Rochester and Heathcliff as Romantic Heroes

Charlotte Brontë's Mr Rochester and Emily's Heathcliff are often spoken of as models of the Romantic hero, but this paper argues that they are in fact models of very different kinds. While both characters draw some characteristics from the moody heroes of Byron, Rochester is still conceive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brontë studies : journal of the Brontë Society 2011-03, Vol.36 (1), p.111-118
Main Author: Stoneman, Patsy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
HEATHCLIFF
HERO
ROCHESTER
ROMANTIC
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Summary:Charlotte Brontë's Mr Rochester and Emily's Heathcliff are often spoken of as models of the Romantic hero, but this paper argues that they are in fact models of very different kinds. While both characters draw some characteristics from the moody heroes of Byron, Rochester is still conceived as a potential husband for Jane in a novel which, though unorthodox in many ways, still has a conventional courtship-and-marriage structure ending in a modified happy-ever-after. The relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff, on the other hand, follows the many intense brother-sister relationships found in the Romantic poetry of Byron and Shelley, and is inevitably tragic since it cannot be consummated except in nostalgia for childhood or anticipation of death. Freudian and post-Freudian theory is used to argue that Jane Eyre follows the pattern which Freud defined as 'normal' femininity, marrying a father-like figure, while both Catherine and Heathcliff are frustrated by the other's assertion of independent desires instead of continuing to be the mirroring 'other self' of childhood.
ISSN:1474-8932
1745-8226
DOI:10.1179/147489310X12868722453744