Chapters 17-19

 In chapters 17-19, through Jane’s internal monologue, she finds herself falling in love with Mr. Rochester. When Mr. Rochester comes back from the party at the Leas, Jane tells herself that she will not fall in love with him and that she will not let her love for him take over the work she is doing. Jane repeats to herself, “You have nothing to do with the master of Thornfield, further than to receive the salary he gives you for teaching his protegee…”(Bronte 189). She tries to ignore the emotions that she is feeling, but Bronte’s repeated use of Jane’s internal monologue emphasizes how her newfound interest in Mr. Rochester is becoming all-encompassing in her life. In the following pages, Jane is not able to suppress her emotions, telling herself, “I must, then, repeat continually that we are for ever sundered- and yet, while I breathe and think, I must love him” (204). Bronte’s use of her internal monologue in this part of the novel allows the reader to fully understand what she is feeling, and how without hearing Jane’s thoughts repeatedly, the readers would be lost. 

Jane develops complicated feelings toward the relationship between Miss Ingrum and Mr. Rochester. She thinks, “But I was not jealous: or very rarely; the nature of the pain I suffered could not be explained by that word. Miss Ingram was a mark beneath jealousy: she was too inferior to excite the feeling” (215). Jane is telling herself that she is not jealous of Miss Ingrum because she is too “inferior”, but if she were not jealous of the relationship between them, thoughts of Miss Ingrum would not fill her mind constantly. 

This makes me wonder if Jane will continue to ignore her jealousy or tell the truth about her feelings to Mr. Rochester.