Quotation Response

"I would have got past Mr. Rochester's chamber without a pause; but my heart momentarily stopping its beat at that threshold, my foot was forced to stop also." Pg: 322

Jane at this moment is feeling three things right now; sympathy, regret, and devotion. After Rochester had told his tragic story about Birtha and how he was tricked into marrying her without any pretense of her mental condition, Jane feels much sympathy towards Rochester and this greatly factors into whether she will stay with him or leave. It is her conscience that strongly tells her to leave, forget about him and start anew. Jane feels tremendous regret for leaving Rochester because she feels as if he needs her love and devotion and without it, he is nothing, he is a man without a cause, he is lost. When Rochester realizes that she is gone in the morning, he will probably feel great regret of his past life. He never should have married without knowing what he was getting himself into and he should have divorced Birtha. If he had taken steps to accomplish this, then his love for Jane may have been possible and they may have been married and lived happily ever after, but this is sadly not the case because he had not taken these steps. His clarity of thought was being blocked by the his feelings towards Jane.