ROCHESTER'S BRONZE SCRAG AND PEARL NECKLACE: BRONZED MASCULINITY IN

"JANE EYRE, SHIRLEY", AND CHARLOTTE BRONTË'S JUVENILIA

Author(s): Judith E. Pike
Source: Victorian Literature and Culture , 2013, Vol. 41, No. 2 (2013), pp. 261-281, 409-
410
Published by: Cambridge University Press

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Victorian Literature and Culture (2013), 41, 261-281.
© Cambridge University Press 2013. 1060-1503/13 $15.00
doi: 10.1017/S1060150312000381

ROCHESTER'S BRONZE SCRAG AND PEARL

NECKLACE: BRONZED MASCULINITY IN
JANE EYRE, SHIRLEY, AND CHARLOTTE
BRONTË'S JUVENILIA

By Judith E. Pike

IN the PAST TWENTY years, GIVEN the burgeoning field of postcolonial studies and its
inquiry into the identity politics of race, ethnicity, and imperialism, significantly more critical
attention has been paid to Charlotte Bronte's portrayal of Bertha Rochester in Jane Eyre
(1847) than in the prior one hundred and forty years of Brontë scholarship. While in The
Madwoman and the Attic (1979), Gilbert and Gubar present an earlier reading of Bertha
as "Jane's truest and darkest double" (360), any reading of Bertha's darkest in terms of a
cultural or racialized identity came about in later criticism. Gayatri Spivak was instrumental
in positioning Bertha within a discourse of imperialism rather than reading her merely
in psychological terms, which then precipitated more recent studies on Bertha's colonial
heritage, her financial and cultural imperialist inheritance and her ambiguous ethnic status
as a Creole women.1 Contemporary critics have also addressed how Rochester in a sense
becomes Bertha's "truest and darkest double." However, his darkness has proven to be far
more quizzical, for unlike Bertha he is neither Creole nor raised in the West Indies; quite
to the contrary, Rochester was desired by the Masons precisely because of his heritage,
being "of a good race."2 Still, as readers, we have had to grapple with Bronte's numerous
descriptions of Rochester's dark visage.
Piqued by these descriptions, contemporary critics have proposed very illuminating
and provocative interpretations in an effort to resolve this question of Rochester's darkness
and its correlation to his being of good British stock. Some argue that by marrying and
consorting with Bertha, who is imbued with Caribbean darkness and impurity, Rochester
thereby becomes sullied. John Kucich comments that as "the 'mixed' product of European
and non-European cultures, Bertha presents unmistakably the fears of contamination that
afflict the imperialist imagination" (105), which then affect Rochester. Susan Meyer tackles
this issue by proposing that Rochester becomes "like a person of the 'dark races'" (83),
when he compares himself to a Grand Turk with his seraglio during his outing with Jane
to Millcote. Joyce Zonana also examines the embedded Orientalism in Bronte's novel and
asserts that Rochester assumes the position of an Eastern man, and more specifically as a

261

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262 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

sultan and despot (597). Elsie Michie provides an even deeper

Emily Bronte's hero Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (1847) as
that the allusions to Orientalism displace and veil the more
local colonialism by shifting from oppressions that were un
those which seemed more peripheral or more exotic" (127). T
darkness and "emotional volatility," while having a most exotic
stereotypes of the Irish (130).
These critiques have had a profound impact on Brontë s
readers' eyes to the embedded discourses of imperialism
intersections with gender and class, which prior to Gayatri Spiv
and a Critique of Imperialism" (1985) were quite opaque to m
Meyer, Zonana, and Michie collectively demonstrate how Ro
ideological reasons, represented as a figure of the "dark races" o
Persian, Muslim, or Irish. Yet, these very critics also have t
conceive of marrying her pale heroine to this figure of the
questions of miscegenation in a figurative sense. To resolve
suggest that Bertha's death and the immolation of Thornfield e
Meyer concludes that "Jane Eyre ends with the purified, m
by this figurative sacrifice of the 'dark races' (93). Michie c
death, Rochester can eradicate "the trace of racial difference he
Jamaica," thereby becoming '"whitened"' (139).
While these conclusions are intriguing and insightful, Br
readings by refusing at the end of the novel to "whiten"
Rochester's dark physiognomy, quite to the contrary, as a
masculinity, which is described in a very rich, yet surprisi
toward the close of the novel. On the morning after her ar
Rochester out for a walk; whereupon, Rochester discloses the di
discovery of her flight from Thornfield. He recounts how he s
find that she had taken neither money "nor anything which co
even his wedding gift of the pearl necklace, which "lay untouch
vol. 3, ch. 11). He relates how this gift was spared the conflagra
know, Jane, I have your little pearl necklace at this moment fa
under my cravat?" (446; vol. 3, ch. 11). While the donning o
manly figure as Rochester is quite an anomaly for early Victori
provocative is Rochester's description of his neck as a "bronze s
it within the framework of race, ethnicity, and imperialism; h
enclosure. While Rochester may be self-deprecating, especial
a "scrag,"3 and he may even see his darkness as a flaw, Brontë r
as "bronze," which does not connote the negative association of
particular association with imperial contamination or disease. Gi
character in the novel whose darkness is portrayed as a positive
is more quizzical than critics may have realized. However, what
so unique and distinct from Brontë's portrayal of other darkly
In order to answer this question we must briefly consider Bron
complexioned characters in Jane Eyre and then turn to her oth
understand this enigma.

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 Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace 263

