Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë
Jane Eyre SuperSummary 1
Table of Contents
S UM M A RY 3
C H A P TER S UM M A RIES & A N A LYS ES 6
Preface-Chapter 9 6
Chapters 10-16 13
Chapters 17-22 18
Chapters 23-27 24
Chapters 28-35 29
Chapters 36-38 34
C H A RA C TER A N A LYS IS 38
Jane Eyre 38
Mr. Edward Rochester 38
Mrs. Reed (or Aunt Reed) 39
Georgiana Reed 40
Eliza Reed 40
John Reed 40
Mr. Brocklehurst 40
Helen Burns 41
Miss Maria Temple 41
Miss Alice Fairfax 41
Blanche Ingram 41
Grace Poole 42
Richard Mason 42
Bertha Rochester (nee Mason) 42
St. John Rivers 42
Diana Rivers 43
Mary Rivers 43
TH EM ES 44
Religion, Hypocrisy, and Moral Complexity 44

Faith and Love 45
Feminism and Gender Equality 46
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S YM B O LS & M O TIFS 48
The Madwoman in the Attic 48

Strong Female Role Models 49
Enslavement, Entrapment, and Binding 49
Home and Family 50
IM P O RTA N T Q UO TES 51
ES S A Y TO P IC S 61
TEA C H IN G G UID E 63
Preface-Chapter 9 63
Chapters 10-16 65
Chapters 17-22 66
Chapters 23-27 67
Chapters 28-35 69
Chapters 36-38 70
H O W TO US E 77
REA D IN G , D IS C US S IO N & Q UIZ Q UES TIO N S 78
Preface-Chapter 9 78
Chapters 10-16 79
Chapters 17-22 80
Chapters 23-27 82
Chapters 28-35 83
Chapters 36-38 85
A N S W ERS 88

Summary
Jane Eyre: An Autobiography is a bildungsroman, or coming of age novel, written by Charlotte
Brontë and originally published in 1847 under the male pseudonym Currer Bell by Smith, Elder
& Co. of London. Through Jane’s life and experiences, Brontë examines social issues including
religious hypocrisy, class discrimination, and sexism. Many literary theorists and biographers
—including Brontë’s friend and fellow novelist Elizabeth Gaskell—have also noted numerous
similarities between the novel’s events and Brontë’s personal history.
The novel has been widely adapted into plays, operas, films, and television series. Jane Eyre
has also been the subject of significant feminist theoretical texts, such as The Madwoman in
the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, and literary reinterpretations, such as Jean
Rhys’s novel Wide Sargasso Sea . This guide refers to the Project Gutenberg eBook edition of
the novel.
Plot Summary
When Jane Eyre opens, its narrator, a 10-year-old orphan named Jane, is living with the Reeds,
her maternal uncle’s family, in a manor called Gateshead. Jane’s embittered Aunt Reed sees
her as a burden, encouraging her children to mistreat and exclude Jane. When Jane retaliates
against her particularly cruel, tyrannical cousin John Reed, her Aunt punishes her by locking
her in the “red-room”—the room where Jane’s Uncle Reed died—and then sends her to a
nearby boarding school called Lowood. Before Jane departs, she confronts her aunt about her
cruel mistreatment.
Led by its vicious and hypocritical headmaster Mr. Brocklehurst, Lowood treats its students
even more harshly, with punishments meted out for even the slightest perceived infractions.
Only Jane’s new friend Helen and her kind teacher Miss Temple offer Jane any consolation.
Lowood’s students lack basic needs like nourishing food, clean water, and insulation from the
winter cold—ostensibly to build their Christian character, though Mr. Brocklehurst profits from
these cutbacks. When a typhus epidemic strikes, many of the girls become gravely ill, having
been made susceptible by the school’s poor conditions. Helen tragically dies in Jane’s arms.
After the typhus epidemic, new leadership takes over Lowood and makes it into a much better
institution. Jane stays on as a student and then a teacher for eight years, until she accepts a
post as a governess at a country manor called Thornfield.

There, Jane teaches a young French girl named Adèle, the ward of Thornfield’s mysterious
owner, Mr. Edward Rochester. Jane meets Mr. Rochester when he is thrown from his horse.
As he summons Jane for evening conversations, the two quickly learn that they share many
interests and eccentricities, and they establish themselves as intellectual equals. Jane
struggles with her romantic feelings for Mr. Rochester, since he intends to marry a beautiful
woman named Blanche Ingram. As time passes and the two grow increasingly close, Mr.
Rochester abandons the idea of marrying Blanche and offers an impassioned proposal to
Jane.
A man named Mr. Mason interrupts their wedding: Mr. Rochester cannot legally marry Jane
because he is already married. Mr. Rochester confesses: His father tricked him into marrying
the wealthy Bertha Mason, ignoring her incipient mental illness and violent outbursts. To
protect both the community and himself from her, Mr. Rochester has kept Bertha locked in
the attic for 15 years, in the care of a woman named Grace Poole. Mr. Rochester begs Jane to
run away with him, but despite her love for him, Jane staunchly refuses becoming his
mistress. She flees Thornfield.
She wanders until she reaches the house of governesses Diana and Mary and their brother, a
clergyman named St. John Rivers. The cold and severe St. John learns Jane’s identity and
tells her that her uncle, John Eyre, recently passed away and left her 20,000 pounds. He also
reveals that John Eyre was his own uncle, making him and Jane cousins. Jane is delighted to
learn that she has living relatives and insists on dividing the inheritance equally between
herself, Diana, Mary, and St. John.
St. John feels called to serve as a missionary in India and asks Jane to join him. He does not
love Jane, but feels that her hardworking, steadfast demeanor would make her an ideal
missionary’s wife. Jane tells St. John that she will go to India with him, but she cannot marry
him because they are not in love.
Soon after, Jane mysteriously hears Mr. Rochester’s voice calling her from a great distance.
She swiftly returns to Thornfield, now a charred ruin. At a local inn, she learns that Bertha set
Thornfield on fire before jumping from the roof. Badly burned, Mr. Rochester lost his eyesight
in the fire. Jane finds Mr. Rochester living at a remote cottage in the woods. Jane affirms that

she loves him and is content to remain by his side for the rest of their lives. They marry, and
Mr. Rochester eventually recovers some of his eyesight. He is thus able to see the face of his
newborn son.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Preface-Chapter 9
Prologue Summary
In the preface to Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (writing as Currer Bell) defends the novel against
religious hypocrites who might criticize the morality of Jane and Edward Rochester’s love:
“Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion […] To pluck the mask from
the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns” (6).
Chapter 1 Summary
Looking back over her life as an adult woman, Jane Eyre begins her story when she was a 10-
year-old orphan living in Gateshead manor with her wealthy aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her aunt’s
three children: Eliza, Georgiana, and surly teenager John.
On a dreary, cold day that prohibits outdoor activities, Mrs. Reed accuses Jane of being sullen
and willful compared to her cousins. She forbids Jane from playing with Eliza and Georgiana,
fearing that Jane’s bad temperament will rub off on them. Jane challenges Mrs. Reed’s
judgment, but her self-defense only serves to affirm her guardian’s negative opinion.
Jane comforts herself by reading Bewick’s History of British Birds, losing herself in the details
of its geographic descriptions. 14-year-old John interrupts her. Spoiled and entitled, he often
bullies and terrifies her: “not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in the day, but
continually: every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh in my bones shrank when
he came near” (18).
John berates Jane for reading the Reeds’ books, saying she has no right to use his family’s
belongings: “you are a dependent, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none;
you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen’s children like us” (20). When he grabs
the book and tries to hit her and pull her hair, Jane retaliates, yelling at him and fighting back.
John lies to his mother that Jane hurt him without provocation. Mrs. Reed orders her maid
Bessie to take Jane to the “red-room” (22) and lock her inside.

Chapter 2 Summary
Jane’s fear of the red-room drives her to act out in a panic, eliciting only condemnation from
the servants.
The still, cold atmosphere of the red-room frightens Jane. She recalls that her Uncle Reed died
in the room nine years ago, and it has seemed haunted ever since. Wide-eyed in horror, Jane
gazes at her own reflection in the looking glass. She is consumed with a sense of injustice,
unable to explain to herself, “why I thus suffered”, though she notes that “now”—at the time of
her backward-looking adult narration—she “see[s] it clearly” (32).
Jane then reflects on the events that led her to Mrs. Reed’s household. Her kind Uncle Reed
brought her to live with his family after her parents died. On his deathbed, Uncle Reed made
Aunt Reed promise to “maintain [Jane] as one of her own children” (34). Jane is then shaken
by the sensation that her Uncle Reed might rise from the dead to express his rage at her
mistreatment. Terrified by this idea, she begins to shake the door by its knob, crying out for
the servants to let her go.
Mrs. Reed refuses to let Jane out of the red-room, believing that she is simply trying to evade
her punishment. Jane undergoes another panic attack, during which she faints from
emotional exhaustion.
Chapter 3 Summary
When Jane’s consciousness returns, she is in bed in the nursery, tended to by the family’s
kind-mannered doctor, Mr. Lloyd. Bessie now also treats Jane with kindness, asking another
servant to sleep next to Jane, who might die from Mrs. Reed’s harsh actions. Adult Jane
notes that she has since forgiven her Aunt, who “knew not what [she] did” (43).
The next day, Mr. Lloyd speaks to Jane, wondering what caused her such distress. Jane tells
him she was afraid of Mr. Reed’s ghost and that she is unhappy living at Gateshead. Mr. Lloyd
hints that he finds Jane ungrateful and emotionally disturbed, though his outward affect
remains gentle. He suggests that perhaps Jane might prefer living with her poor relatives, but
the idea of living in poverty frightens Jane. Mr. Lloyd recommends that Mrs. Reed enroll Jane
in a local girls’ boarding school.
Bessie and another servant, Mrs. Abbot, discuss Jane’s parents. Jane’s mother was a member

of the wealthy Reed family, and her father was a poor clergyman. The Reeds were greatly
distressed that she married beneath her class, and Jane’s disapproving grandfather wrote his
daughter out of the will.
Mrs. Abbot expresses her disapproval of Jane’s maternal family, but Bessie is sympathetic to
Jane’s plight. Mrs. Abbot would pity Jane if she were “a nice, pretty child” (59) like Georgiana,
instead of “a little toad” (59).
Chapter 4 Summary
After the red-room incident, Mrs. Reed’s children are even more unkind toward Jane. Angered
by her mistreatment, Jane proclaims to them that they “are not fit to associate with [her]” (62).
Mrs. Reed overhears Jane and responds with physical violence, enraged by the idea that a
poor child would condescend to her family.
After the holidays, the stern headmaster of Lowood School, Mr. Brocklehurst, comes to
Gateshead to arrange Jane’s enrollment. He asks Jane a number of challenging questions
about her character, behavior, and religious beliefs, including, “Do you know where the wicked
go after death?” (74). When Jane responds that they go to Hell, he asks what she must do to
avoid going to Hell. Jane boldly replies, “I must keep in good health, and not die” (75).
Mrs. Reed warns Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane’s instructors must keep a close eye on her, as
she has “a tendency to deceit” (78). Mr. Brocklehurst promises to spread the word about
Jane’s character among all her teachers. He also tells Mrs. Reed that Jane’s education will
emphasize the importance of humbleness and plainness.
When Mr. Brocklehurst leaves, Jane expresses her frustration with Mrs. Reed’s accusation
that she is deceitful, saying, “I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare
I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed” (84). Jane
further explains that she will never forget her aunt’s mistreatment of her: “you are bad, hard-
hearted. You are deceitful!” (85).
Shortly after Jane’s tirade, Bessie confesses to Jane that she prefers her over Mrs. Reed’s
children, and that she will miss her when she goes to Lowood.

Chapter 5 Summary
Four days later, a coach arrives very early in the morning to take Jane to Lowood. Jane
refuses to say good-bye to Mrs. Reed, claiming that her benefactress was never her friend.
Bessie, however, bids an emotional farewell to Jane, begging the guard to take good care of
her.
When Jane arrives at Lowood, the weather is harsh, gray, and forbidding. Lowood is a grim
building, filled with many young women in plain brown dresses. The girls must work hard with
little reward or pleasure: They eat disgusting burnt porridge and are disciplined harshly for the
slightest infraction. One beautiful young teacher named Miss Temple, however, is kind to the
girls.
Jane befriends a gentle and angelic student named Helen Burns, who explains that Lowood is
a charity school for girls who have “lost either one or both parents” (119). The school’s yearly
fee is not enough to cover the girls’ expenses, so the difference is donated by philanthropic
benefactors. Mr. Brocklehurst is in charge of everything related to the school, and that Miss
Temple answers to his authority.
Later that afternoon, a cruel teacher named Miss Scatcherd harshly punishes Helen, forcing
her to stand in the middle of the large schoolroom. Jane admires Helen’s calm demeanor
throughout her punishment.
Chapter 6 Summary
Jane and the other Lowood girls suffer through a long cold night. The girls are unable to wash
themselves because the water in their pitchers has frozen. The rest of the morning follows the
patterns of the day before, including a meager porridge breakfast, sternly led prayers, and
Bible readings.
Miss Scatcherd continues to cruelly target Helen. Helen always responds to Miss Scatherd’s
harsh rebukes with silence, acceptance, and calm obedience.
Confused by Helen’s attitude, Jane later asks her why she does not stand up for herself. As a
devout Christian, Helen practices a doctrine of peacefully enduring, loving, and forgiving one’s
enemies. Helen truly believes her worst critics, feeling that she is deeply flawed and deserves
to have her flaws pointed out. Helen’s proof is that even the much kinder and gentler

teachings of Miss Temple “have not [cured Helen’s] faults” (136). Jane is skeptical of this
argument, though she greatly admires Helen’s grace and tolerance.
Chapter 7 Summary
Jane’s first quarter at Lowood is physically and emotionally difficult, between the cold
weather, the lack of food, and the collectively low morale of students and teachers alike. Miss
Temple provides some solace, however, encouraging her pupils.
Mr. Brocklehurst is away for much of the winter. When he returns, he chastises Miss Temple
for spoiling the girls when, in reality, she is simply trying to provide for their basic needs. He
reprimands her for serving bread and cheese instead of porridge, quotes scripture to justify
his belief in limiting the girls’ comforts, and tells Miss Temple, “when you put bread and
cheese, instead of burnt porridge, into these children’s mouths, you may indeed feed their vile
bodies, but you little think how you starve their immortal souls!” (154).
After noticing the naturally curly hair of a young student, Mr. Brocklehurst tyrannically orders
the cutting of all the Lowood girls’ hair to teach them a lesson about vanity. Mr.
Brocklehurst’s wife and daughter, meanwhile, both dress in fine, extravagant clothes. Mr.
Brocklehurst is a hypocrite and does not practice in his own life what he preaches to his
students.
Nervous that Mr. Brocklehurst will turn his attention toward her, Jane accidentally drops her
slate. Mr. Brocklehurst forces Jane to stand on a stool in front of the whole school as he goes
on a tirade about her bad character, demanding that the others “avoid her company, exclude
her from your sports, and shut her out from your converse [because] this girl is—a liar!” (162).
For the rest of the day, Jane must stand on the stool while other girls are forbidden to speak
to her. Helen comforts Jane by silently smiling at her every time she passes by.
Chapter 8 Summary
At five in the evening, Jane can finally get off the stool. She collapses in grief, weeping over
her damaged reputation, believing she will now be unable to make friends at Lowood. Helen
comes by with an offering of coffee and bread.

Helen explains that most of the girls at Lowood probably do not believe Mr. Brocklehurst’s
words and pity Jane for being singled out. When Jane continues to worry about her
reputation, Helen tells her that she should be less concerned with the opinions of her peers on
earth and more concerned with God’s judgment.
Helen takes Jane to see Miss Temple, who does not believe Jane is a liar and promises to
judge Jane solely on the merit of her own behavior, not on the pronouncements of others.
Jane then tells the story of her childhood at Gateshead, including her recent interactions with
Mr. Lloyd and Mrs. Reed’s negative opinion of her. Miss Temple offers to write to Mr. Lloyd—if
he corroborates her story, Jane “shall be publicly cleared from every imputation” (175).
Miss Temple orders tea and worriedly asks about Helen’s health, asking if she has coughed
much lately, and if the pain in her chest has improved. Helen politely replies that she is feeling
better, but Miss Temple’s concern suggests that her health problems are long-term and
degenerative.
A week later, Miss Temple assembles the student body and publicly announces that she has
inquired into the charges made against Jane Eyre and found them to be false. Jane feels a
deep sense of relief and begins to focus more intently on her studies, especially drawing and
French, eager to prove herself to Miss Temple.
Chapter 9 Summary
Spring arrives, bringing warmer weather and raising the Lowood girls’ spirits. Many of the
girls, however, become sick with typhus, predisposed to illness by Mr. Brocklehurst’s harsh
regulations.
Helen becomes very sick and needs to be quarantined. In Helen’s absence, Jane befriends a
girl named Mary Ann Wilson (though she notes that Mary Ann is no substitute for Helen’s
company). One afternoon, while Jane is playing with Mary Ann, she sees the doctor and a
nurse emerge from the building. Jane asks the nurse how Helen is doing. The nurse responds
that Helen is doing very poorly and will likely die soon.
Distraught, Jane hurries to Miss Temple’s room, where Helen is on her deathbed. Helen calmly
smiles at Jane and asks if she has come to bid her good-bye. Jane asks if Helen is going
home, and she replies, “Yes; to my long home—my last home” (198).

