360 Degrees: Marrying Someone much older (Jane Eyre)

Marrying someone who is at least 30 years older. 

         What a strange sentence, but the truth is it exists today as it did during Jane Eyre's era. There's a lot of questions that I'd like to ask Jane and Mr.Rochester about their undying love for each other, even though nearly 32 years separate the two lives. I mean, what allows them to be together? Can love truly overcome all obstacles? How does it work within the brain? Does it seem moral to marry someone who could be your father/mother? What is there to gain from marrying someone much older than you? Disadvantages? (Aside from true love). How does agreeing with this sentence impact us or define us? What makes it hard for us to accept this concept for some people?

          This phenomenon that occurs in our society is something that I've been wanting to understand, and Jane Eyre has helped me to understand a bit further. I'd like to think from the relationship between Jane and Rochester that for Jane, especially, the reason why she can come to love Rochester might have something to do with her own past childhood. Jane grew up fatherless for he had passed away, and grew up with her Aunt who was supposed to substitute her mother figure, but that didn't work out either. Therefore, even after losing her parents, she felt no love in her life. So is it possible that she was able to marry a man so much older than her because not only does he play her husband, but a patriarchal role? Perhaps there is influence of one's past and childhood, especially since our childhood forms our perceptions and foundation of love.

       One concept of love that Jane Eyre also touches on is the sense of morality when marrying between such "unequals" so to speak. In Jane Eyre, it is Mrs.Fairfax who really points this out. She's the one who gives Jane the sort of guilty look, and a bit of a lecture of Jane and Rochester's inequality, both in terms of financial wise as well as age. I kind of see myself along the lines of Mrs. Fairfax, kind of giving caveats to possible results of the inequality between them (age wise). However, Mrs. Fairfax's final response and reaction to Jane and Rochester getting married is of joy for them. That for me is another way of saying, "if they're truly happy and love each other, then why not?"

             In a way, marrying someone much older than you can actually better the relationship in a way that both the husband and wife could overcome these prejudices and viewpoints and actually get married. I think in a different way, it strengthens the relationship. Love truly knows no bounds and feels no aging.