The English novels Emma, Jane Eyre and Middlemarch are all among the most famous of the 1800s and feature romances between main characters which are important for the story. Emma Woodhouse falls in love with George Knightley, Jane Eyre with Edward Rochester, and Dorothea Brooke with Edward Casaubon and then Will Ladislaw. These novels explore significant features of relationships. This essay will argue that these three works show love as an irrational, emotional connection that leads one to examine themselves and reach an individual, liberating maturity. Love is natural and comes from the heart, and trying to manipulate it causes harm. Love makes the lover self-examine their desires and have an epiphany. As a result, love leads people to maturity.

Love is irrational, and trying to rationalize it doesn’t work. This is seen with Emma’s attempts to matchmake other people’s relationships. Emma believes she is successful at this, crediting herself with bringing Mr. Weston together with her former governess Miss Anne Taylor because she had “promoted Mr. Weston’s visits [to Hartfield], and given many little encouragements, and smoothed many little matters” (Austen 11). Emma thinks that through mediating the relationship between Mr. Weston and Mrs. Taylor, she has engendered their feelings of love. Emma sees love as a game to be played. She inserts herself into the relationships of others because she lacks a sense of herself. Emma later drives Harriet Smith to reject a marriage proposal from Mr. Martin. Emma does this because of Mr. Martin’s status as a “farmer” who is Harriet’s “inferior as to rank in society” (Austen 49). Emma wants to reshape Harriet in her image (Wright, Emma Lecture 2). Emma instead tries to arrange a marriage between Mr. Philip Elton and Harriet Smith, and Emma believes that she is succeeding when Elton shows signs of affection towards Harriet. Mr. Elton sends Harriet a letter with a riddle that Emma answers as “courtship”: “But ah! united, (courtship, you know,) what reverse we have! Man’s boasted power and freedom, all are flown. Lord of the earth and sea, he bends a slave, And woman, lovely woman, reigns alone” (Austen 57). This is a metaphor: just as the earth and sea are united, Harriet will be united to Mr. Elton in Emma’s mind. Mr. Elton is saying that he can bend women to his will. It is notable that while Mr. Martin’s letter is honest and forthright, Mr. Elton’s is deceptive and indirect. Emma is trying to manipulate the love between others and feels no love yet.

We can see a similar dynamic with Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre’s relationship. Their romance is hidden. Mr. Rochester has an enlightening conversation with Jane on his regrets. He says that “rather to circumstances than to my natural bent, I am a trite commonplace sinner”. Jane recommends repentance. But Mr. Rochester wonders “what is the use of thinking of it, hampered, burdened, cursed as I am? Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life, and I will get it, cost what it may”. Jane replies that “you will degenerate still more”. Mr. Rochester replies: “I know what my aim is, what my motives are, and at this moment I pass a law, unalterable as that of the Medes and Persians, that both are right”. Jane replies that “the human and fallible should not arrogate a power with which the divine and perfect alone can be safely intrusted” (Bronte vol. i, ch. xiv). Mr. Rochester knows that he has made bad decisions in his life, but he is trying to justify his pursuit of pleasure and his refusal to repent through his grudge at his problems. He insists that he isn’t to blame for any of them. It is too painful for Mr. Rochester to choose repentance. Jane on the other hand is imploring Mr. Rochester to confront his past and repent. Her selfless care for Mr. Rochester already shows her love for him. However, Mr. Rochester refuses repentance and insists he is on the right path. Mr. Rochester, a human and fallible man, is arrogating to himself the authority to judge his own actions, usurping the authority of God. Jane replaces Mr. Rochester’s arrogant certainty with a hope, supplication, and prayer (Wright, Jane Eyre Lecture 3). Love involves being open to criticism from one’s spouse, but Mr. Rochester refuses and rationalizes his decision.