Helen explains that she is happy to die young—she is eager to meet God. Jane lies next to
Helen in bed, wondering if there truly is a God and a Heaven.
During the night, Helen passes away, and Miss Temple quietly removes Jane from her bed.
Helen is buried in a grave that will stay unmarked for a many years. Adult Jane notes that
when she is writing 15 years later, the grave now has a stone with Helen’s name and the word
Resurgam: Latin for “I shall rise again.”
Prologue-Chapter 9 Analysis
The first chapters of Jane Eyre introduce us to the strong, keenly self-aware, and intelligent
voice of this eponymous narrator as she tells her coming-of-age story. We eventually learn
that she is telling her story as an adult looking back on her life; the sensory and emotional
detail of her narration envelops the reader in Jane’s in-the-moment experience, closely
aligning the reader with Jane’s perspective on significant childhood, adolescent, and young
adult developments. Brontë encourages the reader to identify with Jane by incorporating
numerous direct addresses in the form of “Dear Reader.” This intimate, confessional
relationship between narrator and reader—a relationship that distances the author in a way
that third-person narration does not—helps Brontë explore pre-feminist ideas and allows
elements of autobiography into the novel without disrupting Brontë’s authorial disguise under
the male pen name of “Currer Bell.”
These introductory chapters establish the major themes of Jane Eyre: home and family,
gender and class discrimination, religion and hypocrisy, and strong female (arguably even
feminist) role models. Jane’s identity as the orphaned child of a mixed-class marriage of love
gestures to all of these major themes. Because Jane is an orphan, she longs for home and
family. Because her mother married a man from a lower class, Jane is a dependent who must
face the disdain, abuse, and class prejudice of Aunt Reed and her children. Because Jane
doesn’t want to bear ill treatment without remonstrance, she is condemned as willful and
deceitful while the nasty and hypocritical Reeds are affirmed as good Christians who
welcomed a poor orphan into their home.
Mr. Brocklehurst, the headmaster of Lowood School, demonstrates a similar kind of

hypocrisy. He uses cherry-picked quotations from the Bible to underpin his doctrine of
deprivation and hardship, while his own family skims the school’s income. His two-facedness
is clear when he forcibly cuts students’ hair to rid them of vanity, while his wife and daughter
look on in luxurious clothes and fancifully styled hair: “grey beaver hats, then in fashion,

shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a
profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled” (158). Because Lowood’s students are all poor,
orphaned girls, Mr. Brocklehurst feels justified in manipulating them and teaching them to
blame themselves for their suffering.
These chapters closely investigate expectations of feminine behavior and appearance. For
example, in Chapter 3, when kind-hearted servant Bessie pities Jane, another servant, Mrs.
Abbot, responds that only pretty children elicit pity, not “a little toad” (59) like Jane. Moments
such as this foreshadow Jane’s later struggles with insecurity related to her physical
appearance and her sense of herself as unattractive and thus less worthy of love.
The chapters present contrasting role models for the novel’s heroine. The passive Helen
Burns is an example of Christian self-effacement that presages Jane’s eventual decision to
join St. John as a missionary. Miss Temple, on the other hand, actively finds many intelligent,
resourceful strategies to subvert Mr. Brocklehurst’s cruel authority.
Chapters 10-16
Chapter 10 Summary
Formally investigated after the typhus epidemic and found at fault for the “unhealthy nature
of the site; the quantity and quality of the children’s food; the brackish, fetid water used in its
preparation; the pupils’ wretched clothing and accommodations” (203-204), Mr. Brocklehurst
is replaced by a better administration, and the conditions of the school greatly improve.
For eight years, Jane continues her studies at Lowood, excelling in all subjects under Miss
Temple’s mentorship. For two of these years, Jane becomes a teacher herself, following Miss
Temple’s model. When Miss Temple marries a clergyman and leaves the school, Jane decides
to seek a new environment.
Jane advertises herself in the Herald newspaper as a governess and receives only one reply
to her posting from a housekeeper named Miss Fairfax. In her letter, Miss Fairfax tells Jane
that she seeks a governess for a 10-year-old girl at a country manor called Thornfield. Jane
eagerly accepts the job and prepares to leave.
Bessie and her young son visit Jane before she goes. Bessie joyfully reveals that she is now
married with two children, one of whom she has named Jane. Bessie gushes over Jane’s

accomplishments as a French speaker, a seamstress, and an artist. Bessie believes Jane’s

father’s family, the Eyres, are “as much gentry as the Reeds are” despite their poverty (227),
explaining that seven years ago, Jane’s gentlemanly uncle came to see the Reeds before
moving abroad to work as a wine merchant in Madeira.
Chapter 11 Summary
Jane anxiously departs on her journey, filled with fear of the unknown. She takes a coach to
an inn near Thornfield, where a carriage-driver sent by Miss Fairfax meets her. At Thornfield,
Jane receives a warm welcome from Miss Fairfax, an elderly woman who orders the servants
to make Jane hot chocolate while she warms up by the fire.
Miss Fairfax explains that Jane’s pupil, Adèle Varens, is the eight-year-old daughter of
Thornfield’s owner, Mr. Rochester. Because Mr. Rochester frequently travels, Miss Fairfax is in
charge of his estate. Adèle is the child of a now deceased French singer and dancer Mr.
Rochester met and had an affair with during his travels.
Adèle is excited that Jane speaks fluent French, and they bond quickly. Adèle insists on
reciting poetry and singing for Jane, and she performs a song from an opera about a woman
whose lover has forsaken her, which Jane disapproves of as inappropriate for her age.
The beauty and cleanliness with which Miss Fairfax maintains the house greatly impresses
Jane. Miss Fairfax explains that she must always keep things orderly because Mr. Rochester
turns up suddenly and unexpectedly. Miss Fairfax’s description of Mr. Rochester’s gives Jane
feels a sense of foreboding. He has an unblemished character, but is also strange and comes
from a passionate and emotional family. As Miss Fairfax leads her through the house, they
pass a dark entrance to the attic, which to Jane resembles “a corridor in some Bluebeard’s
castle” (264).
Suddenly, Jane hears a peal of disturbing laughter, which Miss Fairfax blames on a servant
named Grace Poole. Miss Fairfax calls for Grace and sternly orders her, “Too much noise […]
Remember directions!” (266). Miss Fairfax tells Jane that Grace is a bit strange and quickly
shifts the subject of their conversation to Adèle.

Chapter 12 Summary
Jane adjusts quickly to life at Thornfield. She gets along well with both Miss Fairfax and
Adèle, who is bright and exuberant, if a bit willful and spoiled at times. Still, Jane feels restless
and finds herself often gazing over the landscape and longing for more.
Jane also wonders about the strange laughter she continues to hear coming from the attic.
She often observes Grace Poole emerging from the passageway to retrieve a bottle of porter,
implying that perhaps Grace’s laughter is the delirious, lonely sound of an alcoholic.
One evening, Jane is out watching the moon when she sees a strange rider approaching. The
atmosphere is so eerie and uncanny, Jane feels as though the rider might be a North-English
spirit called Gytrash (from Bessie’s romantic fables). As Jane approaches the rider, he is
startled and falls from his horse. Jane studies his features and she describes him as having
“a dark face, with stern features and a heavy brow; his eyes and gathered eyebrows looked
ireful” (266). After helping the man to Thornfield, Jane learns that he is in fact Mr. Rochester.
Chapter 13 Summary
After he arrives, Mr. Rochester is busy with his tenants. Adèle is distracted from her lessons,
eager to see her father and the presents she presumes he has brought her.
Mr. Rochester summons Jane and Adèle to meet him after dinner that evening. He asks Jane
about herself. When she tells him she is an orphan who spent eight years at Lowood, he
remarks that she appeared to him like a fairy that “bewitched” (286) him and his horse.
Jane attempts to demonstrate her talents to Mr. Rochester, playing the piano and showing
him a portfolio of her paintings and drawings. Mr. Rochester is decidedly not impressed with
the quality of Jane’s art, but its singular, dark subject matter intrigues him.
Jane asks Miss Fairfax to explain Mr. Rochester’s moodiness. Miss Fairfax replies, “Partly
because it is his nature […] partly because he has painful thoughts, no doubt, to harass him,
and make his spirits unequal” (299). When Jane asks about these “painful thoughts,” Miss
Fairfax is vague and evasive, attributing them to “family troubles” (299).

Chapter 14 Summary
Over the next few days, Jane continues to see little of Mr. Rochester. One evening after
dinner, he summons Jane and Adèle. While Adèle plays with a gift Mr. Rochester brought her,
he sits with Jane by the fire. She examines him with curiosity and Mr. Rochester asks her if
she finds him handsome. The question catches Jane off-guard, and she abruptly answers,
“No, sir” (308). This “round rejoinder, which, if not blunt, is at least brusque” (308), surprises
him. When she attempts to apologize, he mocks her, demanding to know which of his features
offends her most. Jane is not quite sure how to respond and silently reasons that Mr.
Rochester has had too much wine. As she sits in confusion, he offers his own judgment of her
appearance: “you are not pretty any more than I am handsome, yet a puzzled air becomes
you” (311).
Mr. Rochester demands that the two of them talk as equals, heightening the awkwardness of
the moment. Jane wryly remarks that she is his paid employee and therefore does not know
how to behave in this situation. The conversation evolves strangely, turning to the ideas of sin
and redemption.
As Jane leaves for the night, Mr. Rochester expresses the hope that they will become closer
and converse more naturally in the future, as he admires what he has seen of her intellect. He
also promises to one day explain his relationship with Adèle’s mother.
Chapter 15 Summary
Adèle’s mother, Céline Varens was an opera dancer with whom Mr. Rochester had a brief
affair, putting her up in a hotel and showering her with diamonds, cashmeres, and other gifts.
Eventually, Mr. Rochester discovered that Céline was also having an affair with another man,
and he was consumed with jealousy. Nevertheless, when she ran off with yet another man,
who then left her destitute, Mr. Rochester took pity on Céline’s child. Mr. Rochester does not
think of Adèle as his because he believes someone else fathered her, but he believes it is
important she is raised in a stable environment.
Mr. Rochester asks Jane if she thinks of him differently after hearing this story. Jane is
moved by the idea of Adèle as a well-treated orphan, subverting Mr. Rochester’s expectation
that she would morally condemn him for his sexual libertinism.
That night, Jane lies awake thinking about Mr. Rochester’s passionate affair. She once again

hears the strange laugh accompanied by a hand brushing against the wall. When Jane goes
to the hallway to inspect, she sees smoke pouring from Mr. Rochester’s bedroom. She opens
his door, sees that his bed is on fire, and douses him with water.
Mr. Rochester responds erratically, accusing Jane of drowning him before swiftly retreating to
the attic. He then asks Jane if she saw anyone or heard a strange laugh. Jane tells him that
she did not see anyone, but that she has heard the strange laughter before and knows that it
comes from Grace Poole. Mr. Rochester replies, “Just so. Grace Poole—you have guessed it”
(373). As Jane turns to leave, Mr. Rochester emphatically thanks her for saving his life and
begs her not to tell anyone what has happened.
Chapter 16 Summary
The next morning, Jane is surprised by the servants’ matter-of-fact response to the fire
incident. Grace Poole is sewing new bed curtains with no expression. Jane gazes at Grace in
confusion, expecting to see some physical signs “marking the countenance of a woman who
had attempted murder” (379).
Jane interrogates Grace about the fire, hoping to elicit some confession of guilt. Grace
explains that the servants sleep a long way off from Mr. Rochester’s room, and Miss Fairfax
didn’t wake anyone. When Jane mentions she heard strange laughter, Grace dismisses it as a
dream. Frustrated, Jane wants to accuse her of attempted murder when the cook interrupts
them. The cook invites Grace to dine with the servants, but Grace requests a small meal and a
pint of porter on a tray she can carry to the attic.
Jane wonders why Grace has not been dismissed after this incident. Grace is too unappealing
for Mr. Rochester to have feelings for, but Jane speculates that maybe in her youth Grace held
Mr. Rochester’s affections. In the midst of these reflections, Jane detects stirrings of her own
romantic feelings for Mr. Rochester.
Soon after, Jane learns that Mr. Rochester is going away for at least a week to visit the manor
of Lord Ingram, who has a beautiful daughter named Blanche. Jane anxiously inquires with
the servants about Blanche’s appearance, her accomplishments, and her precise relationship
with Mr. Rochester, obviously worried about her romantic competition.
Privately, Jane chastises herself for even briefly entertaining the notion that Mr. Rochester
might be romantically interested in her. To punish herself for her vanity, Jane draws a

beautiful portrait of Blanche based on the servants’ descriptions and a crude, unflattering
portrait of herself. She promises to “take out these two pictures and compare them: say, ‘Mr.
Rochester might probably win that noble lady’s love, if he chose to strive for it; is it likely he
would waste a serious thought on this indigent and insignificant plebeian?’” (398).
Chapters 10-16 Analysis
Chapters 10-16 reveal Mr. Rochester’s uniquely eccentric character, communication style, and
values. He is not concerned with Jane’s age, sex, or class and insists on conversing with her
as an equal. Unlike Mrs. Reed and Mr. Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester is not put off by Jane’s
frankness, but welcomes her honesty even when she is critical of him. Mr. Rochester’s
appreciation of Jane as an intelligent individual greatly endears him to her, encouraging her
growing romantic affection.
As Jane’s desire for Mr. Rochester grows, however, she feels jealousy and insecurity,
comparing herself to other women. She worries somewhat absurdly about Mr. Rochester’s
possible past relationship with Grace Poole, and brutally compares herself to the beautiful
Blanche Ingram. Jane has internalized Victorian society’s values, believing she is less worthy
of Mr. Rochester’s attention because she is poor and not beautiful.
Many moments foreshadow the future revelation of Mr. Rochester’s “mad” wife in the attic.
When Jane first sees the passageway that leads to the attic where Grace Poole watches
Bertha, she compares it to “a corridor in some Bluebeard’s castle” (264), suggesting that she—
like the wife in Bluebeard’s tale—will be entrusted with a deadly, morally dubious secret. Like
Bluebeard, Mr. Rochester tests Jane’s moral compass. By confessing the story of Celine
Varens, he ascertains how open-minded she is. When Jane saves Mr. Rochester from the fire,
she effectively proves to him that he could eventually entrust her with his secret.
Chapters 17-22
Chapter 17 Summary
Mr. Rochester is gone, possibly traveling around mainland Europe, in which case he is likely to
be gone for more than a year. Though disappointed, Jane attempts to quell her feelings by
telling herself to realize that she is merely a governess to him. A week later, however, Miss
Fairfax receives a letter announcing that in three days, Mr. Rochester will return to Thornfield
with a large group of guests.

As Miss Fairfax hurries to prepare the household for Mr. Rochester’s arrival, Jane listens to
the other servants talking about Grace Poole. She learns that Grace receives a much higher
salary than the other servants. She also overhears the ominous remark, “it is not every one
could fill her shoes—not for all the money she gets” (407).
When Mr. Rochester arrives, Thornfield is a chaotic bustle of aristocratic finery, elegant
dining, and entertaining. Jane observes that Mr. Rochester is accompanied by many beautiful
ladies, and that he pays especial attention to the arresting Blanche Ingram. Feeling insecure
and insignificant, Jane hides from the festivities. Mr. Rochester, however, fervently insists
that she join him and his guests.
Jane’s romantic feelings stir when Mr. Rochester enters the room; he is compelling despite
his unhandsome face:
My master’s colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows,
deep eyes, strong features, firm, grim mouth,—all energy, decision, will,—were not
beautiful, according to rule; but they were more than beautiful to me. (430)
Comparing Mr. Rochester with the other guests, Jane can’t help but feel there is something
different about him.
The imperious Blanche behaves rudely toward both Adèle and Jane, disparaging governesses
as a lower-class species. Blanche expects her future husband to worship her. Overwhelmed,
Jane attempts to slink away from the party. Mr. Rochester pulls her aside, however, and tries
to convince her to stay. When Jane insists on leaving, Mr. Rochester is disappointed. He
almost divulges his feelings for Jane; he says, “Good-night, my—” (447), then bites his lip.
Chapter 18 Summary
Thornfield continues to be a lively household as Mr. Rochester’s guests stay on for several
days. The guests compete in a game of charades wherein Mr. Rochester and Blanche
pantomime a marriage ceremony. Jane is consumed by sadness at the thought that Mr.
Rochester will marry Blanche.

