My future husband was becoming to me my whole heart, and more than the world – almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for his creature of whom I had made an idol.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 24. Jane totally worships Rochester. Her obsession with him is even more important to her than her need for God or religion. He has become her idol and almost her “hope of heaven.” Loving Rochester is her new religion. Jane uses a nature simile to compare her losing sight of her religion and God to an eclipse of “the broad sun.” Such an eclipse would plunge the world into darkness, hinting at Rochester’s disturbing secret and how he may lead Jane down a morally murky path. A dark outcome to Jane’s worship at the altar of their love is being foreshadowed. An older Jane looking back on this moment admits that her judgment is clouded by her strong passion for Rochester.