Critics have effectively pointed out that other characters besides Bertha and Roc
are noted for their dark complexions, namely John Reed who "reviled [his mother]
dark skin, similar to his own" (15; vol. 1. ch. 2) along with Blanche Ingram, depicted
as a Spaniard" (173; vol. 2, ch. 2). Whereas Bertha's status as a Creole woman h
critics cause to speculate about her darkness, which by association might cause
to become tainted, Brontë never suggests that either the Reeds or the Ingrams have
to non-western regions or even, closer to home, to the Irish. Meyer proposes an alte
rationale for their darkness arguing that "the British aristocracy in particular has bee
darkened, and made imperious or oppressive by the workings of empire," and thus "
structure at home has been contaminated by imperialism abroad" (79). Yet, Bron
does not entirely follow this logic either, for some characters with dark complexion
outside the ranks of the squirarchy of the Reeds, Masons, and Rochesters or the ari
like the Ingrams.4 Moreover there are other characters that fall within the ran
squirarchy that are not figured with dark skin, such as the Eshtons, whose daughte
described as "fair as lilies" (171; vol. 2, ch. 2) or Mrs. Colonel Dent, who is endow
"a pale, gentle face" (171; vol. 2, ch. 2). Given the Colonel's "military distincti
vol. 2, ch. 2), he and by extension his wife would be directly "contaminated by impe
abroad," but Brontë does not figure either as being "sullied." And if Meyer is correct,
then that when Jane is bequeathed her uncle's wealth, acquired through imperialist
does neither she nor her female cousins become "sullied, darkened, and made imperi
oppressive by the workings of empire"? Ultimately an equal number of characters in
Eyre, in terms of skin color, fit the postcolonial framework as do not; thus, a postc
reading cannot entirely account for Rochester's "bronze scrag."
Unable to ferret out a satisfactory rationale for the enigma of Rochester's "bronze
within the final chapters of Jane Eyre, we must turn back to Brontë's early juvenil
as look forward to her next novel, Shirley (1849), to find greater insight into the sign
of Rochester's dark skin. One of Brontë's early stories "Albion and Marina," wr
1830 relates the tragic tale of love between a nobleman, Albion, the Marquis of
and the fair maiden Marina. The eponymous hero bears a countenance befitting
with "a forehead resembling the purest marble in the placidity of its unveined whit
(Alexander, Early Writings 1: 288). However, his younger brother, Lord Cornelius, in
countenance reminiscent of Rochester's physiognomy, bearing a "grave, sententious,
rather haughty and sarcastic; of a fine countenance though somewhat swarthy" (emp
added, I: 287-88).5 Though the tale divulges little more about Cornelius, the ersa
of the story, "C. Wellesley" explains in his preface how the "reader will easily recog
characters through the thin veil which I have thrown over them" (I: 286). In her ext
footnotes to this story, Christine Alexander clarifies that Cornelius is another perso
Wellesley," who is Bronte's fictional portrayal of Lord Charles Albert Florian W
the Duke of Wellington's second son, and Albion represents Bronte's fictional r
of Wellington's eldest son, Arthur Wellesley, the Marquis of Douro, later called Zam
Brontë figures both sons as the major characters in her stories and attributes Lord
with supposed authorship of many of these tales such as "My Angria and the A
(1834). As Carol Block remarks, "Charles Wellesley is one of Charlotte's favorite narr
in her juvenilia (41). Having selected the Duke of Wellington as her favorite historic
to play a central role in her and Branwell's imaginary kingdom of Angria,7 Brontë d
according to Juliet Barker, a hero-worship of Wellington that "emerges time and ag

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 264 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

in seemingly irrelevant passages"(160).8 Given her focus on Welling

is rather unlikely that Brontë would represent Wellington's son as a
Moreover there is nothing to suggest that she is calling into questio
So, as with Rochester, we have another dark hero, for whom a "swa
a formidable masculine edge.9
By far the most exceptional clue to our understanding of Roc
can be found in a novella that Charlotte Brontë penned just thr
Foundling: A Tale of Our Own Times ( 1833),written under the pseu
story recounts the life of a foundling, Edward Sydney, who as a yo
Africa to escape from the devastating discovery that his recently d
real father. Just after his arrival in Verdopolis, Glass Town, he is m
brought to the residence of Arthur Wellesley, the Marquis of Do
love with the Marquis' cousin Julia Wellesley but is forbidden from
lack of any noble lineage. Distraught, he leaves Verdopolis and event
a solitary beach. Suddenly a mysterious stranger appears and explain
three weeks he will learn the origins of his lineage. Returning in th
his rendez-vous with the stranger in the dead of night on the s
the cover of night, he cannot discern any particular features of thi
other than his height, but as dawn arrives, the light reveals the ma
Early Writings 11.1:108).
Bronte's description of this stranger is rather lengthy but merit
discover an uncanny resemblance, though not identical, between
Rochester.

He was, as I have said, tall and apparently about forty years of age. His countenance, though
handsome, was more remarkable for its singular striking expression than for the regularity of its
features. A Roman nose, and a pair of dark bright falcon eyes infused into it such a degree of stern
and searching keenness as would have been rather appalling to anyone who might fall by chance
under his piercing eagle glance, but for the redeeming softness of the calm, yet not altogether sweet
smile, which generally played round a very finely formed mouth, and the imperturbable placidity of
his smooth, ample forehead. It was this contradiction in the expression of his features, this quiescence
of the external man, contrasted with the active energy of that mighty spirit shining deep in the quick
sparkling eye, which gave that peculiar air, that je ne sais quoi, to his whole countenance, and though
it declared at once that his mind and genius were of an infinitely loftier rank than that assigned to
the common herd of men, yet a casual spectator, on first beholding him, felt more of admiration than
love, and more of fear than either. For the rest, his complexion was dark, almost swarthy, his hair, of
a glossy brown colour. (II. 1:110)

Bronte's description of the stranger's stern "dark falcon eyes" clearly foreshadows Jane's
description of Rochester's "full falcon-eye flashing" with his dark stern physiognomy (273;
vol. 2, ch. 9). Yet the difference between these two characters concerns less their physical
traits than the difference in the stature of these two men, for this "mysterious incognito"
reveals himself to be none other than the Duke of Wellington.
Christine Alexander offers an invaluable insight in regard to Bronte's fashioning of
Wellington in her early writings. She notes that while the Romantic and Victorian hero
worship of such figures as Byron, Napoleon, and Wellington greatly influenced the Brontë
family, "Charlotte's response to historical figures like the Duke of Wellington is not simple

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 Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace 265

idolatry ('veneration' was the term she preferred) but part of the complex self-fashion
Brontë draws upon the historical figure of Wellington, but at the same time, "Charl
fictional Wellington is a construct" ("Autobiography" 10). Bronte's refiguring of We
as darkly hued is certainly a fictional construct. While the narrator Captain Tree of
liberties in his stories and might be trying to disparage Wellington by describin
"almost swarthy," rather than referring to him as bronzed, like some of Bronte's late
this passage clearly foreshadows Bronte's later representations of her darkly hu
such as Rochester and Robert Moore.11
While some critics have studied Charlotte Bronte's juvenilia, most critics unfortu
ignore her early writings and focus exclusively on her novels.12 Thus, they have no
able to trace how these stories have significantly influenced her modeling of th
in her later novels, especially in Jane Eyre and Shirley. In her 1928 article on
Angrian tales, Fannie E. Ratchford concludes that these tales had tremendous influen
her later writings, arguing that "after she quitted Angria, that is after her twenty-th
she created nothing"(499). While this conclusion is rather debatable, Ratchford d
how integral these stories were to her novels. "The characters, plot incidents, and ge
situations which make up The Professor, Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette were
from her Angrian storehouse" (499). In particular, she notes how in Jane Eyre,
is "derived from her arch-hero, Arthur Wellesley" (500). Surprising, she fails to
how Charlotte Bronte's portrayal of Wellington influenced her characterization of R
Even Christine Alexander who has painstakingly compiled, edited, and provided
commentary and annotations on Bronte's Glass Town tales in her multi-volume
Edition of the Early Writings of Charlotte Brontë (1987, 1991) and is the foremost e
her juvenile writings has not made reference to the stunning physical resemblance b
this description of Wellington and Bronte's rendering of Rochester fourteen years l
Jane Eyre.
Most critics have instead focused on the figure of Zamorna, Wellington's eldest son
Arthur, along with the Byronic hero as the central literary precursors to Rochester. Winifred
Gérin remarks that Brontë "borrowed every Byronic attribute of mind and of person" in her
portrayal of Zamorna and afterwards these Byronic traits, once "purified and matured by the
passing years," reappear in Rochester (5). John Maynard argues that even in her juvenilia
Brontë created "a more purely seductive version of Byronism" that influenced her later
portrayal of Rochester (11). While Byron's influence upon Brontë's early and later writing is
undeniable, as these critics note, an important distinction must be made between the darkness
of the Byronic hero in terms of temperament and proclivities, as displayed by Zamorna,
resurfacing later in Rochester, and the physical darkness of Wellington's almost swarthy skin,
which becomes a defining trait of Rochester's countenance. This physical darkness has too
often been conflated with poetic descriptions of the dark, brooding and tempestuous nature of
the Byronic hero. Brontë's rendering of Wellington in The Foundling invites us to reconsider
the difference between the literal and figurative representation of darkness displayed by
Brontë's various male protagonists. Wellington and Rochester's physical darkness emerges
as a unique entity, which is not merely a reflection of the Byronic temperament; likewise,
it proves to be quite different from postcolonial readings of darkness. Simply stated,
Brontë presents Wellington as darkly hued, but not Byronic; whereas, his son Arthur, the
Duke of Zamorna, embodies the dark and tempestuous nature of the Byronic hero, but is
fair-skinned.