Dorothea’s relationship with Mr. Casaubon is an artificial one. Dorothea sees reflected in Mr. Casaubon’s mind “in vague labyrinthine extension every quality she herself brought; [she] had opened much of her own experience to him, and had understood from him the scope of his great work” (Eliot Book I, Chapter III). Dorothea sees Mr. Casaubon’s mind as a deep reservoir from which she can drink (Wright, Middlemarch Lecture 2). Dorothea gets the idea “that Mr. Casaubon might wish to make her his wife, and the idea that he would do so touched her with a sort of reverential gratitude” (Eliot Book I, Chapter III) Dorothea worships at the altar of Mr. Casaubon: she likes learning and ideas and sees Mr. Casaubon as a key point of access to them. But in trying to cultivate her rational mind, Dorothea ignores the ardent, passionate part that gives a marriage vivaciousness. She does not understand the emotional, erotic side of marriage (Wright, Middlemarch Lecture 2). Dorothea is a bored and confused woman who thinks that Mr. Casaubon and his knowledge will open new opportunities for her in life and make her a more intelligent woman. She thinks marriage to him will give her liberty. While this interests her, Dorothea still has no feelings for Mr. Casaubon. Mr. Casaubon also hopes to secure “the solace of female tendance for his declining years” and “determined to abandon himself to the stream of feeling” (Eliot Book I, Chapter VII). Mr. Casaubon hopes that sexual passion will follow from intellectual sympathy and Dorothea’s ardent submission to his passions. (Wright, Middlemarch Lecture 2). Mr. Casaubon is looking for a woman who he can control. So in each of these three relationships, the characters are tampering with their love in different ways.

Love offers a window into a person’s own heart and shows them things about themselves. This is seen in Emma’s attempt to hook up Harriet with Mr. Elton. When they are coming back from a Christmas dinner at Randall’s estate, Mr. Elton grabs Emma’s hand and Emma realizes that “without scruple – without apology – without much apparent diffidence, Mr. Elton, the lover of Harriet, was professing himself her lover” (Austen 101). Emma is astonished that she had misread Mr. Elton’s conduct: she had believed that he was courting Harriet, but it was only to get to Emma. Emma feels that she controls the love between Mr. Elton and Harriet and is used to being flattered and praised by everyone. Emma is realizing that she actually cannot control other people’s relationships, so she is upset. Later Emma and Mr. Knightley are with Miss Bates and several others at Box Hill. Miss Bates volunteers to say “three dull things”, and Emma retorts that she can say “only three at once” (Austen 285). Later, when they return to the carriage, Mr. Knightley berates Emma for being “so unfeeling to Miss Bates”, adding that since “Miss Bates is poor” and “has sunk from the comforts she was born to […] her situation should secure your compassion” (Eliot 288). Because everyone knows about Miss Bates’ excessive verbosity, Emma’s jibe is unnecessary. She asserts her authority in the cruelest, most mean-spirted way. Mr. Knightley is forcing her to look within and think about what she has done (Wright, Emma Lecture 3). He is challenging her to think about who she wants to be to others. Emma realizes that she failed in that, so she feels guilty. Being reprimanded by a figure she considers an authority leads Emma to self-examine.

In the same way, Mr. Rochester’s past cutting short his love for Jane leads him to self-inspection. Mr. Rochester flirted with Blanche Ingram before proposing to Jane. Later, when Mr. Rochester is about to get married, Mr. Briggs intrudes into the wedding ceremony and reveals that he is already married to Bertha Mason. Mr. Rochester furiously tries to deny it, but is eventually forced to admit it, lamenting that “fate has outmaneuvered me; or Providence has checked me” (Bronte vol. ii, ch. xi). Mr. Rochester has finally realized that he cannot hide the truth of his past forever. Mr. Rochester misses several chances to reveal his wife to Jane (Wright, Jane Eyre Lecture 4). As a result, Jane feels that “the attribute of stainless truth was gone from his idea” (Bronte vol ii, ch xi.). Mr. Rochester tells Jane he regrets his mistake more than “if the man who had but one little ewe lamb that was dear to him as a daughter, that ate of his bread and drank of his cup, and lay in his bosom, had by some mistake slaughtered it at the shambles”. Mr. Rochester tells Jane that it was cowardly to deceive her: “I should have appealed to your nobleness and magnanimity at first, as I do now – opened to you plainly my life of agony – described to you my hunger and thirst after a higher and worthier existence” (Bronte vol. iii, ch. i). Mr. Rochester reveals to Jane that he feels she is his intellectual and spiritual equal. Mr. Rochester has a familiar connection to Jane: just like the man’s lamb, Jane is the only person who can fulfill him. Mr. Rochester is regretting not trusting Jane enough to reveal his problems to her: only now, when faced with her loss, is he revealing everything about his life. Only now is he starting to appreciate her.

