Wow, I don't think anyone's ever agreed with me about that! It's kind of like James vs Snape, in a way -- no matter how awful he might have been, he wasn't cool with hate speech and genocide, which automatically places him above Snape. No matter how awful St John Rivers may be, he doesn't lock any women in the attic, trick eighteen-year-old orphans into bigamy, etc, and doubtless would be horrified at the very idea.