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Read the following excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and then answer the questions below.

"I have not been trampled on. I have not been petrified. I have not been buried with inferior minds, and excluded from every glimpse of communion with what is bright and energetic and high. I have talked, face to face, with what I reverence, with what I delight in,-with an original, a vigorous, an expanded mind. I have known you, Mr. Rochester; and it strikes me with terror and anguish to feel I absolutely must be torn from you for ever. I see the necessity of departure; and it is like looking on the necessity of death."

"Where do you see the necessity?" he asked suddenly.

"Where? You, sir, have placed it before me."

"In what shape?"

"In the shape of Miss Ingram; a noble and beautiful woman,-your bride."

"My bride! What bride? I have no bride!"

"But you will have."

"Yes;-I will!-I will!" He set his teeth.

"Then I must go:-you have said it yourself."

"No: you must stay! I swear it-and the oath shall be kept."

"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!"


What significance does the following quote have on the overall meaning of the passage? "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!"

a. It demonstrates how Mr. Rochester would rather marry Jane than Miss Ingram.

b. It demonstrates how Mr. Rochester feels about Jane.

c. It demonstrates how Jane is self-conscious because she is ordinary.

d. It demonstrates how Jane feels she is not beneath Mr. Rochester despite him being wealthy.

User Syph
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The significance of the quote "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!" is that it demonstrates how Jane feels that she is not beneath Mr. Rochester despite him being wealthy. Jane is asserting that her worth is not determined by her social status or physical appearance, but by the depth of her character and the strength of her spirit. She is challenging Mr. Rochester's assumption that she is a lesser person because of her poverty and lack of beauty, and asserting her equality and dignity as a human being. This quote is an important moment in the novel because it highlights Jane's fierce sense of pride and independence, as well as her refusal to be defined by the narrow social conventions of her time.
User Stuti Verma
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