Blanche is not a genuine person, and she lacks intellectual agency: “her mind was poor, her
heart barren by nature: nothing bloomed spontaneously on that soil; no unforced natural fruit
delighted by its freshness” (458). Blanche would marry Mr. Rochester not out of love, but for
his wealth. Likewise, Mr. Rochester would marry Blanche simply because she is young and
beautiful, not because he admires her mind and her spirit.
One evening, a strange foreign man named Mr. Mason visits Thornfield. Mr. Mason comes
from the West Indies, where Mr. Rochester himself used to live.
Soon after, a gypsy woman arrives to tell the guests’ fortunes. After the woman predicts
Blanche’s future, Blanche seems upset, having “obviously not heard anything to her
advantage” (479).
Chapter 19 Summary
In the library, the gypsy woman asks Jane if she wants her fortune told. Though the skeptical
Jane initially hesitates, she is won over by the woman’s impressive insight into her
disposition. The woman declares that Jane is cold, sick, and silly:
You are cold, because you are alone: no contact strikes the fire from you that is in
you. You are sick; because the best of feelings, the highest and the sweetest given to
man, keeps far away from you. You are silly, because, suffer as you may, you will not
beckon it to approach, nor will you stir one step to meet it where it waits you. (485)
The woman tells Jane that happiness is very near and within her reach. She also explains that
Blanche was disappointed to learn that Mr. Rochester is not as rich as she imagined him to
be.
As the gypsy woman begins to speak insinuatingly of Mr. Rochester’s interest in Jane, Jane
realizes that the woman is actually Mr. Rochester in disguise. Jane is upset and embarrassed
by this trick, accusing, “you have been trying to draw me out—or in; you have been talking
nonsense to make me talk nonsense. It is scarcely fair, sir” (500).
When Jane tells Mr. Rochester about Mr. Mason’s visit, Mr. Rochester reacts with deep
distress. Jane comforts him, and he tells her, “I wish I were in a quiet island with only you; and
trouble, and danger, and hideous recollections removed from me” (505). Later that night, Jane
overhears Mr. Rochester showing Mr. Mason into a room at Thornfield.

Chapter 20 Summary
That night, a sudden cry for help wakes Jane and the guests at Thornfield. Mr. Rochester
reassures them that the cry came from a servant who had a nightmare. After the guests have
returned to their rooms, however, Mr. Rochester solicits Jane’s help, inquiring, “You don’t turn
sick at the sight of blood?” (516).
Mr. Rochester leads Jane to Mr. Mason’s room on the third story of the house. Mr. Mason has
been stabbed in the arm, and he is bleeding profusely. Mr. Rochester sternly orders them not
to speak to each other. While Mr. Rochester goes to fetch a surgeon, Jane attempts to
staunch Mr. Mason’s wound, sponging the blood into a basin. As she cares for Mr. Mason,
Jane worries that Grace Poole will burst in on them, believing that she was the perpetrator of
this violent act.
After a long while, Mr. Rochester returns with the surgeon. Mr. Mason tells the surgeon, “She
bit me […] She worried me like a tigress, when Rochester got the knife from her” (526). Mr.
Rochester gives Mr. Mason medicine and ushers Jane into the orchard.
In the orchard, Jane asks Mr. Rochester if Grace Poole will continue to live at Thornfield. He
dismisses her concern, and then expresses his eagerness for Mr. Mason to leave England.
Mr. Rochester asks Jane to imagine she were a young man who has made a terrible lifelong
mistake. What if the hypothetical young man wishes to correct this error by marrying and
living a moral life, but a nonsensical convention prevents him? Jane tells Mr. Rochester to
search for answers from God, not from other people.
Mr. Rochester begs Jane to sit up with him the night before he marries Blanche. Mr.
Rochester’s desperation and mixed signals confuse her. A servant tells Mr. Rochester that
Mr. Mason has left Thornfield.
Chapter 21 Summary
Jane recalls that in her childhood, Bessie said it was bad luck to dream about children. At
Thornfield, every night for an entire week, Jane dreams of children. Bessie’s superstition
proves true when Mrs. Reed’s former coachman, and now Bessie’s husband, brings news that
Jane’s cousin John Reed has killed himself after years of alcoholism and depression and that
Mrs. Reed is on her death bed.

Jane asks Mr. Rochester’s permission to visit Mrs. Reed. She interrupts him as he sits with
Blanche, and he makes a strange grimace when he sees her. At first, he is reluctant to let her
leave, but she pleads with him, promising she will only be gone for a week. As she leaves, she
coolly bids him “Farewell,” and he is pained that she does not give him a warmer good-bye.
At Gateshead, Jane receives a warm welcome from Bessie. She also sees Eliza, now a plain
woman who plans to join a convent, and Georgiana, who is beautiful, but unhappy.
Georgiana’s prim, possibly jealous sister has thwarted her plans to elope with a young man.
When Jane enters the room, the disoriented Mrs. Reed begins to babble about Jane Eyre as
though she were not present. She expresses her deep resentment toward Jane for being the
favorite child of her Uncle Reed. Eventually, Mrs. Reed reveals that three years ago, she
received a letter from her uncle John Eyre in Madeira. John Eyre wished to adopt Jane and
bequeath his inheritance to her. Out of spite, Mrs. Reed never forwarded this letter to Jane.
Jane tells her aunt that as a child, she was willing to love her, and that “I long earnestly to be
reconciled to you now” (595). She then offers Mrs. Reed her full forgiveness. Mrs. Reed
refuses to reconcile with Jane and dies that night.
Chapter 22 Summary
Despite only having one week of absence, Jane stays at Gateshead for a month, anxious
about returning to Mr. Rochester and Blanche.
Eliza leaves for the convent and Georgiana moves to her uncle’s house in London. Miss
Fairfax writes Jane that the guests are gone and Mr. Rochester has gone to London to buy a
new carriage. Jane takes a coach back to Thornfield, resigning herself to his inevitable
upcoming marriage.
Mr. Rochester meets her coach at the station. Jane is so comforted by Mr. Rochester’s
presence that she confesses, “wherever you are is my home—my only home” (610). Her pupil
and the servants receive Jane warmly. Mr. Rochester now calls on her more often than ever:
He has “never been kinder […] never had I loved him so well” (613).

Jane is uncomfortably caught between her burgeoning love for Mr. Rochester and her role as
his underling. Jane embodies this feeling when she stands awkwardly in the corner of the
drawing room throughout the party; though Mr. Rochester has invited her, she does not really
belong with his upper class visitors. Jane’s solution is to harshly berate herself about her
class and status difference.
The novel strongly suggests that Mr. Rochester returns Jane’s feelings and does not take
Blanche seriously as a romantic prospect, despite their engagement. At the end of Chapter 17,
Mr. Rochester breaks off his conversation with Jane, saying “Good-night, my—” (447),
swallowing a term of affection. In Chapters 18 and 19, Mr. Rochester uses his fortune-teller
disguise to ferret out Jane’s feelings towards him (and to ascertain that Blanche is only
interested in him for his money). This scene acts as a meta-fictional joke: Brontë, disguised
under a male pseudonym, is offering readers the kind of no-holds-barred access to the inner
life of her character that Mr. Rochester only gets a peek at by disguising himself as a woman.
Mr. Rochester reveals his affection through disguises like the fortune-teller costume, games
like the game of charades, and tests like his hypothetical questions. This approach, full of
trickery and underhanded power plays, underscores his controlling and sometimes borderline
sadistic desire to manipulate Jane’s emotions, foreshadowing the control he will wield over
her after declaring his love.
Jane is unaware that it was Bertha, Mr. Rochester’s attic-bound wife, who violently attacks
and wounds Mr. Mason, and Mr. Rochester experiences reservations about pursuing a
relationship with Jane, afraid of hurting her if he marries her. Confused by his behavior, Jane
distances herself, behaving stiffly and formally toward Mr. Rochester as she departs to visit
Mrs. Reed. Still, she and Mr. Rochester can’t resist returning to their romantically charged
repartee. When she is vague about her long absence, Mr. Rochester playfully chides her for
her “true Janian reply!” (607).

Chapters 23-27
Chapter 23 Summary
On a warm summer evening, Jane walks into the orchard. Mr. Rochester’s is already there.
Jane tries to slink away, but he beckons her close. Mr. Rochester insinuatingly asks Jane if
she feels at home at Thornfield. When Jane replies in the affirmative, he tells her that he’s
found another governess position for her in Ireland. Jane cries, greatly distressed by the idea
of being such as long way from England, Thornfield, and Mr. Rochester himself, and describes
being parted from Mr. Rochester as a kind of death.
Mr. Rochester is battling some internal conflict he cannot reveal to Jane.

Suddenly, Mr. Rochester asks Jane to marry him. At first, Jane thinks he is mocking her and
reminds Mr. Rochester about Blanche, but he declares, “My bride is here […] because my
equal is here, and my likeness” (632). Overjoyed and suspicious at once, Jane asks Mr.
Rochester to turn into the moonlight where she sees his face “very much agitated and very
much flushed [with] strange gleams in the eyes” (634).
As the two of them declare their love, a storm descends over the orchard. They hurry inside
out of the rain. Mr. Rochester helps Jane out of her wet coat and he kisses her repeatedly.
Jane catches a glimpse of Miss Fairfax watching them, astonished, from the staircase.
The next morning, Adèle announces to Jane that lightning has struck a tree in the orchard and
split it in two—the tree Jane and Mr. Rochester were sitting beneath when they confessed
their love to one another.
Chapter 24 Summary
As Jane goes about her morning routine the next day, she feels calm and happy. Looking in
the mirror, she no longer feels plain because she knows her face pleases Mr. Rochester.
The wedding preparations, however, fill Jane with a more complex range of feelings. When Mr.
Rochester pronounces her new name, Jane Rochester, she feels strange, remarking that their
union feels impossible: “a fairy tale—a day-dream” (644). When Mr. Rochester attempts to
shower her in jewels and gowns made of rich, expensive fabrics, she insists on wearing
simple, modest clothing. When Jane resists his extravagances, he ominously jokes that he
will put her on a chain like a prize gem.

Miss Fairfax disapproves of the wedding because young and inexperienced Jane is half Mr.
Rochester’s age and because of a more hidden reason she doesn’t seem comfortable
revealing.
Anxious about the impending wedding, Jane writes to her Uncle John Eyre in Madeira. She
reasons that her inheritance from her uncle might make her Mr. Rochester’s social equal and
make her feel more secure in their partnership.
As the wedding approaches, thoughts of her future husband alarmingly consume her. Mr.
Rochester feels like the whole world, standing “between me and every thought of religion, as
an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun […] I had made an idol” (683).
Chapter 25 Summary
Jane feels strange the night before the wedding. She wishes she could speak to Mr.
Rochester, but he is away on business. She goes out into the orchard and looks at the split
tree, imagining the two damaged halves as sentient creatures. She tells them, “You did right to
hold fast to each other” (687), thinking of them as a metaphor for her bond with Mr.
Rochester.
When Mr. Rochester returns, Jane tells him about a strange occurrence the evening before
when her wedding gown and veil arrived. After hanging the wedding garments, Jane heard a
strange rustling coming from her room. When she went to inspect the sound, she saw “a
woman, tall and large, with thick and dark hair hanging long down her back” (705). Jane
watched the woman put on the veil, and then tear it in two. Mr. Rochester dismisses this as a
dream.
When Jane continues to insist on the reality of her experience, Mr. Rochester tells her that the
woman must have been Grace Poole, and that Jane’s anxiety must have distorted her image.
He closes the discussion by promising to reveal, “why I keep such a woman in my house:
when we have been married a year and a day, I will tell you; but not now” (711).
Chapter 26 Summary
A sense of unease and foreboding fills the atmosphere as Jane heads to her wedding. Mr.
Rochester is irritable and impatient, seemingly in a hurry to get to the church. On the way,
Jane notices two strange figures in the graveyard.

Just as Jane and Mr. Rochester are about to recite their vows, a London solicitor named Mr.
Briggs stop the wedding: He has evidence that Mr. Rochester is already married to a Creole
woman named Bertha Mason, whom he married 15 years ago in Spanish Town, Jamaica. Mr.
Briggs produces a signed letter from Mr. Mason as testimony, and Mr. Mason steps forward
to affirm its validity. Furious and distraught, Mr. Rochester attempts to lash out at Mr. Mason,
but eventually admits that this is true.
Mr. Rochester explains that his wife, Bertha, is a mentally ill and violent woman. When
members of the congregation protest that they have never seen her, he explains that he keeps
her locked in the attic of Thornfield. Bertha’s entire family was insane; her parents tricked him
into marrying her.
To prove his wife’s psychosis, Mr. Rochester invites the congregation up to the attic to see
her. In the attic, they find Grace Poole bent over the fire, cooking, while in the corner of the
room, a figure runs back and forth:
What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it
groveled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild
animal: but it was covered with clothing, and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as
a mane, hid its head and face. (729-730)
Upon seeing Mr. Rochester, Bertha becomes agitated and attacks him. After her violent
outburst, Mr. Rochester compares the wild Bertha with the calm quiet of Jane: “That is my
wife […] Such is the sole conjugal embrace I am ever to know […] And this is what I wished to
have” (732).
Mr. Briggs will clear Jane from all blame and attest to this to her Uncle John Eyre, who is
acquainted with Mr. Mason through business. Mr. Mason stopped in Madeira on his way back
to Jamaica when John Eyre received a letter from Jane about her future marriage. Worried for
his niece, John Eyre sent Mr. Mason to England to disrupt the wedding.
Jane sits overwhelmed in her room. As she contemplates the events that have led up to this
moment, a sudden calm washes over her. She prays that God will be with her and guide her to
the right choice.

Chapter 27 Summary
Emotionally exhausted, Jane falls asleep. When she wakes in the afternoon, she realizes she
must leave Thornfield. She feels deeply conflicted, however.
Mr. Rochester tells Jane he never meant to hurt her and asks her forgiveness. Though Jane
finds herself unable to put her forgiveness into words, she internally forgives him at that
instant, noting, “There was such deep remorse in his eye, such true pity in his tone […] and
besides, there was such unchanged love in his whole look and mien” (743). When he tries to
kiss her, however, she refuses.
Desperate to escape Bertha, Mr. Rochester asks Jane to run away and live with him in the
South of France. He tells Jane he will imprison Bertha even more tightly and pay Grace Poole
a tremendous salary to keep watch over her. Jane accuses him of cruelty, but Mr. Rochester
counters that his antipathy for Bertha goes much deeper than her mental illness, and that he
would love Jane even if she lost her reason.
When Jane refuses his invitation to run away, Mr. Rochester tells the story of his marriage to
Bertha. After college, his father sent him to Jamaica to pursue a marriage he had already
arranged, eager to absorb a large fortune—30,000 pounds—that Bertha was supposed to
inherit. Bertha’s beauty charmed the young Mr. Rochester, and her family strategically
prevented him from spending any length of time with her. Thus, they were able to conceal her
mental illness and convince him to follow through with the marriage.
Shortly after the wedding, Mr. Rochester learned that Bertha’s mother was not dead as the
family had told him, but in an asylum; Bertha’s brother was mute and intellectually disabled.
Bertha herself revealed “a nature […] gross, impure, depraved” (763).
Mr. Rochester attempted to live with Bertha for four years, during which time his father and
brother died, leaving him with a great deal of money. He considered suicide, but ultimately
decided to return to England and shelter Bertha in the safety of Thornfield Hall. To escape the
pain of his marriage, he traveled around the world in search of women who could provide a
sexual outlet, though he notes that he was always disappointed in his mistresses. Mr.
Rochester feels very differently about Jane because her strange personality fascinates him,
and he sees her as his intellectual equal.

Mr. Rochester begs Jane to “accept my pledge of fidelity and to give me yours” (785). Though
greatly moved and internally conflicted, Jane refuses him. She tells him she must leave, but
that she will pray for his soul.
That night, Jane gathers her belongings and leaves Thornfield. She pours out her inner agony
in a direct address:
Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt! May your eyes never shed such
stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to
Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonised as in that hour left my lips; for never
may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love. (801)
Chapters 23-27 feature a number of symbolic representations of the troubled, complex

connection between Jane and Mr. Rochester. Just before declaring their love in the orchard,
Mr. Rochester describes a mysterious physical tether between them:
a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar
string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if […] that cord
of communion will be snapt; and then I’ve a nervous notion I should take to bleeding
inwardly. (627)
Likewise, the lightning-split tree in the orchard is a mixed omen of their relationship. On the
one hand, the weather-ravaged tree foreshadows the troubles Jane and Mr. Rochester will
face: the revelation of his marriage to Bertha and Bertha’s later attempt to burn down
Thornfield. On the other hand, Jane notices that in spite of the fire, the two halves of the tree
have managed to cling together, as though bound by something powerful.
Bindings take on a more complex significance, however, as Jane reflects upon the dark
control Mr. Rochester exercises over her in the weeks before their wedding. He behaves
strangely and possessively, attempting to purchase silk gowns and jewels for Jane that she
does not want. He ominously threatens to “figuratively speaking—attach you to a chain”
(674). Fearing that Mr. Rochester holds too much control over her, Jane writes to her Uncle
John in Madeira, which inadvertently alerts him to send his lawyer and Mr. Mason to Jane’s
wedding.

