The Bombastic Yet Sensitive Hero

In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Rochester comes across--at least initially--as bombastic, even a tad arrogant. He is peremptory, gruff, and kind of spastic.

He is also very sensitive.

In one of the smartest passages in literature, Rochester chases after Jane to ask her why she is leaving his party so early. Jane is a governess; moreover, she is a step-down in terms of class from Rochester's guests. Plus, they are rude and dismissive.

Consequently, at first glance, Rochester's questions may seem manipulative. But here's the trick to Jane Eyre: take all of Rochester's statements at face value.

He truly doesn't understand why Jane doesn't stay. He put on a party. He invited her. He wants her there. Why is she leaving? 

This isn't bad writing on Bronte's part. Although most readers in the nineteenth century would have been aware of the class expectations drifting about any social gathering, Rochester is constitutionally blind to those expectations. 

Those expectations were not substantially different from the social expectations that currently waft about certain groups in American society and just as rigid in terms of language. Rochester is the guy who ends up in sensitivity training, not because he is deliberately rude but because he knows how dumb and limited the "rules" really are.

Or, rather, because he never really "got" the rules. It is obvious to everyone and their cat, now and then, why Jane Eyre would feel like an outsider. Yet Rochester continues to push her to take lead, to be in charge, to declare their relationship out loud.

He looks dominant. He isn't.

This archetype shows up in manga, male and female characters. Maki, from Punch Up, is a good example. His outlier nature is somewhat more obvious since by his cultural standards, he is just loud. Talkative, bombastic, lascivious, extroverted+.

And yet quite vulnerable. Although his lover is 19, twelve years younger than himself, he still needs shoring up: tell me you love me. Almost instinctively, he chooses a lover who despite the normal uncertainty of youth, perceives himself as more mature.

Kouta's epiphanies, like Jane Eyre's, occur when he sees past the bombastic exterior to Maki's inner troubles. He becomes especially uneasy when Maki isn't behaving bombastically. He doesn't want to quash the guy's personality; he prefers to learn to read over the lines.

Interestingly enough, though, Maki--like Rochester--isn't let off the hook. Kouta does get tired of dealing with a Jack-in-the-Box personality that never slows down. Sometimes, the loud, never-quite-serious personality grates. Be serious and sincere. For once.

Still, in the long run, the more mature, in-charge lovers would rather deal with the bombastic shenanigans of their significant others than not. Although the bombast may be masking a sensitive nature, the two sides create a whole person.

In Jane Eyre, Jane rallies Rochester to return to his usual bigger-than-life self.