You never felt jealousy, did you, Miss Eyre? Of course not: I need not ask you; because you never felt love. You have both sentiments yet to experience: your soul sleeps; the shock is yet to be given which shall waken it.
Chapter 15 · Edward Rochester
Context
Rochester is telling Jane the story of his former mistress, Céline Varens, and her betrayal. He pauses to address Jane directly, claiming she has never experienced jealousy or love.
Analysis
Rochester's declarative syntax—'you never felt love'—reads as absolute certainty, yet the dramatic irony cuts against him: we are watching him fall for Jane even as he positions her as emotionally dormant. The metaphor of the 'sleeping soul' that awaits a 'shock' to awaken it frames love as violence done to Jane, not choice she makes, which tells us how Rochester imagines relationships—as masculine action upon feminine passivity.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Rochester's attraction to Jane is bound up with his need to see himself as the one who will 'awaken' her—he is drawn to her partly because he can cast himself as the experienced teacher and her as the pupil, replicating the power imbalance he finds comfortable.