Mr. Rochester- a hypocrite seeking redemption.

"Funny I should choose you for the confidant of all this..strange that you should listen to me so quietly, as if it were the most usual thing for a man like me to tell stories of his opera mistress to a quaint, inexperienced girl like you.."

Mr. Rochester saying this to Jane Eyre, has at times been considered as part of her education, where Mr. Rochester acts as the tool through which Jane learns of the immorality that lies outside the boundaries of the English society. Him following this by charmingly saying that she was "made to be the recipient of secrets", to me appears not a means of education. Rather, it seems to be a weak justification to use Jane as nothing but merely a drum to dump in secrets of his abominable past. He expects Jane to be a passive recipient of all that he wishes to unburden without getting "infected", thus making Jane a forceful tool of redemption at his discretion.  

As the novel progresses Mr.Rochester begins to further appear as selfish. His selfishness becomes most evident in the latter part the novel where Jane feels her hand to be grabbed 'with an iron grasp, hurrying her along with a stride [she] could hardly follow' as Mr. Rochester hastens to the temple to get married. Once the truth escapes he begins to draw parallels between his mad wife and young bride, referring to how he 'wished to have the young girl so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell..with clear eyes instead of red balls.." Mr. Rochester in some sense is seeking redemption through his marriage with Jane to rid himself of his philandering past. He does not find it mildly important that he should come clean with this secret, but once Jane finds out he very conveniently starts a tirade of emotional blackmailing asking her how she only valued the 'station and rank' of his wife over actually loving him. He continues this in a strange fit of rage that at some points boils down to violent streaks asking her to 'beware' of his temper and that he wishes to keep her as his wife and not mistress (when clearly that’s what poor Jane would be reduced to, with his already existent wife). Not only is Mr. Rochester selfish in wanting her, he is even more hypocritical in the methods he chooses to do so by trying to provide unwarranted claims for his behaviour. For instance, he refers to Adele as the daughter of a "French bastard", when given his past, it is very much possible the daughter is his own. Here his hypocritical and self centred nature only intensifies.

Perhaps, Mr.Rochester is aware that for him to survive and redeem himself in the English society he must be married to a plain and simple girl like Jane, and that is why he tries so hard to hold on to her, with a demeanour that almost borders on madness. However, the way he does so, through invalid justifications and sugar coated words is nothing but hypocritical and selfish.