How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre: remorse is the poison of life."
"Repentance is said to be its cure, sir."
"It is not its cure. Reformation may be its cure; and I could reform—I have strength yet for that—if—but where is the use of thinking of it, hampered, burdened, cursed as I am? Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life: and I will get it, cost what it may." (1.14.63-65)
The difference between "repentance" and "reform" is important here. Jane thinks it’s enough to repent —to feel bad for what you’ve done. Rochester thinks that’s not enough and that you actually need to reform—to actively change your ways. We’ll be watching through the rest of the novel to figure out which of them the text supports.
Quote #5
"You seem to doubt me; I don’t doubt myself: I know what my aim is, what my motives are; and at this moment I pass a law, unalterable as that of the Medes and Persians, that both are right."
"They cannot be, sir, if they require a new statute to legalize them."
"They are, Miss Eyre, though they absolutely require a new statute: unheard-of combinations of circumstances demand unheard-of rules."
"That sounds a dangerous maxim, sir; because one can see at once that it is liable to abuse." (1.14.83-86)
The rules say Rochester is doing something wrong, so he’s out to change the rules. We don’t know what the thing is that he wants to get away with, but we’re suspicious already.
Quote #6
"I see genuine contentment in your gait and mien, your eye and face, when you are helping me and pleasing me—working for me, and with me, in, as you characteristically say, 'all that is right:' for if I bid you do what you thought wrong, there would be no light-footed running, no neat-handed alacrity, no lively glance and animated complexion. My friend would then turn to me, quiet and pale, and would say, 'No, sir; that is impossible: I cannot do it, because it is wrong;' and would become immutable as a fixed star. Well, you too have power over me, and may injure me: yet I dare not show you where I am vulnerable, lest, faithful and friendly as you are, you should transfix me at once." (2.5.140)
Later in the novel, Rochester’s going to do his best to convince Jane to do something that she thinks is wrong, but notice that at this much earlier stage he already knows she’s not the kind of person who can be convinced of something she disagrees with. Also, this passage suggests that, even though Jane kind of gets a kick out of being Rochester’s servant, she won’t obey just any order.