Dorothea feels that her relationship with Mr. Casaubon isn’t working out immediately after her honeymoon, when the new couple is in Rome. Alone in her apartment, Dorothea is “sobbing bitterly”. Dorothea is unhappy that Mr. Casaubon is ignoring her and not letting her help him with his work on The Key to All Mythologies. When Mr. Casaubon returns to the apartment, Dorothea angrily tells him: “I hope when we get to Lowick, I shall be more useful to you, and be able to enter a little more into what interests you”. Dorothea is realizing that Mr. Casaubon does not see her as his intellectual equal, that he doesn’t think she can peruse the mysteries of what he is studying. Mr. Casaubon and Dorothea’s outbursts towards each other shocks them, and “to Dorothea’s inexperienced sensitiveness, it seemed like a catastrophe, changing all prospects” (Eliot Book II, Chapter XX). Dorothea’s realization that her marriage isn’t working out is completely unexpected and changes her view on what the marriage bodes. As they return to England and head to Lowick, Mr. Casaubon continues to shut out Dorothea from his work. Even when he falls ill, he is cold towards her. One day in the garden, when Lydgate leaves after having been with Mr. Casaubon, Dorothea passes her hand through his arm, but Mr. Casaubon is unresponsive and keeps his hands behind him. Back at Lowick Dorothea wonders: “What have I done – what am I – that he should treat me so? He never knows what is in my mind – he never cares. What is the use of anything I do? He wishes he had never married me” (Eliot Book IV, Chapter XLII). Dorothea now blames Casaubon for the failure of their relationship. They cannot connect with each other as Mr. Casaubon does not care about her feelings and desires. In this case, it is not love that is causing the change & self-inspection, but rather the lack of it.

Love leads people to grow in character. This happens to Emma when she is told by Harriet about her love for Mr. Knightley. Because of this, “it darted through her, with the speed of an arrow, that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!” (Austen 313). Because of Emma’s manipulation of Harriet and inflation of her ego to make her seek men like Mr. Elton and Frank Churchill, she now risks losing Mr. Knightley to Harriet. Emma has to feel, take in, and accept the truth that she is the one to marry Mr. Knightley. Emma realizes that despite her lack of appreciation for Mr. Knightley, he has “loved her, and watched over her from a girl, with an endeavour to improve her, and an anxiety for her doing right” (Austen 319). Mr. Knightley has been Emma’s teacher and has helped her become a responsible individual. Throughout the novel, Emma has been sheltered and has hardly seen or considered anything beyond her narrow worldview. She has been flattered by characters like Frank Churchill. But only Mr. Knightley had been there to bluntly tell her the truth and to take care of her, which is what a good husband is supposed to do. Later when Emma is talking to Mr. Knightley, she realizes that he loves her, that while “Harriet was nothing; that she was everything herself”. Mr. Knightley tells Emma that “nature gave you understanding – Miss Taylor gave you principles. You must have done well. My interference was quite as likely to do harm as good” (Austen 355). Mr. Knightley downgrades his own influence on Emma becoming mature. Emma herself took the initiative to become mature. Mr. Knightley and Emma’s love helped Emma grow in character.

Mr. Rochester’s sacrifice rekindles the love between him and Jane. When Mr. Rochester cannot find Jane, he sends everyone away from Thornfield Hall, “and shut himself up, like a hermit, at the Hall”. When she hears Mr. Rochester’s voice, Jane hastens to Thornfield Hall. An innkeeper tells her that the Hall “was burnt down just about harvest time – at dead of night”. Bertha goes to the roof of the mansion and jumped to her death. The innkeeper says that Mr. Rochester’s “courage” and “kindness” caused him to lose his hand and sight, as “he wouldn’t leave the house till everyone else was out before him” (Bronte vol. iii, ch. xi). Mr. Rochester puts everyone else in his house before himself. Despite Bertha causing him so much pain, Mr. Rochester forgives her and tries to save her. This is what frees him from the shackles of his past. Jane finds Mr. Rochester at Ferndean Manor. Mr. Rochester says that “divine justice pursued its course; disasters came thick on me: I was forced to pass through the valley of the shadow of death. […] I began to experience remorse, repentance; the wish for reconcilement to my Maker” (Bronte vol. iii, ch. xi). Mr. Rochester feels regret for his actions and a will to repent. He has to go through the ordeal of losing Jane, sacrificing himself, and asking God for help before he gets Jane back. In a way, God brings Jane back to Mr. Rochester to take care of him. Jane and Mr. Rochester marry in a quiet ceremony. Mr. Rochester regains his sight in one eye two years into the marriage with an oculist’s help (Bronte vol. iii, ch. xii). This symbolizes the happiness Jane returns to Mr. Rochester’s life, cementing his freedom. This is a reward for Mr. Rochester’s selfless growth in character.