The arrival of Mr. Briggs and Mr. Mason and the subsequent revelation of Mr. Rochester’s
“mad woman in the attic”—a phrase made famous by the novel—introduces another image of
bondage. Mr. Rochester has quite literally kept his first wife imprisoned—locked in the attic—
with the justification that he was doing so for her own good and for the safety of others. His
justification, and the fact that his descriptions of Bertha are tinged with racial bias, echoes the
language used by British imperial colonists to rationalize their subjugation of natives.
Thus, when Jane withstands the temptation of running away with Mr. Rochester, she frees
herself from his emotional hold over her, remaining true to her own independent values. By
the end of the novel, however, their love will have transformed into a healthier and less
fraught one.
Chapters 28-35
Chapter 28 Summary
Jane quickly runs out of money, so her coach drops her off at a remote crossroad called
Whitcross. She spends an anguished night sheltering under a cliff on the moors, praying for
spiritual guidance.
The next day, however, Jane feels cheered by her sunny surroundings. She hikes 10 miles to
the nearest village, and arrives in high spirits, but very hungry. However, when she asks
around the village about employment, she is turned away everywhere she goes.
By evening, Jane resorts to begging for food. She tries to trade her few belongings with the
housekeeper at a local parsonage, but she is met only with suspicion. A local farmer spares
her a slice of bread, but does not look at Jane as he gives it to her. Jane even asks a child for
a bit of leftover porridge she is about to throw to the pigs. The child gives the porridge to
Jane, but only because even the pigs don’t want it.
Jane wanders until she sees a star of light shining on the moors. She follows the light to a
small house. Jane peeks through the window and sees two young women, Diana and Mary,
reading German alongside a servant, Hannah. A man named St. John joins them.
When Jane knocks on the door, Hannah greets her coldly and sends her away with only a
penny. In desperation, Jane cries out and St. John takes pity on her. Diana and Mary kindly
take care of Jane, bringing her a plate of bread and milk. St. John, however, adopts a sterner

approach, carrying the plate away before she has finished eating. Jane introduces herself as
Jane Elliot, and collapses into sleep, grateful and exhausted.
Chapter 29 Summary
Over the next four days, Diana and Mary devote themselves to nursing Jane back to health.
St. John, by contrast, remains cold and forbids his sisters from taking her in on a more
permanent basis.
On the fourth day, Jane is much stronger. She speaks with Hannah about her life, explaining
that she is not a beggar and that she is well educated. Hannah softens towards Jane and tells
her the history of the home and the siblings. Diana, Mary, and St. John’s father squandered
the family fortune many years ago; thus, they had to earn a living. St. John is a parson in a
distant village, and Diana and Mary work as governesses. The family is in the house because
their father passed away three weeks ago.
When Mary and Diana see that Jane is up, they warmly invite her to sit with them in the parlor.
The young and handsome St. John sits stoically. St. John asks Jane many questions about
her former work and living circumstances, but Jane keeps identifying details a secret. She
does reveal, however, that she studied and taught at Lowood, an institution St. John respects.
He promises to help Jane find a job. His demeanor makes it clear that he is helping her for
practical reasons rather than any sentimental attachment.
Chapter 30 Summary
Jane grows close to Diana and Mary. She often accompanies them for long walks and joins
them in their studies of literature and German language. Jane remains distant from St. John,
however, in large part because he is seldom in the area. When Jane does speak with St. John,
she notes that his words often reference a strict, Calvinist version of Christianity.
St. John offers Jane a position as the mistress of a local school recently founded by
Rosamond Oliver, a wealthy local woman, to cater to poor girls. He speaks disparagingly of
the job, explaining that Jane will teach menial skills—“Knitting, sewing, reading, writing,
ciphering” (886)—that are below her qualifications. When Jane accepts the job offer, St. John
shakes his head; he senses that she longs for more and suggests that he does, too. His
sisters later explain that he wishes to become a missionary overseas.

St. John tells his sisters that their Uncle John has died and left them nothing. All of his money
has gone to another unknown relative. St. John reveals that this same uncle led their father to
squander his money years ago.
Chapter 31 Summary
Despite Jane’s attempts to adjust her perspective and adapt to her post at the local school,
she feels humiliated and “weakly dismayed at the ignorance, the poverty, the coarseness”
(897). She asks herself and the reader whether resisting Mr. Rochester’s offer was the right
choice:
is it better […] to be a slave in a fool’s paradise at Marseilles—fevered with delusive

bliss one hour—suffocating with the bitterest tears of remorse and shame the next—
or to be a village-schoolmistress, free and honest, in a breezy mountain nook in the
healthy heart of England? (898)
St. John checks on Jane, who tells him she is content with her situation, but he can sense she
is lying. St. John describes his own career disappointment, explaining that God has called him
to become a missionary. To go, he needs to conquer one last weakness. Soon after,
Rosamond Oliver stops by—a young, very attractive woman whom St. John appears to be in
love with.
Jane sympathizes with St. John as she watches him resist his desire for Rosamond,
remembering her own resistance to Mr. Rochester.
Chapter 32 Summary
Jane adjusts to her new school. She becomes familiar with her students, endears herself to
the community, and receives welcoming smiles whenever she goes out. Though thoughts of
Mr. Rochester still trouble Jane’s dreams, she arrives clear-headed and calm at her post each
morning.
One day, Rosamund asks Jane to draw her. St. John stops by while Jane is drawing and gives
her a copy of Walter Scott’s Marmion, a historical romance about doomed love. Noticing his
admiration of the portrait, Jane kindly offers to create a replica for him. St. John would like to
keep a copy of this portrait, but he does not feel it would be “judicious or wise” (929) of him to
do so. Having observed the shared fondness between Rosamund and St. John, Jane boldly
tells him that he should propose to her.

While St. John admires Rosamund’s beauty, he feels marrying her would preclude his
missionary work: “Rosamond a sufferer, a labourer, a female apostle? Rosamond a
missionary’s wife? No!” (933-934). Instead, the hard-working, steadfast Jane might be a better
partner for his ambitions.
Before St. John departs, he notices something on her drawing. He tears it off and slips the
torn paper into his glove.
Chapter 33 Summary
One snowy winter night, as Jane attempts to read Marmion, St. John suddenly turns up. He
tells her the story of a woman named Jane Eyre, beginning with her childhood at Gateshead,
up to her desertion of Mr. Rochester at the altar. Thus intimating that he knows Jane’s true
identity, St. John coldly remarks that Mr. Rochester must have been “a bad man” (952).
St. John explains that a solicitor named Mr. Briggs is urgently seeking Jane Eyre. Her Uncle
John Eyre has died and left her an inheritance of 20,000 pounds. Jane confirms her identity to
St. John, who pieced together the truth from the scrap of paper he tore from Jane’s drawing
of Rosamund—she had accidentally signed it with her real name.
When Jane asks St. John how Mr. Briggs learned of her whereabouts, St. John reveals that
Jane’s Uncle John is also his Uncle John. Jane is tremendously happy to discover that she
has cousins, and she offers to divide the inheritance equally between them, so she, Diana,
Mary, and St. John receive 5,000 pounds each.
Chapter 34 Summary
As Jane closes school for Christmas, St. John asks her if she feels pleased with the work she
has done. She is, but she is also eager for her winter break, as she looks forward to preparing
a Christmas feast with Diana and Mary. St. John cautions her against becoming lazy or
gluttonous during her two-month break. Irritated by his gloomy attitude, Jane retorts, “I feel I
have adequate cause to be happy, and I will be happy. Goodbye!” (978).
St. John is in a dark mood because Rosamond is going to marry a rich local man named Mr.
Granby. Though he declares that he is happy she will no longer feel like a romantic prospect,
Jane suspects that he is quite sad.

St. John approaches Jane while she is studying German and tells her he wants her to learn
Hindi instead so she can travel to India with him as a missionary. When she agrees, he kisses
her, but the kiss is far from romantic. From Jane’s perspective, the kiss confirms that they are
not, nor ever will be, in love.
St. John asks Jane to marry him, praising her usefulness and willingness to work hard—ideal
qualities for a missionary’s wife. He confirms that he doesn’t love her and that the
relationship would be “not for my pleasure, but for my Sovereign’s service” (1,006). Jane
agrees to go to India, but not as his wife. She refuses to marry a man who does not love her.
St. John coldly replies that she cannot come with him unless they are married, accusing her
of denying God’s wishes. He departs with a calm good-bye and a cold handshake. Jane
“would much rather he had knocked me down” (1,026).
Chapter 35 Summary
Over the next few weeks, St. John repeatedly asks Jane to marry him, becoming more
desperate each time she responds in the negative. When he asks her why she won’t give in to
his will, she tells him: “Formerly, […] because you did not love me; now, I reply, because you
almost hate me. If I were to marry you, you would kill me. You are killing me now” (1,032).
Jane confesses that she is thinking of returning to Mr. Rochester, if only to see what has
happened to him. Later that evening, Diana approvingly agrees with Jane’s decision to refuse
St. John. That night, Jane listens to St. John’s eloquent, deep voice as he prays. The music,
beauty, and power of his words overwhelms her so completely that she almost changes her
mind. At that precise moment, however, Jane hears Mr. Rochester’s spirit calling to her from a
great distance, crying “Jane! Jane! Jane!” (1,050). Concerned for his well-being, Jane cries, “I
am coming!” (1,051).
Throughout Chapters 28-35, Jane encounters classism and confronts some of her own
internalized classism. In Morton, locals assume that her desperate circumstances must be
the result of her own misdeeds. When she becomes headmistress to a local school for poor
girls, it takes Jane some time to discover that many of her pupils are as bright and industrious
as their upper-class peers. These moments of highlight Victorian class prejudices which
tended to equate economic instability with moral failings.

In Diana and Mary Rivers, chapters 28-35 introduce independent and accomplished female
characters that function as lenses through which we can assess Jane. Their nurturing and
encouragement refortify Jane after her emotionally shattering break with Mr. Rochester. The
revelation that the Riverses are Jane’s cousins further strengthens her, giving her a sense of
family and belonging.
Jane’s relationship with the emotionally cold St. John, however, is an extreme contrast to her
bond with the passionate Mr. Rochester. When St. John repeatedly proposes to Jane despite
the fact that he does not love her, she stands up for her right to want desire and affection
from her partner. So doing, she aligns her pursuit of happiness and love with her faith, saying,
“I will give my heart to God, […] You do not want it” (1,016).
The novel’s supernatural motif recurs when Jane hears Mr. Rochester calling out to her from
a great distance, his voice carried by some supernatural power that will bring him back her
reply: “Wait for me! Oh, I will come!” (1,051). She interprets this supernatural communication
as a sign that she and Mr. Rochester are meant to be together.
Chapters 36-38
Chapter 36 Summary
At dawn, Jane rises to leave and find Mr. Rochester. St. John has left her a note, telling her he
will pray for her hourly and begging her to avoid temptation. In her mind, Jane replies, “My
spirit […] is willing to do what is right; and my flesh, I hope, is strong enough to accomplish
the will of Heaven, when once that will is distinctly known to me” (1,055).
Jane takes a coach to Thornfield. On the ride, she reflects on the many events that have
transpired over the last year, musing that she is no longer the “desolate […] hopeless […]
objectless” (1,058) person she once was. As she nears Thornfield, she feels like she is coming
home.
Jane is shocked to find Thornfield in a ruinous state, charred by a great fire. At a nearby inn,
she learns that Bertha Mason set fire to the house several months ago. Though Mr. Rochester
saved his servants and attempted to save Bertha, she ultimately flung herself from the roof.
The fire badly burned, maimed, and blinded him. Jane learns that Mr. Rochester is now “a
cripple” (1,076) living in a manor house in Ferndean, where he is cared for by two elderly
servants. Jane sets out immediately for Ferndean, eager to be reunited with Mr. Rochester.

Chapter 37 Summary
The Ferndean house is old and remote, buried deep in the woods. When Jane arrives, it grows
dark. The gray sky produces a cold gale of rain.
When Jane sees Mr. Rochester, she observes that his “form was of the same strong and
stalwart contour as ever: his port was still erect, his hair was still raven black,” however, he
now has a certain “desperate and brooding” (1,081) look on his face that saddens Jane. She
compares him to a “caged eagle, whose gold-ringed eyes cruelty has extinguished” (1,081).
Jane enters Mr. Rochester’s room. At first, Mr. Rochester speaks as though to a ghost. Jane
gives him her hand, and he swiftly recognizes her by touch. He joyfully gathers her to him and
embraces her.
Jane kisses Mr. Rochester and tells him she will never leave him. When she explains that she
is financially independent thanks to her inheritance money, Mr. Rochester pitifully asks her
not to waste her life on a blind “lameter” (1,090), a Scottish word meaning lame person, but
she reassures him that there is nowhere she would rather be.
The idea that his relationship with Jane might change due to his disability distresses Mr.
Rochester. Jane reassures him that she does not mind serving as his nurse, and she still loves
him just the same. In fact, this experience has humanized and softened him.
The next day, the two of them go for a walk through the woods. Jane relates the past year,
reassuring Mr. Rochester she is not in love with St. John. She also soothes his injured
masculine pride, telling him, “You are no ruin, sir—no lightning-struck tree: you are green and
vigorous. Plants will grow about your roots […] because your strength offers them so safe a
prop” (1,115).
Thus reassured, Mr. Rochester again asks Jane if he will suit her as a husband. She replies,
“To the finest fibre of my nature” (1,118). They agree to marry as soon as possible.
Though Mr. Rochester is not ordinarily a religious man, he thanks God for bringing them
together. He explains that a few nights ago, he longed so deeply to see her that he called out
her name. He then heard a voice reply, “I am coming: wait for me” (1,122).

Chapter 38 Summary
Jane and Mr. Rochester have a quiet wedding with no witnesses other than the parson and a
church clerk. She writes to Diana, Mary, and St. John to tell them about the marriage. Though
St. John never writes back, Diana and Mary warmly congratulate Jane. Diana will visit Jane
once she has gotten “over the honeymoon,” and Mr. Rochester jokes, “She had better not wait
till then, Jane, […] if she does, she will be too late, for our honeymoon will shine our life long:
its beams will only fade over your grave or mine” (1,128).
Jane has narrated this novel from a position of happiness 10 years into her marriage to Mr.
Rochester. Though he is still partially blind, he regained some of his sight after two years.
When Jane gave birth to their son, Mr. Rochester was miraculously able to see the boy.
Though Diana and Mary both find husbands, St. John never marries. In his final letter to her,
he writes of his forthcoming death, calling out to God just as she and Mr. Rochester once
called out to one another.
Numerous symbols and themes come full circle in the final chapters of Jane Eyre. Jane’s
search for home and family comes to fruition as she returns to Mr. Rochester, feeling “like the
messenger-pigeon flying home” (1,058). As the novel closes, Jane and Mr. Rochester have
created their own family; and the birth of his son—a symbol of his returning potency—
coincides with the restoration of his sight.
Images of imprisonment and binding also return and evolve. When Jane first reunites with the
now-blind Mr. Rochester, she compares him to a “caged eagle” (1,081). However, when Mr.
Rochester compares himself to the tree struck by lightning earlier, Jane uses images of
restraining bonds in a positive, life-affirming way: “you are green and vigorous. Plants will
grow about your roots […] as they grow they will lean towards you, and wind round you,
because your strength offers them so safe a prop” (1,115). Thus, Jane affirms Mr. Rochester’s
dormant power, the binding power of their love, and the implication that he will shelter their
children.
The novel poignantly ends with a moment that reconnects the ideas of religious faith and
romantic love. In a letter St. John writes to her believing himself near death, he calls out to
God in words that strongly echo Jane’s response to Mr. Rochester’s ghostly summons:

“Surely I come quickly! […] Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus!” (1,136). While this ending is
open to many interpretations, it fortifies the idea that the love between Jane and Mr.
Rochester is as meaningful as religious devotion.

Character Analysis
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is the eponymous narrator of Charlotte Brontë’s novel. She often breaks the
narrative’s fourth wall, speaking to the reader as though to a close friend or confidant. Writing
as an adult looking back on her coming of age, Jane begins her autobiographical account at
age 10, when the orphaned girl has to live with her abusive Aunt Reed, and follows her life
through to adulthood and marriage to the wealthy but troubled Edward Rochester.
Jane is an unusual female character in the Victorian novel: Specifically described as

unattractive, strong-willed, and intelligent, she is an orphan who refuses to accept her
subordinate place. Instead, she speaks up for herself and her right to pursue personal
happiness and against the mistreatment and prejudice of others. As a child, Jane defends
herself against her Aunt Reed’s unjust punishment and the cruelty and neglect of her
boarding school headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst; as an adult, she pushes back against the
controlling love and boundary-breaking morals of Mr. Rochester and the harsh self-
abnegating religious values of St. John Rivers.
In a Victorian society that prizes women’s beauty and sexual purity over their intellectual
achievements, Jane manages to find a romantic partner who values her as a physical,
intellectual, and financial equal. She begins the novel a poor, plain-faced young woman,
frequently dismissed as unremarkable and less-deserving of empathy than wealthy and
beautiful women like Mrs. Reed’s daughter, Georgiana, and Mr. Rochester’s fiancée, Blanche
Ingram. Over the course of the novel, however, Jane’s stops tamping down her indefatigable
sense of self-worth as she conquers personal challenges, comes to terms with her desires,
and gains autonomy and independence.
Mr. Edward Rochester
Mr. Edward Rochester is the unattractive, wealthy, passionate, and somewhat eccentric
master of Thornfield Hall. He is also the benefactor of Adèle, the young French girl Jane
teaches as governess. Despite being Jane’s employer, Mr. Rochester insists on engaging with
her as an equal in direct, honest, and intimate conversations. Jane develops a deep fondness
for Mr. Rochester that ultimately evolves into love.

