Wuthering Heights & Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë & Emily Brontë
Contents
Jane Eyre — CHAPTER XXXI
Overview
Jane begins her life as Morton’s schoolmistress, wrestling with loneliness yet reaffirming her moral choice to remain free and honest. St. John counsels perseverance and reveals his missionary resolve. Rosamond Oliver’s arrival exposes St. John’s buried feelings, which he forcefully suppresses, underscoring his austere, self-denying nature.
Summary
Jane settles into a modest cottage near Morton and recounts her first day running the village school. She struggles with the pupils’ ignorance and coarse manners, and with a pang of desolation, but resolves to discipline her feelings and find purpose in teaching.
Alone at evening, Jane weighs the life she refused—becoming Rochester’s mistress—against her present independence, affirming that conscience and law guided her rightly. Her reflections turn to worry for Mr. Rochester’s fate, and she weeps.
St. John Rivers arrives with a parcel from his sisters and questions Jane’s contentment. He urges steadfastness and describes redirecting his own restless ambition into a divine calling: he has resolved to become a missionary and will leave Europe once affairs are settled.
Rosamond Oliver appears, radiantly beautiful and playful. Jane observes clear mutual attraction: St. John momentarily betrays feeling but suppresses it. When Rosamond invites him to visit her ailing father, Mr. Oliver, St. John refuses, speaking like an automaton and departing pale and resolute. Jane recognizes the severity of his self-mastery.
Who Appears
- Jane EyreNew schoolmistress at Morton; feels desolate yet reaffirms her moral choice over Rochester; resolves to persevere.
- St. John RiversVisits Jane with a parcel; urges steadfastness; reveals his missionary calling; suppresses feelings for Rosamond.
- Rosamond OliverWealthy heiress who furnished Jane’s cottage; charms St. John and invites him to visit her father.
- Mr. OliverRosamond’s father at Vale Hall; reportedly unwell; offstage reason for Rosamond’s invitation to St. John.
- CarloSt. John’s old pointer; heralds Rosamond’s arrival and receives her affectionate attention.