Jane Eyre

Who is the character, St. John Rivers?

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St. John Rivers, a handsome young clergyman, is the brother of Diana and Mary Rivers. He also turns out to be Jane Eyre's cousin. When Jane arrives at Moor House, hungry and penniless, St. John offers her shelter. Jane then becomes close friends with the Rivers sisters. St. John offers Jane the post of schoolmistress at a girls' school he is establishing, and he also reveals to Jane that they are cousins, and that she has inherited a fortune of twenty thousand pounds from their mutual uncle, John Eyre. He persistently asks Jane to marry him and accompany him to India as a missionary—an offer she declines because she realizes that the marriage would be loveless.

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Jane Eyre