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 266 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

Though highly esteemed by Brontë, Wellington disappears earl

tales. In her 1933 compilation of Bronte's early writings, Rat
hero, the Duke of Wellington, had receded into the backgrou
stage was now his elder son," who develops into an "unrestrain
in a highly exaggerated degree the characteristics of Rocheste
though darkly hued is not an "unrestrained Byronic hero." Rathe
writings as a national hero. In "Charlotte Brontë and the Duk
effectively traces Bronte's fascination with Wellington from
influenced by her own father's adoration of him, and how h
her early writings. "Every scrap of information on the Duke was
appropriation" (143). Even later, while studying in Brussels, "a
on the 'Death of Napoleon' became instead a eulogy on the D
in grandeur and surpasses in truthfulness that of every other
(143). Therefore, Bronte's fictional rendering of the Duke of Wel
Bronte's portrayal of Rochester's dark skin and its significance. I
veneration of Wellington, we could not imagine that her fictiona
otherwise than praiseworthy. Her description of him as "almost s
Bronte's portrayal of Wellington in The Foundling shows him to
and a greatly revered leader, reflecting her accolades in "Death of
complexion has no association with any moral taint, racial or cult
an "Oriental despot." While Wellington was of Anglo-Irish lin
here or elsewhere in her writing any allusion or negative comme
lineage in the way she will with other Irish characters.13 To the
in Shirley, she writes, "Wellington is the soul of England."14 We
of her earliest stories "Two Romantic Tales" (1829), as the yo
Wellesley, years before he was awarded the title of the Duke of W
in Western Africa in the land of the genii in 1793, well before th
of the genii foretells how he will one day "gain eternal honour an
"the desolator of Europe" who will die in exile, as Napoleon d
emperors shall honour him, and Europe shall rejoice in its deliver
"his name shall be everlasting!" (Alexander, Early Writings 1:14).
limits her descriptions of Wellington to his heroic feats and g
reference to his physical attributes. Two months later in "Tales o
offers but scant detail about her hero, merely noting "his stern co
which are the very features she will attribute to Rochester almos
Jane Eyre, shortly after her arrival to Thornfield, Jane encounter
on horseback whom she describes as having "a dark face, with
ch. 12). Here, the very characteristics that she attributed years e
as salient features of Rochester.
Whereas Brontë endows the Duke of Wellington with a dar
truth, taken considerable poetic license, for portraits of him
as Francisco de Goya and Sir Thomas Lawrence along with th
and hand-colored lithographs by lesser known artists consist
skinned. Even one of the earliest portraits of Wellington, a minia
Cosway, which was painted years before his victory at Waterloo,
(Figure 5).

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 Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace 267

Figure 5. (Color online) Richard Cosway, R.A. Portrait of Arthur Wellesley, later 1st Duke of W
Watercolor on ivory, 1808. © Victoria and Albert Museum.

Moreover, due to Wellington's famed military career and later his tenure as
Minister, he became the target of innumerable political cartoons by both British and
artists. Given how these satirical drawings repeatedly highlight the unbecoming sha
nose, if he were darkly hued, then no doubt these same artists would have exaggerat
feature or at least have represented it in some dramatic or disparaging way, as they
his nose (Figures 6, 7, and 8).17 Thus, Bronte's rendering of Wellington as darkly hu
own myth-making, establishing the groundwork for her other darkly hued heroes.
While many of Charlotte Brontë's tales include various other male characters wit
countenances, one story in particular offers us another key clue to Rochester's "bro
In "Something about Arthur" (1833) Charles Wellesley narrates a story of consp
intrigue, in which his brother seeks revenge against the Baron of Caversham and co
against him by plotting to burn down the Baron's mill.18 Arthur commands a group o
men to launch his attack on the mill.

Tall and strongly built with brawny shoulders and sinewy limbs, each might have passed for a model
of Hercules or Miletus. Their dress was uniform doublets and breeches of undressed skin, with laced

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268 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

rj/* if.pJSumfir.y 2/ iSri/vtt <5*.

dchilles in i&e oufhs eftcr fictre&t, 01;

(JAc (j rart Ccrfofam m th<Stool of Re/ienttt.nceH
~Asrt ^nr /ratal Co-urctyc. jhr rautmal, fothexs in tountil £*m3 fw mUst.
Jlire : ok ii& lm£oi h iLjirowul, ^ fy /tnuart tin <J* ^rs

Figure 6. (Color online) "Achilles in the Sulks, or, the Great Captain on the stool of repentanceW." Hand
colored etching, published by George Humphrey, 1827. © The Trustees of the British Museum

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 Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace 269

A SCENE IN WESTMINSTER CIRCUS.

Clow* to the Biko (log.}-" Now, Mr. WeusKW, is there anything I can run for to fetch—for
go—for to carry—fop to bring—for to take," <fee* ifee. <fec.

Figure 7. (Color online) "A scene in Westminster Circus." Wood-engraving, aft

Trustees of the British Museum.

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270 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

IPOUTOAIT.OIF AWOMJE D¥KE.

I should tb.mli this "heaipotsest some talent for MUi tot

WcHirinfati I

Figure 8. (Color online) "Po

c. 1829 © The Trustees of th

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 Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace 271

buskins of the same, and high sugar-loaf hats, from under the broad brims of which dark dish
elf-locks straggled over their bronzed and weather-beaten visages, (emphasis added, Alexander,
Writings II. 1: 26-27).