Mr. Rochester spends much of his life roaming around continental Europe, where he has
sexual relationships with multiple women, including Adèle’s mother, a beautiful young opera
dancer named Celine Varens. Though he seems reluctant to burden Jane with his secrets,
what he does admit to Jane suggests that he harbors other even darker past indiscretions.
Mr. Rochester initially denies his feelings for Jane, then wants to control and smother her with
his love, until he finally realizes that he loves her as his “equal […] and [his] likeness” (631).
Mr. Rochester’s darkest secret is the existence of his first wife, Bertha, a mentally ill woman
whose violent impulses Mr. Rochester discovered only after they were married. For years, he
hides Bertha in Thornfield’s attic, employing Grace Poole as her guardian. She haunts the
place, filling it with her strange, eerie laughter, and sometimes escaping to menace its other
inhabitants.
For Jane, Mr. Rochester is the ultimate temptation and test of strength. Desperate to be with
her but unable to marry, Mr. Rochester proposes that they run away to the south of France
and live together. Jane is morally opposed to becoming Mr. Rochester’s mistress, which
would be sexually immoral and put her completely in his power economically.
The end of the novel balances some of Jane and Mr. Rochester’s power differential. The fire
Bertha sets at Thornfield partially disables him, making him physically reliant in some ways
on Jane’s strength. Jane, meanwhile, has inherited a large fortune, making her financially
independent of his wealth. Finally, Jane has a quasi-romantic relationship with St. John
Rivers, giving her some of the sexual experience Mr. Rochester already has in spades. She
thus feels capable of entering a marriage with Mr. Rochester as his equal.
Mrs. Reed (or Aunt Reed)
At the beginning of the novel, Mrs. Reed serves as the reluctant guardian of her orphaned
niece, Jane Eyre. Though Aunt Reed allows Jane to live with her family in the illustrious
Gateshead Hall, she resents her for being a dependent and encourages her children to behave
cruelly toward Jane. After Jane retaliates against an unjust beating from her son John, Aunt
Reed sends her away to a boarding school for poor girls. Aunt Reed is the first in the novel’s
many hypocritical Christians, whose behavior towards Jane belies their professed piety.
Years later, when Aunt Reed is on her deathbed, Jane offers to reconcile. Aunt Reed, however,
refuses Jane’s efforts, still bitter about her sister-in-law’s marriage beneath her station. Aunt
Reed reveals that she always hated Jane because her husband Uncle Reed loved Jane more

than his own children.
Georgiana Reed
Georgiana Reed, younger daughter of Aunt Reed, is Jane’s cousin. Because she is very pretty,
the maids fawn over her, and her mother spoils her. Though Georgiana treats Jane cruelly
when they are children, she befriends and confides in Jane as an adult. When Georgiana
attempted to elope with a local man she loves, her prudish sister Eliza sabotaged her.
Georgiana happily marries a wealthy man after the death of her tyrannical mother.
Eliza Reed
Eliza Reed, elder daughter of Aunt Reed, is Jane’s cousin. She is not as beautiful as her sister
Georgiana, and develops a prudish, self-righteous religiosity to mask her insecurity. Eliza joins
a convent in France and becomes the Mother Superior.
John Reed
John Reed, son of Aunt Reed, is Jane’s cousin. Throughout Jane’s childhood at Gateshead,
the older John bullies and beats her. He becomes an alcoholic and gambling addict. Halfway
through the book, Jane learns that he has committed suicide after accruing insurmountable
debts.
Mr. Brocklehurst
Mr. Brocklehurst is the cruel headmaster of Lowood, a boarding school for poor girls. He
preaches a doctrine that elevates self-denial and deprivation as the path to spiritual salvation
—but only for the downtrodden young girls in his care. He uses this doctrine to justify the
school’s refusal to provide for students’ basic needs, such as nourishing food and warmth.
When Mr. Brocklehurst’s well-dressed wife and daughter visit Lowood, Jane sees that he is a
hypocrite who profits from the school while the students suffer.
After multiple students die in a typhus outbreak, Lowood is investigated and Mr. Brocklehurst
is dismissed and discredited. The conditions of the school greatly improve after his dismissal.

Helen Burns
Helen Burns is Jane’s closest friend at Lowood. Helen practices an extreme form of
Christianity, consisting solely of self-denial, self-recrimination, and forgiveness. Though Jane
admires the inner peace and angelic femininity Helen’s philosophy gives her, she does not
understand how Helen can tolerate the unjust treatment she receives. When Helen becomes
gravely ill with consumption, she looks forward to dying, convinced early death would spare
her a miserable life as a deeply flawed person. She dies in Jane’s arms and is buried in an
unmarked grave. Years later, Jane returns to mark Helen’s grave with a stone that reads,
Resurgam: Latin for “I shall rise again” (202). In her biography, Charlotte Brontë shared that
her inspiration for Helen Burns came from her own sister who died at a corrupt and torture-
filled institution similar to Lowood.
Miss Maria Temple
Maria Temple is a beautiful and kind teacher at Lowood. Contrary to the wills of Mr.
Brocklehurst, she treats her students with compassion and dignity, attempting to provide for
their physical and emotional needs. She serves as Jane’s earliest and most poignant role
model of female strength.
Miss Alice Fairfax
Miss Alice Fairfax is the housekeeper at Thornfield, the manor owned by Mr. Edward
Rochester. Because Mr. Rochester frequently travels abroad for long intervals, she often
serves as head of the household. Though well-meaning and kind, Miss Fairfax participates in
Mr. Rochester’s deception about his mentally ill first wife Bertha, kept prisoner in his attic.
When Jane asks Miss Fairfax about the strange laughter she hears coming from the attic,
Miss Fairfax lies, telling her the laughter is Grace Poole’s.
Blanche Ingram
Blanche Ingram is a beautiful young socialite who briefly becomes engaged to Mr. Rochester.
She is only interested in his money and wants to marry him despite finding him physically
unattractive. Jane develops a deep inferiority complex around Blanche and her beauty, seeing
herself as plain and unaccomplished by comparison.

Grace Poole
Grace Poole is the guardian of Bertha, Mr. Rochester’s mentally ill first wife. To cope with the
strain of caring for Bertha, Grace drinks large amounts of alcohol. Whenever Grace becomes
too drunk to watch over her, Bertha escapes and behaves violently.
Richard Mason
Richard Mason is the brother of Bertha, Mr. Rochester’s first wife from Jamaica. After Mr.
Mason confronts Mr. Rochester at the altar, Mr. Rochester reveals that he was tricked into
marrying Bertha. Eager to be rid of the mentally ill young woman, Bertha’s family passed her
off as a beautiful, well-mannered lady.
Bertha Rochester (nee Mason)
Bertha is Mr. Rochester’s violent and mentally ill first wife, whom he hides away in the attic of
Thornfield under the care of Grace Poole. A formerly beautiful Creole woman, Bertha is now
described as being in a permanently semi-bestial, cunning, and borderline psychotic state. In
the novel, she functions more as a symbol than a character. She stands for Mr. Rochester’s
sexual guilt and misdeeds and for his oppressive and controlling tendencies. At the same
time, she is one of many examples of deeply unsuitable spouses in contemporary Victorian
novels, as attitudes towards potentially allowing divorce were slowly starting to change. The
novel asks readers to consider whether Mr. Rochester’s lifelong tie to Bertha should count as
a valid marriage. More recently, many theorists have examined Bertha as an example of
Victorian colonial racism and sexism.
St. John Rivers
St. John Rivers provides a job and a home for Jane when she runs away from Thornfield.
Though he is very handsome, St. John’s manner and attitude are extremely cold. Jane often
compares him to a beautiful statue, suggesting a classically attractive exterior and a firm,
stonehearted will. St. John is a minister whose Christianity follows harsh Calvinist principles,
stressing predestination and the idea that only the elect few will make it into heaven.
Following his religious convictions, St. John wants to become a missionary in India. This
means repressing his love for Rosamund Oliver, a beautiful woman who could never be happy
with the hard work and sacrifice required of a missionary’s wife. When Rosamund gets

engaged to another man, St. John proposes to Jane, offering her a utilitarian but loveless
marriage. Jane refuses him, even when he accuses her of ignoring God’s dictates, because
she cannot marry a man who doesn’t love her.
Diana Rivers
Diana Rivers is the sister of St. John and Mary. She becomes close friends with Jane, tutoring
her in German and urging her not to go to India with her brother. When Jane’s Uncle John Eyre
passes away, Jane learns that Diana, Mary, and St. John are also Uncle John’s nieces and
nephew, making them cousins. Jane divides her inheritance equally between the four of them.
Mary Rivers
Mary Rivers is Jane’s cousin and the sister of St. John and Diana. Like her sister, Mary is a
war-hearted, intelligent young woman who is forced to work as a governess after her father
loses the family fortune.

Themes
Religion, Hypocrisy, and Moral Complexity
In her preface to Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë takes a strong stance against religious
hypocrisy, preempting the possible objection that Jane and Edward Rochester’s love goes
against Victorian morality. Brontë points out that “Conventionality is not morality. Self-
righteousness is not religion” (6), arguing that “self-righteous” people often use their
adherence to “convention” to mask their lack of actual goodness or moral character. In the
novel, Brontë exposes the fallacies, inadequacies, and outright lies of various religious
philosophies, encouraging the reader to consider the moral complexity of any given situation
rather than dealing in absolutes.
The novel presents numerous examples of “self-righteous,” hypocritical religious figures. Mrs.
Reed is Jane’s first introduction to hypocrisy, given the contrast between her unjust abuse of
Jane, whom Mrs. Reed purposely degrades despite deathbed promises to her husband, and
Mrs. Reed’s elevated self-image as Jane’s charitable benefactress. This hypocrisy is
poignantly revealed when Mrs. Reed warns Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane has “a tendency to
deceit” (78). Mrs. Reed’s accusation infuriates Jane because her benefactress often punishes
her not for lying, but for telling the unpleasant truth. Jane remains an outspoken truth-teller
even at the risk of permanently severing all ties to the Reeds, yelling at Mrs. Reed:
I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I
dislike you the worst of anybody in the world […] People think you a good woman,
but you are bad, hard-hearted. You are deceitful! (85)
Mr. Brocklehurst is another figure of glaring religious hypocrisy in Jane Eyre. He preaches an
ostensibly Christian doctrine of self-denial and deprivation as the path to spiritual salvation,
but only for the poor orphans at his school. Mr. Brocklehurst uses this philosophy to justify
the school’s refusal to provide for students’ basic needs. Meanwhile, he profits by skimming
from the top of the donations he receives, financing his family’s lavish lifestyle.
Helen Burns, on the other hand, is a morally complex character that forces the reader to
whether her extreme form of Christianity is positive, damaging, or somewhere in-between.
Helen espouses a religious philosophy steeped in love, forgiveness, and passive acceptance
of punishment. She gracefully accepts harsh scolding and beatings from cruel teachers,

believing that she—rather than her abuser—is always at fault. Though Jane admires Helen’s
inner peace, she finds by the ways Helen’s philosophy justifies others’ mistreatment
disturbing.
Jane Eyre’s most significant moral complexity is Mr. Rochester’s indissoluble connection to
his first wife Bertha. Both he and Bertha are in some ways victims and in other ways
perpetrators. She behaves violently toward her husband and other residents of Thornfield; but
she has been imprisoned in the attic for 15 years, and cannot communicate her frustration in
any other way. Similarly, Mr. Rochester is equal parts victim and perpetrator: His father and
Bertha’s family tricked him into marrying a mentally ill woman, but he chooses to similarly
trick Jane into marrying him without knowing the full truth. Jane feels torn between her
sympathies and desire for Mr. Rochester, and her commitment to the moral sanctity of
marriage. In a direct address, Jane invites her readers to consider how they might react if they
were made to feel like “the instrument of evil to what you wholly love” (801).
Thus, Jane Eyre encourages readers to put aside conventional ideas of morality and religious
self-righteousness in favor of a deeper, more nuanced approach.
Faith and Love
Religious faith and romantic love thematically meld in Jane Eyre. The love between Jane and
Mr. Rochester is likened to religious devotion, consisting of passion, deep connection, and
loyalty. Though Jane initially struggles with this melding of religious faith and romantic love,
she comes to accept her communion with Mr. Rochester as a sort of holy sign; Mr.
Rochester’s love feels divine because their union is ordained by God.
In the weeks leading up to Jane and Mr. Rochester’s first wedding, Jane is amazed—and
somewhat disturbed—to find that Mr. Rochester has subsumed the space in her mind that
God once occupied. She reflects, “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” (683). Thus, when Jane discovers the truth of Mr.
Rochester’s first marriage to Bertha, she worries that this love will pull her into a life of
immoral behavior and sin, and that their love itself is sinful, threatening to overwhelm her
moral judgment.
The cold, passionless character of St. John Rivers is a foil for Mr. Rochester and his
overwhelming desires. Jane repeatedly describes St. John as un-emotive and statue-like, and

clearly not in love with her. For a brief moment, Jane observes him flush with romantic
passion when considering a drawing of Rosamund Oliver—the woman he truly loves, but St.
John represses this passion, deeming it a distraction to his stern, serious religious dedication.
Observing this act of repression, Jane decides that it is wrong to repress romantic love and
instead live life as a cold, emotionless statue. When St. John proposes to Jane—urging her to
marry him and serve as a missionary in India—Jane has an epiphany regarding the connection
between religious faith and love. She rejects his proposal, replying, “I will give my heart to God
[…] You do not want it” (1,016).
Later, Jane hears Mr. Rochester calling out to her from a great distance, as though some
supernatural power carries his voice. Jane tells the voice, “Wait for me! Oh, I will come!”
(1,051), interpreting this supernatural communication as a sign that her religious trial—the
“test” of her faith—is over, and God wants her and Mr. Rochester to be together. Jane’s cry
echoes the words St. John calls out to God when he is near death many years later: “Surely I
come quickly! […] Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus!” (1,136). The explicit comparison
between Jane’s passion for Mr. Rochester and St. John’s religious devotion confirms the
connection between romantic love and religious faith. It also leaves room for many
interpretations about St. John’s true nature: Will he soon be united with God (his only true
love), or are these the empty cries of a cold, lonely, loveless man?
Feminism and Gender Equality
Written at a time when women were valued for their decorative qualities, Jane Eyre offers
many revolutionary—and arguably pre-feminist—ideas. Brontë’s novel elevates a woman’s
intellect above her physical beauty, positions a man and woman as intellectual equals, and
defends a woman’s right to pursue personal pleasure and happiness.
Jane Eyre directly confronts the idea that good women must be beautiful, while plain women
are not as deserving of love. In the beginning of the novel, Jane exposes the way Gateshead’s
residents fawn over Georgiana Reed simply because she is pretty, failing to notice that she is
actually cruel and spoiled. At Thornfield, Jane struggles with feelings of low self-worth when
she sees Mr. Rochester’s fiancée, the dazzlingly beautiful Blanche Ingram, believing that
Blanche is more worthy of his love. When Mr. Rochester declares his love for Jane, she is
thrilled that he values her intellect more than her looks. Jane no longer feels “plain” (640),
released from shallow expectations of female appearance.
Brontë takes pains to illustrate that Mr. Rochester loves Jane not as an object, the way a

stereotypical Victorian husband would his wife. Instead, he declares, “My bride is here, […]
because my equal is here, and my likeness” (631)—he wants to see her as a peer and equal
partner. For this reason, when Jane’s love for Mr. Rochester threatens to overwhelm her
personal values and threaten her autonomy—because he is richer, older, more experienced,
and more physically powerful than she is—she flees Thornfield. Jane cannot marry Mr.
Rochester until they have equal power in the relationship.
While a more moralistic novel might have united Jane with the coldly religious, dutiful figure
of St. John Rivers, Jane Eyre denounces the possibility of this union. Jane repeatedly rejects
St. John, explaining that she cannot marry someone who does not love her, and that her right
to find love is not ungodly. Brontë powerfully affirms Jane’s right to love (and reflects the
prejudiced colonial attitudes of the time) through another female character, Diana Rivers, who
says: “You are much too pretty, as well as too good, to be grilled alive in Calcutta” (1,040).
By the end of the novel, Jane reunites with Mr. Rochester—a union that makes sense now that
some of his power has been drained away and some of hers increased. She is no longer
financially dependent on Mr. Rochester, since she has received a substantial inheritance from
her Uncle John Eyre. She does not feel spiritually threatened, as Mr. Rochester’s first wife
Bertha has died. Jane serves as the disabled Mr. Rochester’s eyes, allowing him to rely on her
and be in her power, at least physically. Their deep connection as intellectual equals is thus
outwardly confirmed as well.

Symbols & Motifs
The Madwoman in the Attic
The character of Mr. Rochester’s first wife, Bertha Rochester (née Mason), a violent and
mentally ill woman whom he imprisons in the attic for 15 years, has interested feminist and
postcolonial theorists. One of the best known works of feminist literary theory is named after
Bertha—Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s 1979 book The Madwoman in the Attic: The
Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. In it, Gilbert and Gubar
discuss the anxieties felt by early women novelists who had few female literary role models
and so felt like “madwomen” and “monsters” themselves. Gubar and Gilbert theorize that this
anxiety appears in the novels of women authors through hidden feminist subtext. In the case
of Jane Eyre, Bertha might be the embodiment of Jane’s darkest fears of moral degeneration
(i.e. what she fears she will “become” if she gives into temptation and runs away with Mr.
Rochester).
Postcolonial theorists, meanwhile, find evidence of Victorian British colonial racism in the way
Bertha, a white Creole woman from Jamaica, is described:
What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it
grovelled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild
animal: but it was covered with clothing, and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as
a mane, hid its head and face (729-730)
This description uses dehumanizing language to invoke horror in the reader. The daughter of
a white Jamaican colonist, Bertha’s own racial identity is ambiguous, and her character
affirms and perpetuates racist ideas of the savage native “other.” If Bertha is indeed an
ungendered “beast” rather than a human being, Mr. Rochester is justified to hold her prisoner;
he is the long-suffering victim of Bertha’s inhuman existence rather than her subjugator. By
representing Bertha this way, the novel implies that locking her up in the attic is for her own
good. This kind of patronizing, dehumanizing logic was a hallmark of Victorian British
treatment of colonized natives (as well as the mentally ill). British colonists believed that they
were racially, intellectually, and morally superior, and therefore had the right to decide what
was best for the natives whose land they controlled.

