A Love Letter to Mr. Rochester

How do you begin a love letter to a fictional character? It's funny; not funny as in LOL funny but simply interesting-funny to consider how real a character can become… how they almost take their first breaths when you open the pages of the book and then linger in the back of your mind for days or even years after you set that book aside. And so it is with Mr. Edward Fairfax Rochester.

For any self-respecting bookworm, it's almost a natural event. It happens every once in a while. You kind of hold your breath the first moment said character arrives on the page; even after a thousand times of reading Jane Eyre it is always the same. This time around, I even rushed to her first wanderings in the woods where she trips up his horse to hear his thundering, swearing voice. I suppose my somewhat wayward affections began because he is a completely singular character. He is neither handsome nor perfect nor even very young. He is no Mr. Darcy or even an Edward Cullen (i.e a sensitive man to the emotions of his lady love). In fact he is quite the opposite of almost any other male character in literature.

He is allowed to be ugly and cool; brooding at times. The kind of character whom you're not sure is being totally honest in his affections or merely sarcastic. He keeps Jane guessing from the very beginning…and I ask you ladies, what man hasn't?  Sometimes, your girl friends or family members pointed out all his flaws; yet  all you could see was the inner beauty of the man. And somehow you knew he felt the same way… thus it is with Mr. Rochester. He loves Jane in all her forms; she is neither too plain for him or too smart. Too independent or too needy. He simply loves her as she is, he never asks her to be more or less that what she is. I think that is what we all want in the end.

And so I find myself in this Conundrum. I have been for several months as I tried to figure out a way to write this letter in honor of him. I even started hunting down every film adaptation; trying to find the answer in each actors' interpretation of his harsh lines and imperfect personality. My favorite being the most recent version starring Michael Fassbender (and that sparked a whole other infatuation). I truly felt he is the most physically attractive of all the Rochester actors; allowing the inner ugliness of the character to shine through. At the same time I couldn't ignore the sexiness he brought to the role, that sense of mischievousness that sparkled in his eye.

There were moments that Jane's (Waskiowska) retorts to his probing questions nearly made him look like he was about to laugh, before he looked away into the flames of the fire. It's felt like I rediscovered the character; hence making this movie my favorite version of all the adaptations. It was beautiful and haunting; it high lightened the sacrifice one makes when they choose to love a person. But most of all, it was realistic. We can all agree love is messy and cruel and painful at times; it isn't a fairytale. And sometimes, as in Jane Eyre, the man that you fear might destroy is the very person that needs to be saved.

Sigh… I'm afraid i'm no closer to writing that pesky love letter. Maybe I should just read the book again..