While these men differ significantly in rank and dress from Rochester, there ar
notable resemblances. At the end of Jane Eyre, while she scrutinizes Rochest
state, Jane asks "to comb out this shaggy black mane," describing him like V
real blacksmith, brown, broad-shouldered" (emphasis added, 438, 441; vol. 3, c
Furthermore, the description of these men's "elf-locks" hanging out from under "th
brims" of their hats is repeated by Bronte in Jane Eyre, when Jane describes the "e
bristling under "a broad-brimmed gipsy hat," when Rochester masquerades as a fort
(196, 195; vol. 2, ch. 4). However, what is most significant here is the connection
Rochester's "bronze scrag" and these men's "bronzed and weather-beaten visage
brawny men with "weather-beaten" faces are clearly not of the squirarchy, like Roc
or of the noble ranks, like Wellington, but of the laboring class. For centuries, skin
and darkened from the sun, along with muscularity were class markers of the labor
for both men and women. However, Brontë is refashioning these class markers as de
masculine traits for both the gentry and middle-class men. If we return for a mom
Bronte's description of the Duke of Wellington and his "dark, almost swarthy" comp
we can see how his complexion would likewise be bronzed or darkened by the su
active life as a soldier exposed to the elements. So though Wellington's military
were definitely part of the imperialist agenda, his dark complexion signifies, not hi
been tainted by imperialism, but rather his dark complexion is a mark of his heroic so
to preserve and advance Britain's empire. His "almost swarthy" complexion sign
vital masculinity and heroic valor. Thus, Brontë constructs a unique and most novel
of Britain's hero as darkly hued.
However, unlike his father, Lord Charles, the sardonic storyteller, does not in fa
the "somewhat swarthy" complexion that Cornelius, his alter ego, is given in "A
Marina." All other accounts of him portray him as fair skinned. In an earlier piece "Ch
of the Celebrated Men of the Present Time" (1929), Brontë describes Charles as havin
that "falls in light yellow ringlets over his forehead" (Alexander, Early Writings I: 1
unlike Cornelius' "long thick hair, black as the hoody's wing" (I: 288). Six mont
Brontë provides a more extensive physical description of Charles Wellesley in "Third
of Tales of the Islanders" (1830). "His forehead, fair as ivory, was shaded by ringlets
which hung in beautiful clusters over his temples" (I: 143^14). Moreover, Lord
lives a voluptuous life of leisure and indolence, so unlike Brontë's portrayal of his fa
the Duke of Wellington. Lord Charles recounts one afternoon spent "reposing in one
orange groves": "Oppressed by the broiling heat, I plucked listlessly the golden fruit
the graceful bough which shaded me" (I: 171). While he "fried with heat under an Af
summer's sun," he still retains his fair complexion (I: 171). In the October 1830 insta
of her "Young Men's Magazine,"19 Charles Wellesley quibbles with his compatrio
his complexion. When Sergeant Bud remarks that he looks "fresh and rosy"; he
"Nonsense, I hope I'm rather tawny" (I: 237). When De Lisle, the famous Verdopolitan
painter, adds that his countenance looks "of a purer white than before," Charles pro
"That's a flat lie! I'm not fair" (1:237-38). In this tale, as well as in "Albion and Marin
Charles may wish to be darkly hued like his valiant and manly father, but he falls far

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272 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

Even under the most unlikely circumstances, Lord Charles's

be thwarted. In a later piece "Something about Arthur"(1833), L
he lived for sometime incognito in Verdopolis' underworld, stay
"the open fields" among "tavern-keepers, poachers, park-breakers, h
the flashmen about town, etc., etc."(Alexander, Early Writings
he learned their urban cant and scurrilous behavior, "imitating
that they soon declared that I might have been born and bred am
However, his complexion and his elegant shape betray his noble
despite of incessant exposure to all weathers, continued tolerably fa
Bronte's Glass Town stories demonstrate how the complexion of the
just tied to external elements such as exposure to the sun, but equal
conduct. Whereas Lord Charles basks under the African sun or lives
open fields, his indolence and vicarious living will never afford him
While Bronte's Glass Town and Angrian stories of the Wellington
us reassess Rochester from a new perspective, Shirley acts as a most
to both Bronte's early writings and Jane Eyre in regard to no
physiognomy but also to his donning of the pearl necklace, wh
Duke of Wellington would never do. Shirley, though, offers no
Berthas, or Mrs. Reeds; instead, only certain male characters are dar
of her central male characters are identified as having darker ph
Mr. Hall, Mr. Helstone, and most importantly Robert Moore, the no
these four figures we will be able to have a better grasp as to w
signifies and how it relates to Bronte's remodeling of masculinity i
Brontë opens her 1849 novel with a scathing critique of the g
local curates including Mr. Malone, "a native of the land of sham
vol. 1, ch. 1), noted for his partiality to whiskey. Brontë provides a
face, which is not identified as specifically dark but rather as "
American-Indian sort of visage, which belongs to a certain class
vol. 1, ch. 1). Elsie Michie deftly notes how Bronte's portrayal of M
stereotypes of the Irish as one of the "dark races" that becom
differentiated" ( 128). While this description of Malone certainly va
is distinctly unlike the dark visages of the Duke of Wellington and
is "ruddy" (24; vol. 1, ch. 2) not brown, bronze or swarthy, which sug
associating Malone with nineteenth-century stereotypes of Native A
Thus, Brontë's disparaging portrait of her Irish curate proves to
Native Americans and the Irish alike. Malone's ruddiness may
alcohol consumption and roseca, given his predilection for "a tumble
(17-18; vol. 1, ch. I).22 His lineage becomes a point of contention
younger curates. Malone "reviled them as Saxons and snobs at th
high Celtic voice; they taunted him with being the native of a conq
rebellion in the name of his 'counthry,' vented bitter hatred against
of rags, beggary, and pestilence" (10; vol. 1, ch. 1). Furthermor
and lineage differ from the references to the other three men, wh
brown or dark but not ruddy.
In contrast to Malone, Brontë presents a British man of the
complexioned, and already rather grey-haired" vicar of Nunnely, Cy

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 Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace 273

