Jane Eyre Audio Theatre
Lobstrosity for Mr. Rochester
Rochester is depicted as aloof, intelligent, proud and sardonic. A Romantic figure, he is passionate and hot-tempered, but tormented beneath his brusque manner. Mr. Rochester is tormented by his dark past and tragic secret; Rochester is in many ways trapped, and he is desperate for freedom from his own inner darkness and his past. Jane becomes a dear friend to him, not only because they are equals in intellect and in wit, a quality he enjoys, but because her purity and gentle spirit is a balm to his broken soul. He is a challenging character, a delicate balance between abrupt and sardonic, witty and sarcastic, tormented and hot-tempered, and tender and romantic. He is in his 30s. I imagine Rochester with a deep voice and a strong British accent. Best portrayal to reference is Timothy Dalton, 1983.
LINE CONTEXTS:
Line 1: Rochester is bitter and dark here, thinking of his dark past. He was unloved and manipulated by his family and is trapped in a dire situation, the result of a mistake in his youth.
Line 2: Rochester is deeply in love with Jane, but is at this point in time unsure if she reciprocates. He is being honest, but he is also toying with her a bit, as he has been trying to make her jealous up to this point. He is testing the waters, but *not nervously*.
Line 3: Rochester is completely heartbroken and hurt here. He adores Jane; she is everything to him. But now that is has been revealed that he legally cannot marry her, she is refusing to embrace or touch him.
- british
- male adult
I envy your peace of mind, your clean conscience, your unpolluted memory. A memory without blot of contamination must be an exquisite treasure-an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment: is it not?
Are you anything akin to me, do you think, Jane? Because I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you, especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string in you. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so of land some broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly.
Jane... You don't love me then? It was only my station and rank that you valued? Now that you think me disqualified to be your husband, you shrink back as if I were some toad or ape.