Dorothea is attracted to Will Ladislaw’s free spirit and sacrifices her inheritance to marry him. Dorothea meets Will at the apartment where she is staying in Rome. Dorothea is impressed by his free spirit and his love of art. But Mr. Casaubon is deeply suspicious of Will and doesn’t like him and Dorothea being together. After he dies, Dorothea finds out from her sister Celia that if she marries Will, she will lose all her property due to a provision in Casaubon’s will. Dorothea has a “sudden strange yearning of heart towards Will Ladislaw” (Eliot Book V, Chapter L). Here Dorothea’s newfound love towards Will Ladislaw steps in to fill a void in her. Dorothea’s attachment to Will gives her life a shape and direction (Wright, Middlemarch Lecture 5). Dorothea attempts to supress the feeling because of her family and friends not being fine with the relationship. Will claims he will leave Middlemarch. However, he remains in the town, and only resolves to leave after Mr. Brooke’s election campaign fails. Later Will returns, and Dorothea sees him again in the Lowick library. There, both of them struggle to speak. Will confesses that Bulstrode offered him money, but he refused it. When Will talks there is “a vivid flash of lighting which lit each of them up for the other – and the light seemed to be a terror of a hopeless love” (Eliot Book VIII, Chapter LXXXIII). They hold hands. The storm breaks the reluctance that both have towards one another and reminds them of the urgency of their decision whether to marry or not. Dorothea breaks into tears, “the flood of her young passion bearing down all the obstructions which had kept het silent”. She admits: “I don’t mind about poverty- I hate my wealth” (Eliot Book VIII, Chapter LXXXIII). Dorothea has finally learned to let go of her need of wealth so she can follow her love of Will Ladislaw. Dorothea marries Will and he becomes a prominent political figure. While many people think her ordinary life a pity, Dorothea is happy in it, even if she has to give up a fortune to get it.

All three novels Emma, Jane Eyre, and Middlemarch show love as an irrational emotional connection that leads someone deep into their desires and grow in character. Love is an irrational feelings that comes from the depth of the heart and is not meant to be manipulated. Love drives one to self-examine and come to a decision. This leads them to grow in maturity. All these novels are bildungsromans, and explore ordinary subjects, making them relatable to average people. This, along with the degree of realism in the works & the quality of the writing, has made them popular for more than a century after their publication. All these novels are known as classics and trailblazers of English literature.

Bibliography

Austen, Jane. Emma. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1816.

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1847.

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1871-2.

Wright, Daniel. “Emma Lecture 2.” Mississauga: ENG325 The Victorian Novel at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, 15 January 2024. Lecture.

—. “Emma Lecture 3.” Mississauga: ENG325 The Victorian Novel at University of Toronto-Mississauga, 17 January 2024. Lecture.

—. “Emma Lecture 4.” Mississauga: ENG325 The Victorian Novel at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, 22 January 2024. Lecture.

—. “Jane Eyre Lecture 3.” Mississauga: ENG325 The Victorian Novel at University of Toronto-Mississauga, 31 January 2024. Lecture.

—. “Jane Eyre Lecture 4.” Mississauga: ENG325 The Victorian Novel at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, 5 February 2024. Lecture.

—. “Middlemarch Lecture 2.” Mississauga: ENG325 The Victorian Novel at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, 14 February 2024. Lecture.

—. “Middlemarch Lecture 5.” Mississauga: ENG325 The Victorian Novel at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, 11 March 2024. Lecture.