compassion for the impoverished workers like William Farren and for the "anathem
race"23 of old maids (119; vol. 1, ch. 8). All references to him, either by the narrato
other characters, reflect his noble character; thus, his darkness is in no way suggestiv
being tainted or sullied by anything ignoble. Being neither of the aristocracy, the squ
nor of Irish lineage, his dark complexion cannot be owed to Meyer's contentions abo
workings of the empire" or Michie's observations about British stereotypes of the Ir
simanized race. Whereas the young curates like Malone are flawed men of the churc
embodies true piety and good works; his darkness then cannot be attributed to any
religious corruption or hypocrisy.
Another man of the cloth, whose darkness is even more prominently portrayed
novel, is Caroline's uncle, the Reverend Helstone, who like Donne is of British li
of modest income and has a "keen brown visage" (emphasis added, 12; vol. 1, ch. 1). T
a minister by trade, Brontë clarifies early on how "he had missed his vocation:
have been a soldier" (32; vol. 1, ch. 3). He, like Brontë, reveres the great militar
Wellington by elevating him to the status of an epic hero: "Wellington is the soul of E
Wellington is the right champion of a good cause; the fit representative of a po
resolute, a sensible, and an honest nation" (34; vol. 1, ch. 3). Throughout the novel, B
alludes to Helstone as if he were a "veteran officer" (12; vol. 1, ch. 1), "marchin
and erect, looking browner, keener, and livelier than usual" (109; vol. 1, ch. 8).
description defies Victorian stereotypes of darkly hued skin, where brown skin
associated either with non-western cultures or as an attribute of the laboring class.
browned complexion from sun exposure and outdoor labor was a class marker, Bront
using it in such a way to demean or denigrate Helstone's middle-class status as a cler
Rather he is always described as an active man, traveling about on horseback to
his parishioners. His looking "browner" renders him "keener" and "livelier," as p
robust, like a soldier.
His brown complexion signifies health and vigor, bearing no connotation of
taint or pollution. At one point Shirley even refers to Helstone as "my bronzed old
(emphasis added, 181; vol. 2, ch.l). Brontë shows that being darkly hued suggests str
of character, but this masculine power must not be abused or tyrannical. Shirley, w
Helstone's "brown, keen sensible old face" endearing, asks Caroline if she is fond
When Caroline describes her uncle as rather austere and taciturn, Shirley then queri
he tyrannical?" to which Caroline replies, '"Not in the least'" (181; vol. 2, ch. 1). Even
Caroline confides that he is "stern and silent at home," Shirley adds, "I can well
my bronzed old friend is quite innocent" (181; vol. 2, ch. 1). Earlier in the novel Bro
describes Helstone as a "little man of bronze" (85; vol. 1, ch. 7), which refers to his b
complexion but may also relate to his hard and austere nature.
We gain even greater insight into Brontë's rendering of Helstone when we obser
parallels that she draws here and elsewhere between Helstone and the novel's d
Robert Moore. These men, seemingly, physically so different, with Moore standing
tall and Helstone more diminutive, have one notably similar physical attribute - the
physiognomies. Early on, Brontë describes Moore's face as having "a new-found
mantling on his dark physiognomy" (32; vol. 1, ch. 3). His lineage, though, disti
him from Donne and Helstone, for he is only "but half a Briton" (25; vol. 1, ch. 2). T
description the reader is given of Robert presents him as "rather a strange-looking
he is thin, dark, sallow; very foreign of aspect," but at the same time "his phys

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274 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

is agreeable" (24; vol. 1, ch. 2). Furthermore, Brontë clarif

or corruption, for "he has no moral scrofula in his mind, no
for instance, as that of falsehood; neither was he the sla
ch. 8). The narrator follows up by noting how the "same
neither of these two would look, think, or speak a lie" (113; v
abstemious nature, and iron will set them apart from the oth
attack on the mill, Shirley refers to both men as the "ear
8). They are both described heroically as "men of steelly nerv
(32; vol. 1, ch. 3), even though, they have opposing views
While Helstone adamantly defends Wellington, Moore vow
they put their political differences aside by forming an allia
sympathizers and their parish from the Dissenters. Hero
Brontë portrays Helstone and Moore's rigidity and misant
masculinity, where their devotion to their public lives and p
of their private lives.
While Brontë presents her darkly hued males character
positively as hard working and devoted men of community,
the romantic companionship of a woman and marriage.
for very different reasons, incapable of such an attachme
neglected his wife and "made no pretense of comprehend
Hall, though beloved by the women in the community, is
was wedded already to his books and his parish: his kind
learned like himself, made him happy in his single state"
Perkin astutely observes that Hall's parish is "appropriate
him with the celibacy of nuns and with "the unattractive spi
men choose their professions over marriage. In the end, they
of men and lack the erotic power most desired in Bronte's he
romantic partner nor desires companionate marriage. In Hels
not be her husband's companion, much less his confidant
heroes must allow for companionate marriage, esteeming
romantic mates. Her heroes also must embody an erotic, mas
a "true-throbbing, manly love" (447; vol. 3, ch. 7).25
We gain another perspective on Rochester's "bronze scra
like Rochester, comes to embody that "true-throbbing, m
Rochester are only capable of such a manly love after they su
gravely hurt and experience a loss of masculine power. Wh
being shot, Brontë describes him as "the meagre man," a
wasted figure" (486; vol. 3, ch. 10). He becomes stripped not o
and vigor, but also of his dark complexion. Yorke notices
"pallid, lifeless, helpless" (470; vol. 3, ch. 9). Later, Robert
by describing himself as "a mere ghost" (488; vol. 3, ch. 1
he has become "unmanned" (489; vol. 3, ch. 10). Although
emasculate him, Brontë at the same time reminds her reader
as Mrs. Horsfall must care for this man of "six feet" with "h
vol. 3, ch. 9). Robert may feel "unmanned," but Brontë remin
which is only temporarily held in check. His illness reforms

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 Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace 275

become too steeped in business and work to achieve the ideals of companionate marriag
Even his marriage proposal to Shirley, proved to be entrepreneurial, being motivated by th
base pecuniary interests of a mill owner, rather than by a "true-throbbing, manly love" (447
vol. 3, ch. 7).
Earlier in the novel, Robert articulates how men can be base creatures. "Men, in general
are a sort of scum, very different to anything of which you have an idea; I make no pretensio
to be better than my fellows" (73; vol. 1, ch. 6). Finally his illness awakens his manl
sensibility, which surfaces upon Caroline's departure after her clandestine visit to him. As
Caroline gently puts Robert's "thin fingers" to her lips, "a large tear or two coursed down
his hollow cheek" (489; vol. 3, ch. 10). His tears symbolize his newfound sensibility an
mark a shift away from the "hard bilious" (33; vol. 1, ch. 3) nature of Robert Moore, the m
owner. Here, Brontë critiques the hardened masculinity of the "industrial male," so lauded
by Victorian society. Earlier in the novel, Robert even describes his heart as an impenetrab
"sepulchre," with "mercantile blood" coursing through his veins (107; vol. 1, ch. 8). He
proclaims that he "scarcely breathes any other air than that of mills and markets," setting hi
apart from the "lamb-like" men of the region (106, 105; vol. 1, ch.7).26 Moreover, Robe
earlier believed that his violent retaliation to protect his industrial interests was a manly an
courageous reaction.27
Ironically his violence unmans him, rendering him helpless as a lamb under the care and
"brawn of Mrs Horsfall," who successfully manhandles him into "docility" (473; vol. 3, ch.
9). Interestingly, only after he renounces his retribution against Michael Hartley does Bron
give Robert back his physical strength along with his dark complexion in the final chapter
of the novel.28 Gazing up at the planet Venus, Caroline suddenly feels someone's care
and turns about to find, not her mother, but instead a "dark manly visage" (535; vol. 3, ch.
14). Thus, Robert's darkness reemerges when his "true-throbbing, manly love" is awakened.
Afterwards, he tells Caroline how he can now "think of marriage" (537; vol. 3, ch. 14).
This inquiry into the enigma of Rochester's "bronze scrag," which led us back to Bronte
early writings and then forward to Shirley, demonstrates that Rochester's darkness, like tha
of Robert Moore's, is not a mark of corruption or impurity that must be eradicated
"whitened." Rather coupled with manliness and virility, their dark physiognomies rend
them as ideal models of masculinity, even though both heroes initially need tempering. Fro
the onset of these novels both heroes are shown to be flawed, lacking a certain self-restrain
that renders them less noble and less manly in their actions. Both commit acts of violence,
though Rochester's violence proves to be more ignoble in nature and circumstance. By far,
Rochester has a greater need for reformation than Robert Moore.
When Brontë first introduces Edward Rochester, he may be darkly hued and has a "tail
d'athlète" (140; vol. 1, ch. 15), but he does not embody the ideal of manliness, for he do
not exercise the prerequisite moral restraint, a defining trait of Victorian manliness. In th
first years after his marriage to Bertha, he ventures across Europe, manifesting more the
proclivities of a Byronic hero than a Victorian gentleman. He readily discloses his youthful
"prurience" (305; vol. 3, ch. 1) and dalliances with Céline, Giacinta, and Clara. He admits to
having shot Céline's young paramour, the vicomte, in a jealous rage. Later, of course, he tri
to seduce Jane into a bigamist marriage. While initially he is morally debauched, ultimately
he becomes a tractable model of manliness. Brontë clearly distinguishes Rochester from
unredeemable males like John Reed, where even their dark complexions differ significantly
Unlike Rochester's bronzed skin, John Reed's dark countenance becomes corrupted as

