“Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre; remorse is the poison of life.”
“Repentance is said to be its cure, sir.”
“It is not its cure. Reformation may be its cure; and I could reform – I have strength yet for that – if – but where is the use of thinking of it, hampered, burdened, cursed as I am? Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life: and I will get it, cost what it may.”
“Then you will degenerate still more, sir.”
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Rochester does not believe in repenting his sins. He sounds almost hedonistic when he says that he has the right to take pleasure out of life, since he is denied happiness because of his hardhips and trials. He metaphorically describes remorse as the “poison of life.” Jane on the other hand believes that religious repentance is the cure for remorse and warns him that he will degenerate even more if he does not reform.