Strong Female Role Models
The novel is rich in strong female role models, as Jane Eyre establishes an atmosphere of
female support, strength, and solidarity. As a young student at Lowood, we see the grace,
courage, and intelligence of Miss Temple, who effectively runs the school, providing for her
students’ needs where Mr. Brocklehurst neglects them. At Thornfield, we meet the impressive
Miss Fairfax, who runs the huge manor house when Mr. Rochester is away. Later in the novel,
we encounter the intelligent, resourceful, and intellectually gifted Diana and Mary Rivers, who
care for Jane by nursing her to health when she first arrives, providing her with books and
tutoring her in German, and affirming her decision not to marry their brother.
Enslavement, Entrapment, and Binding
Jane Eyre includes many images of entrapment, binding, and enslavement in addition to its
hallmark image of the “mad woman in the attic.” Before their first wedding, Jane worries that
Mr. Rochester has become an “idol” in her mind, exercising too much power over her. Mr.
Rochester attempts to figuratively bind Jane by dressing her in rich fabrics and jewels,
fashioning her into a decorative object he can possess: “When once I have fairly seized you,
to have and to hold, I’ll just—figuratively speaking—attach you to a chain like this […] I’ll wear
you in my bosom, lest my jewel I should tyne” (674).
Likewise, Jane uses images of entrapment and enslavement when she describes the
temptation of returning to Mr. Rochester after fleeing Thornfield. She fears that if she returns
to Mr. Rochester, she will become a slave to her desires, no longer capable of acting upon her
own will. In Chapter 31, she wonders, “Whether is it better […] to be a slave in a fool’s paradise
at Marseilles—fevered with delusive bliss one hour—suffocating with the bitterest tears of
remorse and shame the next—or to be a village-schoolmistress, free and honest” (898).
However, images of binding and entrapment can also describe the positive, loving connection
between Jane and Mr. Rochester. When Mr. Rochester first proposes to Jane in the orchard,
he imagines them tied viscerally together: “it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left
ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter
of your little frame” (627). This “string” activates when Mr. Rochester calls out to Jane
through supernatural means across a great distance.
The image of love as a positively binding force carries into the final scenes of the novel, when
Jane describes the blind Mr. Rochester as a “caged eagle” (1,081). Though Mr. Rochester

feels emasculated, his injury effectively equalizes them, diminishing his dangerous power
over Jane.
Home and Family
Because she is an orphan—and the product of an ill-fated love marriage—Jane spends much
of the novel in search of a home and a family. Jane loses any sense of family when her kind
Uncle Reed dies at Gateshead and only regains it when she discovers that Diana, Mary, and
St. John are her long-lost cousins (relatives of her Uncle John Eyre). Jane’s inheritance from
her Uncle John makes her financially independent and gives her family ties and connections.
Significantly, at the end of the novel, Jane feels “like the messenger-pigeon flying home”
(1,058) as she returns to Mr. Rochester. The novel closes with Jane’s reflections about the
birth of her son—and the restoration of Mr. Rochester’s sight—as they begin their own family.

Important Quotes
1. “I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I dislike
you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed; […] You think I have no feelings, and
that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity. I
shall remember how you thrust me back—roughly and violently thrust me back—into the red-
room, and locked me up there, to my dying day; though I was in agony; though I cried out,
while suffocating with distress, ‘Have mercy! Have mercy, Aunt Reed!’ And that punishment
you made me suffer because your wicked boy struck me—knocked me down for nothing. I will
tell anybody who asks me questions, this exact tale. People think you a good woman, but you
are bad, hard-hearted. You are deceitful!”
(Chapter 4, Pages 84 - 86)
After Mrs. Reed falsely tells Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane is a liar, Jane boldly confronts Mrs.
Reed’s hypocrisy. With irony, Jane points out that while Aunt Reed claims to punish Jane for
deceit, she is lying—Aunt Reed actually punished Jane for telling the unpleasant truth. Jane
also criticizes the Reeds’ unfair treatment of her, refusing to affirm the lie that Mrs. Reed is a
charitable person. In truth, Mrs. Reed is still bitter that her sister married beneath her station
and she projects this bitterness onto Jane. With this speech, Jane rejects the idea that being
poor and dependent makes her a bad person, foreshadowing the novel’s future examinations
of religious hypocrisy.
2. “I hold another creed: which no one ever taught me, and which I seldom mention; but in
which I delight, and to which I cling: for it extends hope to all: it makes Eternity a rest—a
mighty home, not a terror and an abyss. Besides, with this creed, I can so clearly distinguish
between the criminal and his crime; I can so sincerely forgive the first while I abhor the last:
with this creed revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me,
injustice never crushes me too low: I live in calm, looking to the end.”
(Chapter 6, Page 142)
Jane’s friend Helen Burns illuminates her religious philosophy, which is steeped in
forgiveness and focuses on Heaven as a restful “home.” Helen explains that she is unaffected
by the mistreatment of cruel teachers like Miss Scatcherd and the harsh environment of
Lowood because she thinks of Heaven as her true home, and she lives her life calmly “looking
to the end.” While Jane admires the inner peace this philosophy allows Helen to achieve, she
privately questions the ways this philosophy absolves people like Miss Scatcherd and Mr.

Brocklehurst from responsibility for their actions. Jane spends the remainder of the novel
searching for her own home, knowing that Helen’s faith cannot satisfy her.
3. “A brief address on those occasions would not be mistimed, wherein a judicious instructor
would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of the primitive Christians; to the
torments of martyrs; to the exhortations of our blessed Lord Himself, calling upon His
disciples to take up their cross and follow Him; to His warnings that man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; to His divine
consolations, ‘If ye suffer hunger or thirst for My sake, happy are ye.’ Oh, madam, when you
put bread and cheese, instead of burnt porridge, into these children’s mouths, you may indeed
feed their vile bodies, but you little think how you starve their immortal souls!”
Mr. Brocklehurst harshly rebukes the kind Lowood teacher Miss Temple for serving bread and
cheese to her students after their porridge was burnt and inedible. He uses the Bible to justify
his deprivation of the students, positioning himself as a pious and devout man of God. Soon
after this diatribe, however, Mr. Brocklehurst’s extravagantly dressed in wife and daughter
enter the room. Thus, the novel continues to develop the theme of religious hypocrisy,
revealing that Mr. Brocklehurst does not live up to the beliefs he espouses; instead, he
embezzles donations to keep his family in luxury.
4. “I am very happy, Jane; and when you hear that I am dead, you must be sure and not grieve:
there is nothing to grieve about. We all must die one day, and the illness which is removing me
is not painful; it is gentle and gradual: my mind is at rest. I leave no one to regret me much: I
have only a father; and he is lately married, and will not miss me. By dying young, I shall
escape great sufferings. I had not qualities or talents to make my way very well in the world: I
should have been continually at fault.”
On her deathbed, the kind and pure of heart Helen reveals that she is “very happy” to be dying
young, believing that she is going to her true home in Heaven. Helen’s death as a tragedy
capped by the indignity of being buried in an unmarked grave. However, her death also marks
a positive turning point: After the typhus outbreak, Lowood is investigated, Mr. Brocklehurst is
kicked out, and the school is greatly improved. Jane garners strength and conviction to live

her values after Helen’s death. Jane pays tribute to Helen—and her own spiritual resurrection
after the death of her friend—by later placing a stone on her grave that reads “Resurgam”
(202): Latin for “I shall rise again.”
5. “Ah! By my word! there is something singular about you, […] you have the air of a little
nonnette; quaint, quiet, grave, and simple, as you sit with your hands before you, and your
eyes generally bent on the carpet (except, by-the-bye, when they are directed piercingly to my
face; as just now, for instance); and when one asks you a question, or makes a remark to
which you are obliged to reply […]”
When Mr. Rochester realizes that Jane means more to him than an ordinary governess, he
remarks that there is something “singular” about her mode of expression and communication,
which extends much deeper than physical beauty. He appreciates her boldness, her insight,
and her unusually forthright manner. It is telling that Mr. Rochester’s admiration follows Jane
honestly telling him that she doesn’t think he is handsome (324)—Mr. Rochester realizes that
Jane would rather tell the truth than manipulate a situation in her favor.
6. “You […] a favourite with Mr. Rochester? You gifted with the power of pleasing him? You of
importance to him in any way? Go! your folly sickens me. And you have derived pleasure from
occasional tokens of preference—equivocal tokens shown by a gentleman of family and a
man of the world to a dependent and a novice. How dared you? Poor stupid dupe!”
Jane wrestles with the Victorian trope that beauty determines female worth. In her experience,
physically attractive women such as Georgiana Reed and Blanche Ingram receive more
attention, sympathy, and love. Jane has internalized this idea, harshly criticizing herself for
fantasizing that Mr. Rochester might love her. She even draws two comparative “portraits”—a
beautiful and refined one of Blanche and a cruelly plain, crude one of herself—as a reminder to
keep her expectations low. This self-wounding internal voice plagues Jane throughout the
novel until she eventually overcomes it.
7. “My disposition is not so bad as you think: I am passionate, but not vindictive. Many a time,
as a little child, I should have been glad to love you if you would have let me; and I long
earnestly to be reconciled to you now.”

Jane wants to reconcile with the dying Mrs. Reed in spite of her aunt’s continued
demonstrations of bitterness and cruelty. Jane has taken to heart some of Helen Burns’
philosophy of forgiveness; her actions are a sharp contrast to Aunt Reed’s unending vileness.
Aunt Reed professes religious belief, while Jane acts with moral clarity.
8. “I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you—especially when you are near me, as
now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a
similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous
Channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of
communion will be snapt; and then I’ve a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly.”
In an attempt to spare Jane from the complications of marrying him, given his pre-existing
marriage to the “mad woman” Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester proposes that Jane accept a
governess position in Ireland. However, he immediately realizes that he cannot bear leaving
Jane, and he proposes to her. The image of a “string” knotted to Mr. Rochester’s ribs echoes
the “chain” he describes on page 674.
9. “My bride is here, […] because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me?”
With this marriage proposal, Mr. Rochester announces that he loves Jane not for her beauty
or feminine charm, but because he sees her as his intellectual “equal.” This statement carries
tremendous resonance for Jane, who has experienced a great deal of rejection over her
lifetime for being plain. Jane realizes that Mr. Rochester truly appreciates her for who she is.
This idea of “equality” is powerful and unusual for the Victorian era when Jane Eyre was
written: Wives were meant to be decorative possessions and not independent minds.
10. “While arranging my hair, I looked at my face in the glass, and felt it was no longer plain:
there was hope in its aspect and life in its colour; and my eyes seemed as if they had beheld
the fount of fruition, and borrowed beams from the lustrous ripple. I had often been unwilling
to look at my master, because I feared he could not be pleased at my look; but I was sure I
might lift my face to his now, and not cool his affection by its expression.”

This moment poignantly illustrates the strong effect Mr. Rochester’s love has on Jane.
Knowing that he appreciates her as an “equal,” she feels released from the internalized voice
that makes her feel unlovable, unworthy, and unbeautiful. Jane feels she can approach him as
an equal.
11. “When once I have fairly seized you, to have and to hold, I’ll just—figuratively speaking—
attach you to a chain like this […] Yes, bonny wee thing, I’ll wear you in my bosom, lest my
jewel I should tyne.”
Before their first wedding, Mr. Rochester becomes strangely controlling and possessive of
Jane, foreshadowing the crisis at the altar and the revelation of Bertha. In his desperation to
“seize” her, Mr. Rochester attempts to dress Jane in rich fabrics and jewels, to make her an
object he can possess and “wear.” Jane’s resists these gestures of material ownership just as
she will resist his later proposal to live as unmarried lovers.
12. “My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; 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.”
Jane links romantic love and spirituality, suggesting that her intense love for Mr. Rochester,
whom she sees as an “idol,” dangerously threatens her religious morality. This passage
connects to the spiritual conflict she will experience after learning about Mr. Rochester’s prior
marriage to Bertha and feeling torn between her passion for Mr. Rochester and her devotion
to Christian sexual purity.
13. “What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it groveled,
seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was
covered with clothing, and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and
face.”

Brontë compares Mr. Rochester’s mentally ill wife Bertha to a “wild animal,” a “beast” rather
than a human being with her own desires, motivations, and feelings. This dehumanizing and
diminishing description reflects Victorian colonialist attitudes toward natives of British
territories such as Jamaica, Bertha’s birthplace. The prevailing attitude among Victorian
imperialists was that natives were subhuman, so subjugating them was justified.
While there are many ways to interpret Bertha’s character and her identity as the “mad woman
in the attic,” the novel’s stark comparison between her “wild animal” appearance and Jane’s
calm demeanor is key. Bertha is a contrasting foil for Jane and also the embodiment of Jane’s
dark subconscious. Bertha enacts Jane’s deepest fears: her possible future as Mr.
Rochester’s captive or her transformation into a debased libertine if she agrees to live in sin
with Mr. Rochester.
14. “That is my wife, […] Such is the sole conjugal embrace I am ever to know—such are the
endearments which are to solace my leisure hours! And this is what I wished to have […] this
young girl, who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell, looking collectedly at the
gambols of a demon, I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout. Wood and Briggs,
look at the difference! Compare these clear eyes with the red balls yonder—this face with that
mask—this form with that bulk; then judge me, priest of the gospel and man of the law, and
remember with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged! Off with you now. I must shut up
my prize.”
Mr. Rochester compares Bertha to Jane, begging for sympathy from his wedding audience.
This passage invites the reader to consider the moral complexities of Rochester’s situation—
he yearns for a loving marriage, but finds himself tied to a violent and mentally ill woman with
no recourse to divorce. Brontë encourages self-righteously religious readers to test their
values against a thorny situation. This passage also furthers the racist, colonialist undertones
of figuring Rochester’s Jamaican wife as inhuman.
15. “Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be
dear. Your mind is my treasure, and if it were broken, it would be my treasure still: if you raved,
my arms should confine you, and not a strait waistcoat—your grasp, even in fury, would have
a charm for me: if you flew at me as wildly as that woman did this morning, I should receive
you in an embrace, at least as fond as it would be restrictive. I should not shrink from you with
disgust as I did from her: in your quiet moments you should have no watcher and no nurse

but me; and I could hang over you with untiring tenderness, though you gave me no smile in
return; and never weary of gazing into your eyes, though they had no longer a ray of
recognition for me.”
In this pivotal passage, Mr. Rochester further affirms his deep love for Jane. He proclaims
that he would love her even if she lost her reason, suggesting that their romance is above the
values and norms of society. The line “you should have no watcher and no nurse but me”
foreshadows Jane’s future role as Mr. Rochester’s nurse after he is blinded by the fire Bertha
sets in Thornfield.
16. “Sir, your wife is living: that is a fact acknowledged this morning by yourself. If I lived with
you as you desire, I should then be your mistress: to say otherwise is sophistical—is false.”
Following Mr. Rochester’s proposal that they run away, Jane reminds him—and herself—that
it would be unlawful and sinful to live together “as [he] desire[s].” With this proclamation, she
remains a morally bound character, in contrast to Bertha, who has no moral checks over her
violent behavior.
17. Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt! May your eyes never shed such stormy,
scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers
so hopeless and so agonised as in that hour left my lips; for never may you, like me, dread to
be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love.
The night after her wedding is called off, Jane dreams that her mother begs her to resist Mr.
Rochester’s “temptation” to flee and live together in France. Jane remembers that much of
her childhood sorrow and her existence as an impoverished dependent resulted from her
mother’s ill-judged pursuit of love. As Jane leaves Thornfield, she is sad to leave Mr.
Rochester, but she knows that if she were to stay, she would become an “instrument of evil”
to the man she “wholly love[s].”
18. Whether is it better […] to be a slave in a fool’s paradise at Marseilles—fevered with

delusive bliss one hour—suffocating with the bitterest tears of remorse and shame the next—
or to be a village-schoolmistress, free and honest, in a breezy mountain nook in the healthy

heart of England?
Jane tells herself that even her unfulfilling work as a “village-schoolmistress” is preferable to
the mental strain of sexual immorality. Jane would not have remained Mr. Rochester’s “equal”
if they had moved to France together; rather, she would have felt overpowered and controlled
by her passion for him. In keeping with the novel’s British colonial subtext, Jane also tellingly
compares this hypothetical sinful surrender to slavery, aligning the image of a subjugated
native with moral degradation.
19. St. John bent his head; his Greek face was brought to a level with mine, his eyes
questioned my eyes piercingly—he kissed me. There are no such things as marble kisses or
ice kisses, or I should say my ecclesiastical cousin’s salute belonged to one of these classes;
but there may be experiment kisses, and his was an experiment kiss. When given, he viewed
me to learn the result; it was not striking: I am sure I did not blush; perhaps I might have
turned a little pale, for I felt as if this kiss were a seal affixed to my fetters.”
This failed “experiment kiss” confirms that Jane and St. John do not feel romantic desire for
each other. With this realization, Jane experiences a turning point in her feelings. She
understands that she cannot pursue a relationship with someone who does not feel romantic
love for her, even if the relationship would technically be more moral than a union with Mr.
Rochester.
20. “And I will give the missionary my energies—it is all he wants—but not myself: that would
be only adding the husk and shell to the kernel. For them he has no use: I retain them. […] I
will give my heart to God, […] You do not want it.”
(Chapter 35, Page 1,016)
Jane refuses to marry St. John because they are not in love with one another. This moment
again connects religion and romantic love: With her declaration, Jane simultaneously affirms
her loyalty to God and her right to pursue happiness, suggesting that God would not want her
to embark on a loveless marriage. By elevating her autonomy and personal pursuit of
happiness, Jane makes what modern critics describe as a feminist statement.