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276 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

dingy and unwholesome skin" (9; vol. 1, ch. 1), foreshadowin

and unmanly demise. Bronte's heroes must eventually reform
actions, as shown in Robert Moore's transformation. Manlines
the ability to refrain from the abuse of masculine power over w
women and children.
Brontë shows how Rochester struggles to refrain from using physical violence against
his lunatic wife. His situation is particularly precarious, for while Bertha is described as
a wild beast, she is still a woman, no matter how debased. Furthermore, her unchecked
violence has the potential to unleash his own rage, which if acted upon would unman him by
reducing him to the level of a brute. Even in the scene where Bertha grabs him with "virile
force," setting her teeth into his check, he must refrain from violence (293; vol. 2, ch. 11).
Though he restrains himself, his deception costs him his "angel" (315; vol. 3, ch. 1), who
flees Thornfield. Therefore, Brontë leaves Rochester's redemption in his own hands.29 By
not allowing Jane to stay with Rochester in his present demise, Brontë calls into question
the Victorian masculinist paradigm, what George Moss calls the "aggressive, robust and
activist masculinity"(49), by exposing Edward Rochester's impure masculinity, which must
be reformed before the ideals of the companionate marriage can be achieved.
The Victorian ideal of manliness was predicated upon the idea that the dangerous
energies of aggression and sexuality must, as Herbert Sussman writes, be "moderated in
a consistent flow of energy harnessed to productive purpose" (34). Rochester's dangerous
energies become dramatically evident after Jane's departure. When Jane leaves Moor House
and arrives at the Rochester Arms Inn, she interviews the late Mr. Rochester's butler about
the fire and Edward's condition. The butler explains how Mr. Edward "grew savage - quite
savage on his disappointment: he never was a mild man, but he got dangerous after he lost
[the governess]" (427; vol. 3, ch. 10). Sussman notes that the harnessing of male energy
was often associated with the imagery of water and fire that must be regulated, especially
with regard to any "imagery of flame" (10). Those flames in Jane Eyre are intimately tied to
Bertha and the fires that burn down Thornfield. As Sue Thomas observes, Bertha's death is
"figured as purification, as a chastening the blinded and maimed Rochester" (50). Through her
eradication, Rochester appears to be freed from his infernal behavior, but this is not entirely
the case. Susan Meyer adroitly reads this scene as more ambiguous, for it only seemingly
"institutes the great act of cleaning in the novel, which burns away Rochester's oppressive
colonial wealth and diminishes the power of his gender" (92). The butler's assessment of
Rochester's savage state shows how those excesses have not been entirely burned away with
the immolation of Bertha and Thornfield; those fires are still raging within him.
However, by the time that Jane returns and finds Rochester at Ferndean, a significant
change in Rochester's identity has taken place. While some critics see Jane's return as a
final reformation of Rochester, the imagery in this scene suggests that Rochester fires have
already been quelled.30 Upon entering his parlor, Jane finds the room gloomy, for "a neglected
handful of fire burnt low in the grate" (432; vol. 3, ch. 11). Jane observes the next morning
how "[h]is countenance reminded one of a lamp quenched, waiting to be relit" (439; vol. 3,
ch. 11). This loss of fire equates to Rochester's temporary loss of his masculine power. The
morning after her arrival at Ferndean, Jane describes the "mournful" state of his infirmity
and "the powerlessness of the strong man" (439; vol. 3, ch. 11). Though Rochester sees his
"crippled strength" as a hindrance to their union, Jane gently reassures him with a caress
that provokes a telling response: "I saw a tear slide from under the sealed eyelid, and trickle

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 Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace 277

down the manly cheek" (444; vol. 3, ch. 11). This scene parallels quite closely the scen
Shirley when Caroline caresses Robert's fingers, provoking tears - manly tears.
Shortly after this scene, Rochester reveals to Jane the rest of his story about the pea
necklace. Earlier, he had only told her how he had found her necklace after her departure
though he never mentioned what happened to it. Now, picking up the story again, he explai
how he removed the pearl necklace from "its little casket," thus saving it from the fire (
vol. 3, ch. 1 ). He tells her: "Do you know, Jane, I have your little pearl necklace at this mom
fastened round my bronze scrag" (446; vol. 3, ch. 11). Rochester, then, follows with the st
of his redemption, saying that he is not the "irreligious dog" that she might take him to
(446; vol. 3, ch. 11). "I began to experience remorse, repentance; the wish for reconcilemen
to my Maker. I began sometimes to pray: very brief prayers they were, but very sincere
(446; vol. 3, ch. 11). His wearing of the pearl necklace points to his reformation, acting no
in opposition to his darkness but rather highlighting it.31 Patricia McKee argues, though, t
dark characters like Bertha or Blanche cannot achieve "spiritual regeneration" (71). "
asymmetrical construction of racial contamination in Bronte's novel indicates that, where
white persons may succumb to corruption, they can be purified; while dark persons
impervious to spiritual regeneration" (71). However, Rochester's confession disproves
conclusion. Rochester discloses to Jane that he had begun to pray and sought "reconciliati
to [his] Maker," which attests to his spiritual regeneration.
While Charlotte Brontë ends Jane Eyre and Shirley with her heroes Rochester and Robe
each endowed with a "dark, manly visage" and a refined sensibility, the society in wh
Brontë lived created a different ending for these novels. While Charlotte Brontë advocate
her novels for companionate marriage based on the bonds of love, friendship, and commo
interests, Victorian society still upheld the laws of coverture, at the expense of companiona
marriage. Commenting on the ending of Shirley, Anna Krugovoy Silver argues that Carol
and Shirley are "colonized" by their husbands: "they have lost their names and identities
metamorphosed simply into Mrs. Louis and Mrs. Robert" (100). And the same can be said f
the new Mrs. Edward. However, while the restrictive laws of marriage prevailed througho
her lifetime, Charlotte Brontë nevertheless defies the expectations of her historical mom
by creating her British squire, a man of the landed gentry, as a darkly-hued hero. Moreo
in one of the most romantic, but unconventional scenes in Victorian literature, Brontë ha
her dark hero declare his love to Jane while wearing a pearl necklace.

