Jane Eyre · Chapter
XIX explained
Jane visits the gypsy fortune-teller in the library, who reveals deep insights about her loneliness, suppressed feelings, and proximity to happiness.
What happens
Jane visits the gypsy fortune-teller in the library, who reveals deep insights about her loneliness, suppressed feelings, and proximity to happiness. The gypsy hints at Mr. Rochester's impending marriage to Blanche Ingram, but also suggests that Jane's own fortune is within her reach if she chooses to take it. The encounter becomes a psychological probing of Jane's inner state.
Themes in this chapter
Self-Respect and Integrity
Jane's refusal to be intimidated by the gypsy and her insistence on maintaining her composure reflect her strong sense of self-respect.
Love and Morality
The gypsy's probing reveals Jane's suppressed feelings for Rochester and the moral conflict between her love and her principles.
Social Class and Inequality
The gypsy's comments on Blanche Ingram's interest in Rochester's estate highlight the transactional nature of marriage among the upper classes.
Characters to notice
- Jane Eyre
Visits the gypsy fortune-teller, engages in a battle of wits, and is confronted with her own hidden emotions and desires.
- Mr. Rochester
Mentioned as the subject of the gypsy's predictions regarding his marriage to Blanche Ingram; his voice is heard later guiding Mason to his room.
- Blanche Ingram
Referred to as the beautiful lady Mr. Rochester is expected to marry, though the gypsy suggests she is primarily interested in his estate.
- Mr. Mason
Jane delivers a message to him from Mr. Rochester, and he is later shown to his room by Rochester.
Key passages
“You are cold, because you are alone: no contact strikes the fire from you that is in you. You are sick; because the best of feelings, the highest and the sweetest given to man, keeps far away from you. You are silly, because, suffer as you may, you will not beckon it to approach, nor will you stir one step to meet it where it waits you.”
The gypsy tells Jane that her coldness comes from isolation, her sickness from unfulfilled love, and her foolishness from refusing to pursue happiness.
The gypsy's direct challenge to Jane's emotional state, revealing her hidden desires.
“I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.”
Jane's inner resolve, as interpreted by the gypsy, is that she values her integrity and self-respect above all else, and will not compromise them for happiness.
The gypsy reads Jane's forehead as a symbol of her principled independence.