I grieve to leave Thornfield: I love Thornfield – I love it, because I have lived in it a full and delightful life, – momentarily at least. 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.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 23. A sobbing Jane opens up to Rochester on her thoughts of losing her new home in Thornfield. There she led a happy and full life and felt a sense of belonging. She is particularly upset at being separated from Rochester, a man she clearly loves. Jane uses a stark simile to describe how having to quit Thornfield is like a death to her. But she makes clear that it is impossible for her to stay as she believes Rochester is to marry Miss Ingram. Rochester has been goading Jane with the news that he is soon to marry Miss Ingram. This is particularly cruel of him. His motive is be to make Jane jealous and discover how deeply she really feels about him.