Salisbury University

NOTES

1. As a Creole woman, critics have noted how her genealogy remains questionable. Whereas
focuses on Bertha as a native "white Creole" within the politics of imperialism, Susan
emphatically questions her whiteness by calling attention to Bronte's descriptions of her "as a 'swa
or 'dark' white woman." (67), carefully scrutinizing the numerous other "topoi of racial 'other
(68) associated with Bertha. Meyer by no means claims that Bertha has African ancestry; r
"Bertha has become black as she is constructed by the narrative" (67). In relation to Bertha's C
ancestry, H. Adlai Murdoch argues that the term Creole is "the unnamable third term, the imp
indeterminacy excluded by the colonial binary's neither/nor dyad" (1) and thereby argues
Meyer's claim that Bertha becomes black ( 11 ). As a Creole woman she can never be pure, neith

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278 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

white, nor pure black. Sally Shuttleworth, some years prior to Murdoch's
Bertha's Creole identity as indeterminate, "placed on the border between E
blood and culture, she is a literal realization of Jane's self-depiction as an
uncongenial alien' within that first-class household" (164). Sue Thomas anal
her brother Richard embody nineteenth-century stereotypes of white Creo
with emerging ethnographic discourses about white Creole people, which
whiteness based on susceptibility to moral degeneration and physical an
tropical climate" (51).
. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, ed. by Margaret Smith, 305; vol. 3, ch. 1. Al
noted parenthetically. I am using race here in its historical context, meanin
ranking within British society, which was Bronte's usage.
. Perhaps one reason that this passage has gone entirely unnoticed by critics
use of the word "scrag" as a noun in reference to a person's neck. The OED
nominal form was used traditionally to describe an animal's neck. Later re
were cant or slang. More frequently in Bronte's time "scrag" was used as
(on the gallows)" "or "To wring the neck of; also, to garotte," OED.
. Mrs. Scatcherd, one of the teachers at Lowood, is described as a little "
ch. 5), "the dark one" (47; vol. 1, ch. 5) and then as "the little black one
she is clearly treacherous, her being a teacher at Lowood necessarily exc
classes. Since her class doesn't figure in her darkness, we might speculate
non-British. However, Brontë specifically identifies the other teachers at
nationality is non-British, namely Madame Pierrot, who "comes from L
ch. 5). The name Scatcherd generally suggests that her immediate lineag
her darkness cannot be due merely to her having black hair, for Miss Te
lady with dark hair, dark eyes" but is also attributed with "a pale and l
ch. 5).
As to the influence of Charlotte Brontë's early writings on the characterization of Rochester's dark
complexion, significant attention has been made to Brontë's characterization of Quashia. In an entry
in her "Roe Head Journal," Brontë describes Quashia as "a swarth and sinewy moor." See Alexander,
"Charlotte Brontë at Roe Head" (401).
Lord Charles, in fact, fabricates this portrait of himself as dark-complexioned, for elsewhere in her
juvenilia, he is presented as fair skinned. However, Brontë returns to the issue of his complexion in the
August 1830 edition of "Young Men's Magazine" where Lord Charles describes himself as "tawny,"
but the painter De Lisle refutes his claim. See Alexander, Early Writings I: 237. In both stories Lord
Charles pretends to being darkly hued.
For an up-to-date overview of Brontë's Glass Town and Angrian stories along with detailed descriptions
of the characters, places and historical figures referenced in her juvenilia, see Christine Alexander and
Margaret Smith's The Oxford Companion to the Brontes, 209-15. In her 1928 article, Fannie Ratchford
provides a brief synopsis of founding of the kingdom of Angria. "When Charlotte was but thirteen
years old she wrote a story which she called The Twelve Adventurers, in which twelve of her favorite
heroes, including the Duke of Wellington, are shipwrecked on the coast of Africa, near the mouth of
the Niger River. By the help of the genii who rule the land they overcome the hostile blacks and found
a city. At the end of twenty years, when the population of the settlement had grown to 15,000, the
Duke of Wellington was unanimously chosen as 'a fit and proper person to sit on the throne of these
realms.'" See Ratchford, "Charlotte Brontë's Angrian Cycle of Stories," 495.
Eventually, Brontë focuses her Angrian tales on the adventures, amorous and otherwise, of the Duke's
eldest son Arthur Wellesley, generally referred to as Zamorna. As Barker notes; "He [Wellington] was
to feature as 'her man' in most of the plays, regardless of their origin, and her fixation with him as a
fictional character did not really end until he was superseded by his more malleable sons, the fictional
Arthur and Charles Wellesley" (155).

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 Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace 279

