Mr. Rochester and Adele Varens

Mr. Rochester and Adele Varens share a guardianship defined not by blood affection but by a sense of obligation born from a failed romantic entanglement and a grudging recognition of human need. Adele is the daughter of Celine Varens, a French opera-dancer with whom Rochester had what he calls a "grande passion" during his younger, more dissipated years. When he discovered Celine's treachery—she was meeting another lover, a young vicomte, while professing devotion to him—Rochester broke with her violently, ending their liaison. Six months before their rupture, Celine had given birth to Adele, whom she claimed was Rochester's daughter. Rochester himself is skeptical of this paternity, noting that "Pilot is more like me than she" and that he sees "no proofs of such grim paternity written in her countenance." Despite this doubt, when Celine later abandoned the child and ran off to Italy with a musician, Rochester took the "poor thing out of the slime and mud of Paris" and transplanted her to England, to "grow up clean in the wholesome soil of an English country garden." This act, he explains to Jane, is performed partly on the "Roman Catholic principle of expiating numerous sins, great or small, by one good work."

Rochester's Ambivalent Guardianship

Rochester's treatment of Adele is consistently marked by a gruff, impatient, and often dismissive demeanor. He refers to her as a "French floweret" he would "fain be rid of" in some moods, and he finds her prattle and lisp intolerable, declaring he has "no pleasant associations connected with their lisp." When Adele excitedly shows him a pink silk frock from her gift box, he predicts the sight will give his "tenderest feelings" a shock, and he watches her performance with a cold, analytical eye, seeing in her coquettish behavior a miniature of her mother, Celine Varens, "as she used to appear on the boards." He explicitly tells Jane that he keeps Adele and rears her only as a form of expiation. Yet this coldness is not absolute. He provides her with a governess, a comfortable home at Thornfield, and material gifts, including a "petit coffre" filled with toys. When Jane insists on bringing Adele along on a carriage ride to Millcote, Rochester initially refuses, calling her a "brat," but relents when he sees Jane's distress, ordering her to get her bonnet "back like a flash of lightning." This small concession reveals a capacity for flexibility, prompted by his growing attachment to Jane.

Adele's Place in the Thornfield Household

Adele herself is a lively, affectionate, and somewhat spoiled child, who chatters fluently in French and English and is eager to please. She calls Rochester her "ami, Monsieur Edouard Fairfax de Rochester" and is delighted by his presents. She is also perceptive: when Rochester jokingly says he will take Jane to the moon, Adele protests that Jane would be unhappy there and declares, "If I were mademoiselle, I would never consent to go with you." Her presence at Thornfield is a constant, if minor, thread in the household, and she forms a genuine bond with Jane, who becomes her governess and later her protector. The other members of the household, particularly the visiting gentry, treat Adele with a mixture of condescension and amusement. Blanche Ingram calls her a "little puppet" and a "little doll," while the Eshton sisters find her a "love of a child." Rochester himself, during the house party, uses Adele as a pawn in his charades, and she participates eagerly, scattering flowers as part of the pantomime of a marriage.

The Evolution of the Relationship

Rochester's plans for Adele shift significantly over the course of the novel. When he initially proposes to Jane, he tells her that after his marriage to Blanche Ingram (a feigned courtship), "Adele must go to school." This plan is reiterated after the interrupted wedding, when Rochester, in his despair, declares he will send Adele to school. However, after Jane's return and their marriage, the relationship takes a warmer turn. Jane, having obtained Rochester's leave, visits Adele at her strict school and finds her unhappy, pale, and thin. She brings Adele home, intending to resume her role as governess, but soon finds that her husband needs all her time and care. Instead, Jane places Adele in a more indulgent school, visiting her often and bringing her home sometimes. As Adele grows up, a "sound English education" corrects her French defects, and she becomes a "pleasing and obliging companion: docile, good-tempered, and well-principled." Her grateful attention to Jane and her family repays any kindness Jane ever offered her. This final outcome—Adele's integration into the Rochester household as a beloved, if not biological, family member—represents a quiet redemption of Rochester's initial, reluctant guardianship, transforming a duty born of guilt into a genuine, if modest, familial bond.