Why does Jane refuse St. John Rivers?

St. John offers Jane useful work, kinship, and a morally impressive life — and a marriage without love. He wants a missionary partner who will extinguish her own nature in his vocation. Jane respects his sincerity and still recognizes the proposal as a softer version of the domination she has already survived: her person used for someone else’s story.

Brontë distinguishes this refusal from the refusal of Rochester. Leaving Thornfield protects Jane from becoming a mistress; refusing St. John protects her from becoming a saint on his terms. Both are acts of self-respect. The famous inner voice calling her back toward Rochester is not a retreat from principle. By then she can choose passion without accepting a lie, which is the condition St. John’s duty-marriage would never meet.