9. Brontë only uses "swarth" once rather than "swarthy" to describe Rochester's coloring in the
the tableaux vivants when he is described with "swarth skin," dressed as "the very model of a
emir" (183; vol. 2, ch. 3).
10. Christine Alexander's "Charlotte Brontë, Autobiography, and the Image of the Hero," 2.
references to this article will be cited as "Autobiography."
11. Both narrators, Captain Tree and Lord Charles, are unreliable and accuse each other of being
even though in the Preface to The Founding, Tree defends his reliability by saying his tale
none of those vile and loathsome falsehoods." See Alexander, Early Writings II. 1: 44.
12. While Fannie E. Ratchford and Winifred Gérin were two of the earliest critics to address the Br
juvenile works, Christine Alexander presents a more comprehensive study of Charlotte's ear
in The Early Writings of Charlotte Brontë, and John Maynard devotes a chapter to her juv
Charlotte Bronte and Sexuality, 7-30. Susan Meyer also devotes a chapter to these early writ
Imperialism at Home: Race and Women's Fiction. See pages 29-59.
13. Brontë paints a most unflattering portrait of the Irish curate Mr. Malone in Shirley.
14. Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, ed. Margaret Smith and Herbert Rosengarten, 34; vol. 1, ch. 3. A
citations will be noted parenthetically.
15. The first mention of his name in her juvenilia appears in March 12, 1829 in her short p
History of the Year" when she recounts how she named one of Branwell's toy soldiers th
Wellington. See Alexander, An Edition of the Early Writings of Charlotte Bronte I: 5.
16. In this story Charlotte Brontë describes how twelve British men, including Arthur Wellesle
for western Africa. After their arrival, they engaged the Ashantees in battle and defeated them
17. The British Museum has an extensive collection of over eight hundred British satirical
etchings, and lithographs that depict Wellington; they all consistently portray his complexio
skinned and in the same vein as any other key British subject in these works.
18. The burning down of the baron's mill in this story becomes refashioned years later in Shir
Sykes' dressing-shop is burned down. Also in chapter VIII of Shirley, Robert Moore con
Barraclough, saying "The utmost you can do - and this you will never dare to do - is
down my mill, destroy its contents, and shoot me" (116; vol. 1, ch. 8). Both "Something about
and Shirley were inspired by the Luddite resistance of 1812. See Christine Alexander, ed. So
About Arthur, 17. Ken Hiltner argues that Robert Moore in Shirley was based upon Cartwrig
mill "was the first heavily-fortified mill the Luddites attacked" (155).
19. Charlotte and Branwell modeled their Young Men's Magazine after Blackwood's Magazine
20. This repartee between Lord Charles and his compatriots suggests that each may be toying w
truth. In her 1829 "Characters of the Celebrated Men of the Present" Brontë writes that Serg
as seen through the eyes of Captain Tree, is "a great liar" who will either "flatter you" or "sl
behind your back like a blackguard" (Alexander, Early Writings I: 128). In any case, Lord
decries his fair complexion.
21. Zenobia's "swarthy face" is first described in the 1830 story "Visits in Verreopoli, volu
Alexander, Early Writings I: 303. Zenobia eventually marries Zamorna's rival Alexander P
first appears in "Albion and Marina."
22. Brontë also describes how while the other young curates would be satisfied with having
drink, Malone "contrived to secure two glasses of wine" (8; vol. 1, ch. 1).
23. This famous quote is from Jane Eyre in reference to governesses as "the anathematized
Jane Eyre 177; vol. 2, ch. 2.
24. As divergent as these men's beliefs appear, Philip Rogers effectively argues that Robert
more in alliance with Wellington's politics and the Tories than has been readily acknowle
"the politics implicit in Robert Moore's defense of his mill against Luddite rioters direct
Wellington's Tory hostility to Chartism." See Rogers 145.
25. In his discussion of the influence of Byron work on Charlotte's early writings, John Mayn
that Brontë "winnowed the chaff of Byronism," producing "an image of manly attraction a

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280 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

potency." See Maynard, Charlotte Brontë and Sexuality 11. This pot
Brontë's rendering of Zamorna and Rochester but also in Shirley's desc
26. Ken Hiltner convincingly argues that the "proletarianized" worker
Michael "receive an especially vicious treatment" by Brontë, who des
novel that makes much of the importance of courage and male strengt
that the Halifax Luddites are emasculated." See Hiltner 151-52.
27. Michael Hartley's attempt on Robert Moore's life was based upon two historical accounts from the
Leeds Mercury of attacks on two mill-owners, William Cartwright and William Horsfall. See Herbert J.
Rosengarten's "Charlotte Brontë's Shirley and the Leeds Mercury." Rosengarten discusses how these
events were reported in the Mercury, and the "Brontës were still subscribers to the Mercury as late as
1853" (591).
28. Once healed, Robert not only renounces his pursuit of his would be assassin Michael Hartley, but he
shows great compassion when he "gave his wretched widow a guinea to bury him" (532; vol. 3, ch.
14). Unlike Brontë's charitable resolution to the violent attack on Robert Moore, the historical events
upon which this episode was based proved less merciful, for the mill owner died and three of the
attackers were sentenced to death. Rosengarten speculates that Brontë altered these events because
"she did not wish to present her hero Robert Moore in the light of a vindictive butcher responsible for
sending starving men to the gallows" (596).
29. While the novel ends with the sense that Rochester has been redeemed or purified, critics by and large
agree that that this cleansing or conversion comes at Bertha's expense.
30. For a further discussion the imagery of fire and water in Jane Eyre, see Eric Solomon's essay "Jane
Eyre: Fire and Water."
31. Pearl necklaces are traditional wedding gifts given to brides, as white pearls represent purity. Thus,
Rochester's wearing of the pearl necklace might be read as symbolic of his reformation. Pearl necklaces
appear elsewhere in the novel when Jane notices a portrait hanging in the gallery at Thornfield manor
of "a lady with powdered hair and a pearl necklace" (99; vol. 1, ch. 11). One can only wonder if the
pearl necklace given to Jane was a family heirloom and the same as that in the portrait. In "Albion and
Marina," Brontë also describes Marina wearing "one row of pearls round her neck." See Alexander,
An Edition of the Early Writings of Charlotte Brontë I: 289.

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Victorian Literature and Culture (2013), 41, 40ÇM110.
€) Cambridge University Press 2013. 1060-1503/13 $15.00
doi: 10.1017/S1060150313000016

ERRATUM

ROCHESTER'S BRONZE SCRAG AND PEARL

NECKLACE: BRONZED MASCULINITY IN
JANE EYRE, SHIRLEY, AND CHARLOTTE
BRONTË'S JUVENILIA—ERRATUM

By Judith E. Pike

doi: 10.1017/S1060150312000381, Published by Cambridge University Press, 26 March

2013

In this article, the 3rd sentence (on the first page) is not grammatically correct. We are
reproducing the paragraph for completeness.

IN THE PAST TWENTY YEARS, GIVEN THE burgeoning field of postcolonial studies
and its inquiry into the identity politics of race, ethnicity, and imperialism, significantly
more critical attention has been paid to Charlotte Bronte's portrayal of Bertha Rochester
in Jane Eyre (1847) than in the prior one hundred and forty years of Brontë scholarship.
While in The Madwoman and the Attic (1979), Gilbert and Gubar present an earlier reading
of Bertha as "Jane's truest and darkest double" (360), any reading of Bertha's darkest in
terms of a cultural or racialized identity came about in later criticism. Gayatri Spivak was
instrumental in positioning Bertha within a discourse of imperialism rather than reading
her merely in psychological terms, which then precipitated more recent studies on Bertha's
colonial heritage, her financial and cultural imperialist inheritance and her ambiguous ethnic
status as a Creole woman.1 Contemporary critics have also addressed how Rochester in a
sense becomes Bertha's "truest and darkest double." However, his darkness has proven to
be far more quizzical, for unlike Bertha he is neither Creole nor raised in the West Indies;
quite to the contrary, Rochester was desired by the Masons precisely because of his heritage,
being "of a good race."2 Still, as readers, we have had to grapple with Bronte's numerous
descriptions of Rochester's dark visage.

409

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410 VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

Work Cited

Pike, Judith. "Rochester's Bronze Scrag and Pearl Necklace: Bronzed Masculinity in Jane Eyre,
Shirley, And Charlotte. Bronte's Juvenilia." Victorian Literature and Culture (2013). doi: 10.1017/
S1060150312000381.

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