to a question about appearances; that astes mostly differ; and that beauty is of little consequence… After answering no to Rochester’s question of whether or not he was handsome, she goes on to tell him that appearances mean little or nothing. Jane understands that to have a true and loving relationship with someone, that both must have not looks, but a similarity in thought, and a like for the other’s personality. Relationship’s such as this are ones of quality that will last for a long time. Although Jane is not a beautiful women, she is able to find happiness and that is what’s most important.
Jane has no regard for the beautiful Miss Ingram, for she has no intellectual capacity. She is not jealous of her closeness to Rochester for she has no qualities to be jealous of. “She was very showy, but she was not genuine; she had a fine person, many brilliant attainments, but her mind was poor, her heart barren by nature… ” Jane knows it is far better to have a good mind and to be a good thinker than to have beautiful features and an abundance of money. It is this attitude of Jane’s that allows her to make the right decisions. Jane does not fall in love and marry St.
John for even though is more handsome than Rochester and she is attracted to him, he does not have the same intellect. “He was young- perhaps from twenty-eight to thirty-tall, slender; his face riveted the eye; it was like a Greek face, very pure in outline. ” St. John has beautiful features, but he cannot communicate with and talk at the same intellectual level with Jane as can Rochester. “… there was another barrier to friendship with him: he seemed of a reserved, an abstracted, and even of a brooding nature… he did not appear to enjoy that mental serenity…
Jane never could of had a quality relationship with St. John for they wouldn’t have been able to talk with each other, and they wouldn’t have been able to truly love one another. It is because of Jane’s decision to leave St. John due to a lack of soul likeness that allows her to marry someone for their personality. One of the purposes of this book is to make us realize that love comes from within the heart, and that beauty is actually only a bonus. When people fall in love with people for their personalities, the love is stronger and it will last longer.