21. I might have said, ‘Where is it?’ for it did not seem in the room—nor in the house—nor in
the garden; it did not come out of the air—nor from under the earth—nor from overhead. I had
heard it—where, or whence, for ever impossible to know! And it was the voice of a human
being—a known, loved, well-remembered voice—that of Edward Fairfax Rochester; and it
spoke in pain and woe, wildly, eerily, urgently. 'I am coming!’ I cried. ‘Wait for me! Oh, I will
come!’
(Chapter 35, Pages 1,050 - 1,051)
Jane hears Mr. Rochester calling out to her from a great distance. Knowing that it is logically
impossible for her to hear Mr. Rochester’s voice, Jane interprets this call as a sign—possibly
from God—that she must find him. This passage echoes Mr. Rochester’s proposal to Jane in
the orchard, wherein he spoke of a spiritual “string” (627) connecting them over a vast
channel of separation.
22. Amidst the silence of those solitary roads and desert hills, I heard it approach from a
great distance. It was the same vehicle whence, a year ago, I had alighted one summer
evening on this very spot—how desolate, and hopeless, and objectless! It stopped as I
beckoned. I entered—not now obliged to part with my whole fortune as the price of its
accommodation. Once more on the road to Thornfield, I felt like the messenger-pigeon flying
home.
Upon returning to Thornfield following the call of Mr. Rochester, Jane immediately knows she
has made the right decision. After spending her life seeking a place to belong, she finally feels
“like the messenger-pigeon flying home.” Jane realizes that her only “home” is with Mr.
Rochester.
23. “I will be your neighbour, your nurse, your housekeeper. I find you lonely: I will be your
companion—to read to you, to walk with you, to sit with you, to wait on you, to be eyes and
hands to you. Cease to look so melancholy, my dear master; you shall not be left desolate, so
long as I live.”
In a symbolic inversion of Mr. Rochester’s earlier vow—to love and protect Jane even if she
went mad—Jane promises to serve as Mr. Rochester’s “nurse.” Jane is effectively restored to
equality with Mr. Rochester: He no longer overpowers and enslaves Jane with desire, but

instead depends upon her to some extent. Mr. Rochester’s disability allows them to marry on
equal footing.
24. “You are no ruin, sir—no lightning-struck tree: you are green and vigorous. Plants will grow
about your roots, whether you ask them or not, because they take delight in your bountiful
shadow; and as they grow they will lean towards you, and wind round you, because your
strength offers them so safe a prop.”
Equalized with Mr. Rochester, Jane explains that his masculinity is not “ruin[ed]” by his
disability. She declares that her role—as his wife and partner—is to “nurse” him back to health
(and thus metaphorically “nurse” their relationship back to its former strength).
25. “Daily He announces more distinctly,—‘Surely I come quickly!’ and hourly I more eagerly
respond,—‘Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus!’”
(Chapter 38, Pages 1,135 - 1136)
The final lines of Jane Eyre come from a letter where St. John anticipates his death. He calls
out to God much in the way Mr. Rochester called out to Jane in Chapter 35. While the ultimate
meaning of these lines if left open to the reader’s interpretation, they once again link the idea
of romantic love with spiritual fervor.

Essay Topics
1. Why do you think Brontë gave her novel the full title, Jane Eyre: An Autobiography? Does
the subtitle make the content weightier? Go against the fact that novels are intended to be
fiction? Make the reader trust more in the truth of what Jane is describing? Why or why not?
2. In her preface, Brontë writes: “Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not

religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last” (6). How does Brontë’s novel critique
“conventionality” and “self-righteous” hypocrisy while upholding “morality” and “religion”?
3. Jane Eyre is depicted as a strong-minded woman, speaking her mind, challenging opinions
she disagrees with, and insisting on equality in her relationships with men. Jane is also
plagued by insecurity and self-doubt. Is Jane a feminist character—meaning, she seeks
equality for all women—or an individual example of coming into one’s own? Why?
4. How do you interpret Bertha Mason’s character? Do you see her as a monster, or a person
who has been greatly misunderstood? What would be a fair resolution for her character?
5. Jane Eyre has been widely adapted into films, television series, plays, operas, ballets,
comics, and literary revisions (such as Jean Rhys’s novel Wide Sargasso Sea ). Choose at
least one adaptation and compare it with the original. Which details and elements of the
original novel did they change and why?
6. Jane gets two very different marriage proposals from two very different men: an immoral,
impassioned proposal from Mr. Rochester and a highly moral but passionless proposal from
St. John Rivers. How does the novel compare these two proposals? What tools does Jane use
to evaluate them?
7. Jane Eyre presents numerous situations of class prejudice, tension, and conflict. Compare
and contrast at least three different moments wherein Jane Eyre addresses the theme of
class.

8. Edward Rochester begins the novel as a “Byronic hero”: a romantic archetype characterized
by dark secrets, a brooding personality, and a capacity for deep affection. He then becomes
an eccentric playfully courting Jane, a doomed man trapped in a miserable marriage, and a
disabled and emasculated “ruin” (1,115). Does Mr. Rochester remain a Byronic hero through
these transformations? Why or why not?
9. Choose at least two different “homes” Jane occupies in the novel and analyze the ways
they support her development as a character (and the evolution of “home” in her imagination).
10. From Helen Burns to Mr. Brocklehurst to St. John Rivers, Jane encounters a wide range of
religious characters who espouse very different views of their faith. Compare and contrast the
religious philosophies of three different characters.

Teaching Guide
How to use
Use these Teaching Materials to assess comprehension and facilitate analysis of a

challenging text.
Reading-check questions can be used after students read chapter sets independently or as a
group. Reading-check, reading comprehension, multiple-choice, and/or short-answer
questions can be used as formative assessment tools as readers proceed through the book
unit, or as summative assessment tools after the completion of the chapter set or book. Use
the questions to review aloud after reading multiple chapter sets, or after completing the book
in preparation for the unit test.
Questions can also be utilized in lesson planning and unit design.
Use questions as:
Discussion starters (examples throughout)

Entrance and exit “tickets”
Writing activity ideas
Prompts to create opportunities for finding evidence and support in the text, employing
critical thinking skills, and practicing test-taking skills
Reading, Discussion & Quiz Questions
Preface-Chapter 9
READING CHECK
1. After thanking “three quarters” (the public, the press, and the publishers), to what ‘quarter’
does Currer Bell direct her/his attention and remarks in the Preface?
2. While Jane is living with the Reed family, who bullies and terrifies her?
3. What was the profession of Jane’s father?

4. Lowood is a boarding school for whom?
5. Mr. Brocklehurst decides the girls’ locks must be cut to teach them a lesson about vanity.
In the same chapter, what kind of clothing do Mr. Brocklehurst's own children wear?
QUIZ
1. Of the following, which characterization best describes Jane as a young girl?

A. timid and passively accepting of her fate
B. fair-minded and outspoken on matters of justice
C. scheming and good at getting what she wants
D. haughty and convinced of her own superiority
2. In what manner does Jane’s Aunt Reed, who considers herself a good Christian, encourage
her children to treat their orphaned cousin?
A. as a poor relation deserving of charity and pity
B. as a sinner deserving of forgiveness
C. as a child of God who is equal to themselves
D. as an inferior relation who cannot be trusted
3. According to Mrs. Abbot in a comment to Bessie, what trait does Jane lack that prevents
Mrs. Abbot from feeling compassion for her?
A. loyalty
B. beauty
C. intelligence
D. courage
4. What kind of conduct does Helen Burns, Jane’s friend at Lowood, exemplify for Jane?
A. feminine passivity and self-sacrifice
B. girlish preoccupation with pretty appearances
C. moralistic self-righteousness and intolerance
D. youthful optimism and initiative
5. After contacting Mr. Lloyd, Miss Temple publicly exonerates Jane of what charges? (short
answer)

6. Why does Helen eagerly “count the hours” until she dies? (short answer)
Chapters 10-16
READING CHECK
1. Who becomes Jane’s mentor during her remaining years at Lowood?
2. What does Jane discover from Bessie about her father’s brother?
3. What does Jane hear as she stands in the corridor leading to the attic entrance?
4. Why does Jane douse Mr. Rochester with water in the middle of the night?
5. To remind herself that she could never win Mr. Rochester’s affections, what does Jane
paint?
QUIZ
1. What is Jane doing when she first encounters Mr. Rochester?

A. walking alone at night
B. investigating the attic
C. singing French songs with Adéle
D. spying on Grace Poole
2. What does Jane find intriguing about Mr. Rochester’s disposition?

A. He is always in high spirits.
B. He is formal and reserved towards her and Adéle.
C. He is moody and brooding.
D. He seems anxious and worried about his health.
3. Why does Jane feel uncomfortable when she talks with Mr. Rochester?
A. He treats her as an uneducated servant.
B. He treats her as equal to himself.

C. He treats her as a woman who lacks virtue.

D. He treats her as a helpless child.
4. According to Mr. Rochester, why does he choose to confide in Jane his remorse over his
immoral past?
A. She is too young to understand what he is telling her.
B. She should learn what the real world is like, beyond Lowood.
C. She seems to have bewitched him into confessing everything.
D. She listens without judgement and without susceptibility to sinfulness.
5. What does Jane suspect Grace Poole of attempting to do? (short answer)
6. After Mr. Rochester leaves Thornfield Manor, why does Jane harshly judge herself, thinking
“that a greater fool than Jane Eyre had never breathed the breath of life”? (short answer)
Chapters 17-22
READING CHECK
1. As she listens to the servants talking among themselves, Jane learns that which one of
them receives the highest pay from Mr. Rochester?
2. What do Mr. Rochester and Blanche Ingram pantomime during a game of charades?
3. Who wears the disguise of a gypsy woman to tell fortunes for Mr. Rochester’s unwitting
houseguests?
4. What happens to Mr. Mason during the night?
5. What does Jane discover about the fate of John Reed, her childhood tormentor?
QUIZ
1. How does Jane feel when Mr. Rochester’s elegant guests arrive at Thornfield Hall?
A. elated at the opportunity to mingle with aristocrats

B. insignificant because of her lower social status

C. angry because Mr. Rochester ridicules her appearance
D. amused by the games of the witty guests
2. When the gypsy woman reads Jane’s "fortune," what does she reveal?
A. Jane is about to receive an unexpected inheritance.
B. Jane is destined to marry a missionary.
C. Jane is cold, sick, and silly.
D. Jane is too critical and intolerant.
3. Why does Jane imagine that, despite her beauty, Blanche Ingram could not make Mr.
Rochester happy as his wife?
A. Blanche Ingram’s family is not wealthy enough.
B. Blanche Ingram loves another man.
C. Blanche Ingram lacks kindness and wisdom.
D. Blanche Ingram’s first love is God.
4. How does Mrs. Reed explain her poor treatment of Jane when Jane was a child?
A. Mrs. Reed resented her husband’s favoritism towards Jane.
B. Mrs. Reed was jealous of Jane’s intelligence.
C. Mrs. Reed was suffering depression over her husband’s death.
D. Mrs. Reed was jealous of Jane’s future inheritance.
5. How does Mrs. Reed respond when Jane says she longs “earnestly to be reconciled” with
her before she dies? (short answer)
6. In the weeks following Jane’s return from Gateshead, what surprises her regarding the
preparations for Mr. Rochester’s wedding to Blanche Ingram? (short answer)
Chapters 23-27
READING CHECK
1. The night after Mr. Rochester and Jane profess their mutual love under a tree in the
orchard, what happens to the tree?

2. How does Jane respond when Mr. Rochester gives her expensive gowns and jewels?
3. When will Mr. Rochester tell Jane his reasons for keeping Grace Poole at Thornfield,
according to a promise he makes?
4. Who informed Richard Mason about the impending marriage between Jane and Mr.
Rochester?
5. What did Bertha’s family conceal from Mr. Rochester before he married her?
QUIZ
1. When Jane fears Mr. Rochester is mocking her with his marriage proposal, what reason
does he offer to assure her that she, not Miss Ingram, is his rightful “bride”?
A. She needs him more than Miss Ingram does.
B. She is a better mother for Adéle.
C. She is not a fortune-seeker like Miss Ingram.
D. She is his equal in mind and spirit.
2. Taking into account what becomes of the tree under which Mr. Rochester proposes to
Jane, what does the tree most likely symbolize?
A. the flowering of love in an unexpected place
B. the bounty their union will bring as their family tree grows
C. the support they will give each other when tragedy strikes
D. the natural beauty of their love for one another
3. Why does Jane send news to her uncle in Madeira about her intentions to marry Mr.
Rochester?
A. to improve her financial prospects so she feels more independent
B. to invite him to the wedding
C. to ask for his approval, as he is her closest male relation
D. to ask about the social status of the Eyre family
4. Why does Jane choose to provoke and irritate Mr. Rochester, instead of trying to please
him during the weeks before their wedding?

A. She considers herself unworthy of him and wants him to realize it, too.
B. She does not intend to be a submissive wife and wants him to know it.
C. She is becoming less enchanted with him and tries to warn him of it.
D. She no longer wants to marry him and hopes he will call it off.
5. Upon first catching sight of Bertha Mason in the attic, with what kind of imagery does Jane
describe her? (short answer)
6. When Mr. Rochester vindictively refers to Bertha as a “demon” and a “fearful hag” and
promises to “nail up” Thornfield to imprison her, of what does Jane accuse him? (short
answer)
Chapters 28-35
READING CHECK
1. When Jane arrives at the house of St. John and his sisters, what does she tell them her
name is?
2. With the help of St. John, what position does Jane take for work?
3. To what kind of work does St. John wish to devote his life?
4. What is on the corner of Jane's drawing that St. John tears away?
5. Why is the solicitor, Mr. Briggs, trying to locate Jane?
QUIZ
1. How do St. John’s religious beliefs and practices differ from Jane’s?
A. His are more compassionate.
B. His are more severe and intolerant of weakness.
C. His are more like those of the Hindus in India.
D. His are more centered on good works than scripture.

2. What is the “last conflict with human weakness” St. John must overcome before he can
leave for India?
A. his attraction to Rosamond
B. his attraction to Jane
C. his attachment to Diana and Mary
D. his desire for more money
3. How does Jane react when she learns that St. John, Mary, and Diana are her cousins?
A. She is disappointed that she will have to share her inheritance.
B. She suspects that they are deceiving her to get her inheritance.
C. She is happy to finally be part of a supportive family.
D. She hopes it will increase St. John’s fondness for her.
4. Why does Jane refuse St. John’s marriage proposal?

A. She knows he does not love her.
B. She does not want to live in India.
C. She worries that they will be poor.
D. She believes Mr. Rochester will leave his wife.
5. After Jane tells St. John she would marry him if she knew it were God’s will, he directs her
to pray, immediately, for guidance. What does she hear in answer to her prayer? (short
answer)
Chapters 36-38
READING CHECK
1. When Jane arrives at Thornfield, what is she shocked to see?
2. What has become of Bertha Mason?
3. Why doesn’t Mr. Rochester immediately recognize Jane when she enters his room?
4. Mr. Rochester tells Jane that, shortly before her return to him, he called out her name
several times and heard what in reply?

