Chapter 18

Summary

With the guests over, Thornfield is transformed from a gloomy mansion to a party hall. There are people everywhere, talking, laughing, and making merry. This particular evening, Mr. Rochester decides that they will play charades. Immediately, people run around, getting costumes. Mr. Rochester then summons all the women and chooses the ones to be on his team, choosing Blanche among others. He asks Jane, but she declines in favor of sitting in her chair and watching. Blanche’s mother calls Jane stupid for no particular reason. Blanche and Mr. Rochester pair up for some of the charades, and everyone is dressed in amazing costumes and act very well. After their group is done, Jane watches Mr. Rochester and Blanche in the audience instead of the other group. She thinks that they are engaged, based on their interaction, but Jane is not jealous. She feels that Mr. Rochester does not love Blanche, and Jane cannot be jealous of such a cruel, spiteful woman.

Later, a man comes to Thornfield to join the party, saying that he and Mr. Rochester go way back and are good friends. Jane thinks that he looks weak, very dissimilar to Mr. Rochester. His name is Mr. Mason. He comes in when Mr. Rochester is away, and is welcomed to the party, where he sits in the corner by the fireplace, looking timid. Soon, a servant comes in to say that an old woman is outside, and she wants to tell the fortunes of the young, single ladies in the room. Rudely shunning her mother’s pleas for caution, Blanche volunteers to be the first. She disappears into the library, where the old woman is. When she comes back, she looks sour and irritated, and won’t tell anyone what happened. The rest of the girls go in at once, and come back half-hysterical, claiming that the old woman knows many things about them that she shouldn’t know. Then, the servant reminds Jane that she too must go, and Jane willingly slips off to the library. Cliffhanger!

Reaction

Well, this chapter is pretty short. I loved the charades scene, especially when Mr. Rochester and Blanche dressed up in shawls and fancy costumes. Mr. Mason seems like a bit of a wallflower, to say the least. I mean, he tried so hard to hide that he practically fell into the fire, poor thing. And as for the old woman, what did she say to Blanche? Anyhow, Mr. Rochester obviously does not love Blanche. She is carefully created so that the readers dislike her thoroughly, and Jane is clearly much more deserving of love. However, I still haven’t figured out why Mr. Rochester is acting like a dingbat. He really ought to stop pretending to like Blanche. My favorite quotation was, “By jove, she has taste!” (220) said by a guest upon hearing that the old woman only wants to see young single ladies.