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Chapter 37
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Jane Eyre, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love, Family, and Independence
Social Class and Social Rules
Gender Roles
Religion
Feeling vs. Judgment
The Spiritual and the Supernatural
Summary
Analysis
The final chapter begins with the famous line: "Reader, I married him." Remaining at Ferndean, Jane and Rochester have a small, quiet wedding and live in perfect harmony. Jane never tires of guiding her husband, reading aloud to him, and describing the landscape to him. St. John never comments on Jane's marriage, but Mary and Diana are overjoyed about it.
Jane is Rochester's prop and his guide, both his servant and his master. She becomes his eyes, which were a symbol of his power. St. John does not respond because human love means nothing to him, but the rest of Jane's family is joyful.
Themes
Literary Devices
Quiz
Test Yourself
Jane visits Adèle and finds her unhappy in a harsh school. Jane transfers her to a more liberal one closer to home. Through a good English education, Adèle's "French defects" are purged and she grows into a polite and principled young woman.
Jane represents specifically English values, nurtured in good homes and schools. In reforming Adèle, Jane also reforms Rochester's sinful past.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Two years into their marriage, Rochester partially regains sight in one eye in time to see the birth of their first baby: a son who inherits Rochester's brilliant black eyes.
Rochester's regained sight shows how God tempers justice with mercy. The son represents Rochester's redemption.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Writing ten years after the events of the novel, Jane informs the reader that Diana and Mary both have married respectable and caring husbands and visit regularly. St. John went to India alone. She says that in his last letter, St. John said that he had a premonition of his death, and she adds that she does not expect another letter from him. Jane ends by saying that she doesn't grieve for St. John, who has done God's work, and then quotes St. John's last letter, in which he begs his Master, Jesus Christ, to take him soon.
St. John is solitary and strong, but his fate is sad. He and Jane both craved and found a "master" they can serve. Unlike St. John, however, Jane doesn't sacrifice herself (or her life) in order to serve that master and be virtuous. Instead, Jane has found a balance between love and purpose, and between independence and service.
Themes
Literary Devices
Quiz
Test Yourself
Get the entire Jane Eyre LitChart as a printable PDF.
