Plain Jane

I just finished reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre in my English literature class and I have to say that I quite enjoyed the novel and its spirited main character. This passage from the book, in particular, where Jane asserts her spiritual equality before Mr. Rochester, appears to be a favorite of Mrs. Darwin:

"I tell you I must go!" I retorted, roused to something like passion. "Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?—a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you,—and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh;—it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal,—as we are!"


I'll probably move on soon to Jane Austen, who, as Alasdair MacIntyre, Joe Carter, and Brandon point out, is an important virtue ethicist not to be missed.