5. At the time that Jane is narrating the novel, how long have she and Mr. Rochester been
married?
QUIZ
1. As she sets eyes upon Thornfield once again, Jane invites the reader to “Hear an
illustration” of her experience. With what comparison does she describe it?
A. a starving person arriving at an elaborate feast
B. a blind lover regaining his vision of his mistress
C. a lover discovering his seemingly sleeping mistress is dead
D. a ship breaking on unseen rocks just as it enters the harbor
2. After Jane pledges to stay with Mr. Rochester and wait on him “as a kind little nurse,” why
does his expression become “more overcast”?
A. He considers her offer too presumptuous.
B. He concludes she is not interested in marrying him.
C. He cannot forgive her for leaving him.
D. He is too proud to allow her to help him.
3. Jane allows Mr. Rochester to think St. John is perfect in every way, but then says she has
no wish to marry St. John. What reason does she give?
A. He is better at talking about great deeds than doing them.
B. He is not well-rounded in terms of education.
C. He is too self-centered.
D. He is as cold as an iceberg.
4. According to Jane, why does she love Mr. Rochester “better now” than when he was the
fully able-bodied ‘master’ of Thornfield?
A. because he was too proud and independent then
B. because he was married then
C. because he rarely had time for her then
D. because he was too dark and brooding then
5. As Jane’s narrative ends, for what event does St. John gladly express his anticipation?
(short answer)

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS
1. Use Reading Check Question 5 (Preface-Chapter 9) to begin a discussion of the ways in

which the novel represents Christianity through the faith practices of various characters.
Although Aunt Reed and Mr. Brocklehurst both see themselves as good Christians, how do
their actions expose them as hypocrites? Alternatively, Helen Burns exemplifies a truly self-
sacrificing form of faith, but how does Jane react to Helen’s belief that only eternal life after
death matters and not life itself?
2. Use Quiz Question 2 (Chapters 10-16) as a prompt to discuss the figure of the Byronic Hero
in Romantic literature. What is the origin of the Byronic hero, and what are the defining
characteristics of this literary figure? How does Mr. Rochester fit the profile of the Byronic
hero, and in what ways does he not?
3. Use Reading Check Question 4 (Chapters 17-22) to introduce or review the genre of Gothic
Literature. What are the typical elements of the 19th-century British gothic novel? Re-read this
passage from the scene in which Jane tends to Mr. Mason’s wounds and consider its gothic
features:
a. “What crime was this, that lived incarnate in this sequestered mansion, and could
neither be expelled nor subdued by the owner?—What mystery, that broke out, now in
fire and now in blood, at the deadest hours of night?—What creature was it, that,
masked in an ordinary woman’s face and shape, uttered the voice, now of a mocking
demon, and anon of a carrion-seeking bird of prey?” (Chapter 20)
4. Use Quiz Question 5 (Chapters 23-27) to introduce criticism of the novel related to racial
representations and British colonial racism. Although Bertha’s racial heritage is ambiguous,
she was born in Jamaica and is identified as “creole.” How is Jane’s description of her as
“some strange wild animal” informed by British Victorian beliefs that colonial “natives” were
intellectually and morally inferior to “whites”? How does the novel use Victorian racial
assumptions to dehumanize Bertha and, in so doing, attempt to justify her confinement and
captivity?
5. Use Quiz Question 6 (Chapters 23-27) to begin a discussion of Bertha’s symbolic value in
the novel. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s pioneering feminist study, The Madwoman in the

Attic (1979), takes its title from Bertha’s character and argues that she symbolizes the
anxieties of 19th-century women who didn’t conform to their conventional gender role. Other
readings of the novel interpret Bertha as a symbol of Jane’s repressed desires or the guilt Mr.
Rochester harbors over his dissipated past. What examples from the novel might support
these ideas?
6. Use Quiz Question 1 (Chapters 28-35) to begin or continue a discussion of the ways in
which the novel represents various practices of Christian faith. How does St. John ‘live’ his
faith differently than Helen Burns did, and can those differences be attributed to gender and
class differences? Why is Jane not satisfied with either Helen’s or St. John’s form of faith?
7. Use Quiz Question 4 (Chapters 36-38) to begin or continue a discussion of how Jane often
challenges Victorian gender stereotypes and models an identity that expresses feminist
values. Over the course of the novel, how has Jane continually asserted her independence
and autonomy? What experiences have helped her in realizing that she is worthy of and
entitled to a loving, even passionate relationship? Mr. Rochester repeatedly refers to Jane as
his equal, but how is their relationship actually more equitable by the end of the novel?
Answers
Preface–Chapter 9
Reading Check
1. those who have criticized the morality of Jane Eyre

2. John Reed
3. clergyman
4. poor, orphaned girls
5. luxurious velvet and fur clothing and accessories
Quiz
1. B
2. D
3. B
4. A
5. being a liar

6. She is eager to return to her home with God.
Chapters 10–16
Reading Check
1. Miss Temple
2. He is a wine merchant and likely a gentleman.
3. strange laughter
4. His bed is on fire.
5. an unflattering self-portrait
Quiz
1. A
2. C
3. B
4. D
5. set fire to Mr. Rochester; kill Mr. Rochester
6. She feels foolish for imagining he could return her feelings of love for him.
Chapters 17–22
Reading Check
1. Grace Poole
2. a marriage ceremony
3. Mr. Rochester
4. He is stabbed and bitten.
5. He became an alcoholic and died by suicide.
Quiz
1. B
2. C
3. C

4. A
5. Mrs. Reed refuses to reconcile with Jane.
6. There are none.
Chapters 23–27
Reading Check
1. Lightning splits the tree in half.

2. She refuses to wear them, preferring her usual modest attire.
3. one year and one day after their wedding day
4. Jane’s Uncle, John Eyre
5. her mental illness
Quiz
1. D
2. C
3. A
4. B
5. a beast or animal
6. cruelty towards Bertha
Chapter 28–35
Reading Check
1. Jane Elliot
2. teaching at a school for poor girls
3. missionary work
4. her real name
5. Her uncle has died and left her money.
Quiz
1. B

2. A
3. C
4. A
5. a familiar voice calling her name
Chapters 36–38
Reading Check
1. It is in ruins.
2. She jumped from the roof of Thornfield Hall and died.
3. He is blind.
4. her voice saying she was coming to him
5. 10 years
Quiz
1. C
2. B
3. D
4. A
5. his death

How to use
Use these Teaching Materials to assess comprehension and facilitate analysis of a
challenging text.
Reading-check questions can be used after students read chapter sets independently or as a
group. Reading-check, reading comprehension, multiple-choice, and/or short-answer
questions can be used as formative assessment tools as readers proceed through the book
unit, or as summative assessment tools after the completion of the chapter set or book. Use
the questions to review aloud after reading multiple chapter sets, or after completing the book
in preparation for the unit test.
Questions can also be utilized in lesson planning and unit design.
Use questions as:
Discussion starters (examples throughout)

Entrance and exit “tickets”
Writing activity ideas
Prompts to create opportunities for finding evidence and support in the text, employing
critical thinking skills, and practicing test-taking skills

Reading, Discussion & Quiz Questions
Preface-Chapter 9
READING CHECK
1. After thanking “three quarters” (the public, the press, and the publishers), to what ‘quarter’
does Currer Bell direct her/his attention and remarks in the Preface?
2. While Jane is living with the Reed family, who bullies and terrifies her?
3. What was the profession of Jane’s father?
4. Lowood is a boarding school for whom?
5. Mr. Brocklehurst decides the girls’ locks must be cut to teach them a lesson about vanity.
In the same chapter, what kind of clothing do Mr. Brocklehurst's own children wear?
QUIZ
1. Of the following, which characterization best describes Jane as a young girl?

A. timid and passively accepting of her fate
B. fair-minded and outspoken on matters of justice
C. scheming and good at getting what she wants
D. haughty and convinced of her own superiority
2. In what manner does Jane’s Aunt Reed, who considers herself a good Christian, encourage
her children to treat their orphaned cousin?
A. as a poor relation deserving of charity and pity
B. as a sinner deserving of forgiveness
C. as a child of God who is equal to themselves
D. as an inferior relation who cannot be trusted
3. According to Mrs. Abbot in a comment to Bessie, what trait does Jane lack that prevents
Mrs. Abbot from feeling compassion for her?

A. loyalty
B. beauty
C. intelligence
D. courage
4. What kind of conduct does Helen Burns, Jane’s friend at Lowood, exemplify for Jane?
A. feminine passivity and self-sacrifice
B. girlish preoccupation with pretty appearances
C. moralistic self-righteousness and intolerance
D. youthful optimism and initiative
5. After contacting Mr. Lloyd, Miss Temple publicly exonerates Jane of what charges? (short
answer)
6. Why does Helen eagerly “count the hours” until she dies? (short answer)
Chapters 10-16
READING CHECK
1. Who becomes Jane’s mentor during her remaining years at Lowood?
2. What does Jane discover from Bessie about her father’s brother?
3. What does Jane hear as she stands in the corridor leading to the attic entrance?
4. Why does Jane douse Mr. Rochester with water in the middle of the night?
5. To remind herself that she could never win Mr. Rochester’s affections, what does Jane
paint?
QUIZ
1. What is Jane doing when she first encounters Mr. Rochester?

A. walking alone at night

B. investigating the attic

C. singing French songs with Adéle
D. spying on Grace Poole
2. What does Jane find intriguing about Mr. Rochester’s disposition?

A. He is always in high spirits.
B. He is formal and reserved towards her and Adéle.
C. He is moody and brooding.
D. He seems anxious and worried about his health.
3. Why does Jane feel uncomfortable when she talks with Mr. Rochester?
A. He treats her as an uneducated servant.
B. He treats her as equal to himself.
C. He treats her as a woman who lacks virtue.
D. He treats her as a helpless child.
4. According to Mr. Rochester, why does he choose to confide in Jane his remorse over his
immoral past?
A. She is too young to understand what he is telling her.
B. She should learn what the real world is like, beyond Lowood.
C. She seems to have bewitched him into confessing everything.
D. She listens without judgement and without susceptibility to sinfulness.
5. What does Jane suspect Grace Poole of attempting to do? (short answer)
6. After Mr. Rochester leaves Thornfield Manor, why does Jane harshly judge herself, thinking
“that a greater fool than Jane Eyre had never breathed the breath of life”? (short answer)
Chapters 17-22
READING CHECK
1. As she listens to the servants talking among themselves, Jane learns that which one of
them receives the highest pay from Mr. Rochester?

2. What do Mr. Rochester and Blanche Ingram pantomime during a game of charades?
3. Who wears the disguise of a gypsy woman to tell fortunes for Mr. Rochester’s unwitting
houseguests?
4. What happens to Mr. Mason during the night?
5. What does Jane discover about the fate of John Reed, her childhood tormentor?
QUIZ
1. How does Jane feel when Mr. Rochester’s elegant guests arrive at Thornfield Hall?
A. elated at the opportunity to mingle with aristocrats
B. insignificant because of her lower social status
C. angry because Mr. Rochester ridicules her appearance
D. amused by the games of the witty guests
2. When the gypsy woman reads Jane’s "fortune," what does she reveal?
A. Jane is about to receive an unexpected inheritance.
B. Jane is destined to marry a missionary.
C. Jane is cold, sick, and silly.
D. Jane is too critical and intolerant.
3. Why does Jane imagine that, despite her beauty, Blanche Ingram could not make Mr.
Rochester happy as his wife?
A. Blanche Ingram’s family is not wealthy enough.
B. Blanche Ingram loves another man.
C. Blanche Ingram lacks kindness and wisdom.
D. Blanche Ingram’s first love is God.
4. How does Mrs. Reed explain her poor treatment of Jane when Jane was a child?
A. Mrs. Reed resented her husband’s favoritism towards Jane.
B. Mrs. Reed was jealous of Jane’s intelligence.
C. Mrs. Reed was suffering depression over her husband’s death.
D. Mrs. Reed was jealous of Jane’s future inheritance.

5. How does Mrs. Reed respond when Jane says she longs “earnestly to be reconciled” with
her before she dies? (short answer)
6. In the weeks following Jane’s return from Gateshead, what surprises her regarding the
preparations for Mr. Rochester’s wedding to Blanche Ingram? (short answer)
Chapters 23-27
READING CHECK
1. The night after Mr. Rochester and Jane profess their mutual love under a tree in the
orchard, what happens to the tree?
2. How does Jane respond when Mr. Rochester gives her expensive gowns and jewels?
3. When will Mr. Rochester tell Jane his reasons for keeping Grace Poole at Thornfield,
according to a promise he makes?
4. Who informed Richard Mason about the impending marriage between Jane and Mr.
Rochester?
5. What did Bertha’s family conceal from Mr. Rochester before he married her?
QUIZ
1. When Jane fears Mr. Rochester is mocking her with his marriage proposal, what reason
does he offer to assure her that she, not Miss Ingram, is his rightful “bride”?
A. She needs him more than Miss Ingram does.
B. She is a better mother for Adéle.
C. She is not a fortune-seeker like Miss Ingram.
D. She is his equal in mind and spirit.
2. Taking into account what becomes of the tree under which Mr. Rochester proposes to
Jane, what does the tree most likely symbolize?
A. the flowering of love in an unexpected place

B. the bounty their union will bring as their family tree grows
C. the support they will give each other when tragedy strikes
D. the natural beauty of their love for one another
3. Why does Jane send news to her uncle in Madeira about her intentions to marry Mr.
Rochester?
A. to improve her financial prospects so she feels more independent
B. to invite him to the wedding
C. to ask for his approval, as he is her closest male relation
D. to ask about the social status of the Eyre family
4. Why does Jane choose to provoke and irritate Mr. Rochester, instead of trying to please
him during the weeks before their wedding?
A. She considers herself unworthy of him and wants him to realize it, too.
B. She does not intend to be a submissive wife and wants him to know it.
C. She is becoming less enchanted with him and tries to warn him of it.
D. She no longer wants to marry him and hopes he will call it off.
5. Upon first catching sight of Bertha Mason in the attic, with what kind of imagery does Jane
describe her? (short answer)
6. When Mr. Rochester vindictively refers to Bertha as a “demon” and a “fearful hag” and
promises to “nail up” Thornfield to imprison her, of what does Jane accuse him? (short
answer)
Chapters 28-35
READING CHECK
1. When Jane arrives at the house of St. John and his sisters, what does she tell them her
name is?
2. With the help of St. John, what position does Jane take for work?
3. To what kind of work does St. John wish to devote his life?

4. What is on the corner of Jane's drawing that St. John tears away?
5. Why is the solicitor, Mr. Briggs, trying to locate Jane?
QUIZ
1. How do St. John’s religious beliefs and practices differ from Jane’s?
A. His are more compassionate.
B. His are more severe and intolerant of weakness.
C. His are more like those of the Hindus in India.
D. His are more centered on good works than scripture.
2. What is the “last conflict with human weakness” St. John must overcome before he can
leave for India?
A. his attraction to Rosamond
B. his attraction to Jane
C. his attachment to Diana and Mary
D. his desire for more money
3. How does Jane react when she learns that St. John, Mary, and Diana are her cousins?
A. She is disappointed that she will have to share her inheritance.
B. She suspects that they are deceiving her to get her inheritance.
C. She is happy to finally be part of a supportive family.
D. She hopes it will increase St. John’s fondness for her.
4. Why does Jane refuse St. John’s marriage proposal?

A. She knows he does not love her.
B. She does not want to live in India.
C. She worries that they will be poor.
D. She believes Mr. Rochester will leave his wife.
5. After Jane tells St. John she would marry him if she knew it were God’s will, he directs her
to pray, immediately, for guidance. What does she hear in answer to her prayer? (short
answer)

Chapters 36-38
READING CHECK
1. When Jane arrives at Thornfield, what is she shocked to see?
2. What has become of Bertha Mason?
3. Why doesn’t Mr. Rochester immediately recognize Jane when she enters his room?
4. Mr. Rochester tells Jane that, shortly before her return to him, he called out her name
several times and heard what in reply?
5. At the time that Jane is narrating the novel, how long have she and Mr. Rochester been
married?
QUIZ
1. As she sets eyes upon Thornfield once again, Jane invites the reader to “Hear an
illustration” of her experience. With what comparison does she describe it?
A. a starving person arriving at an elaborate feast
B. a blind lover regaining his vision of his mistress
C. a lover discovering his seemingly sleeping mistress is dead
D. a ship breaking on unseen rocks just as it enters the harbor
2. After Jane pledges to stay with Mr. Rochester and wait on him “as a kind little nurse,” why
does his expression become “more overcast”?
A. He considers her offer too presumptuous.
B. He concludes she is not interested in marrying him.
C. He cannot forgive her for leaving him.
D. He is too proud to allow her to help him.
3. Jane allows Mr. Rochester to think St. John is perfect in every way, but then says she has
no wish to marry St. John. What reason does she give?
A. He is better at talking about great deeds than doing them.
B. He is not well-rounded in terms of education.
C. He is too self-centered.

D. He is as cold as an iceberg.
4. According to Jane, why does she love Mr. Rochester “better now” than when he was the
fully able-bodied ‘master’ of Thornfield?
A. because he was too proud and independent then
B. because he was married then
C. because he rarely had time for her then
D. because he was too dark and brooding then
5. As Jane’s narrative ends, for what event does St. John gladly express his anticipation?
(short answer)
DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS
1. Use Reading Check Question 5 (Preface-Chapter 9) to begin a discussion of the ways in

which the novel represents Christianity through the faith practices of various characters.
Although Aunt Reed and Mr. Brocklehurst both see themselves as good Christians, how do
their actions expose them as hypocrites? Alternatively, Helen Burns exemplifies a truly self-
sacrificing form of faith, but how does Jane react to Helen’s belief that only eternal life after
death matters and not life itself?
2. Use Quiz Question 2 (Chapters 10-16) as a prompt to discuss the figure of the Byronic Hero
in Romantic literature. What is the origin of the Byronic hero, and what are the defining
characteristics of this literary figure? How does Mr. Rochester fit the profile of the Byronic
hero, and in what ways does he not?
3. Use Reading Check Question 4 (Chapters 17-22) to introduce or review the genre of Gothic
Literature. What are the typical elements of the 19th-century British gothic novel? Re-read this
passage from the scene in which Jane tends to Mr. Mason’s wounds and consider its gothic
features:
a. “What crime was this, that lived incarnate in this sequestered mansion, and could
neither be expelled nor subdued by the owner?—What mystery, that broke out, now in
fire and now in blood, at the deadest hours of night?—What creature was it, that,

masked in an ordinary woman’s face and shape, uttered the voice, now of a mocking
demon, and anon of a carrion-seeking bird of prey?” (Chapter 20)
4. Use Quiz Question 5 (Chapters 23-27) to introduce criticism of the novel related to racial
representations and British colonial racism. Although Bertha’s racial heritage is ambiguous,
she was born in Jamaica and is identified as “creole.” How is Jane’s description of her as
“some strange wild animal” informed by British Victorian beliefs that colonial “natives” were
intellectually and morally inferior to “whites”? How does the novel use Victorian racial
assumptions to dehumanize Bertha and, in so doing, attempt to justify her confinement and
captivity?
5. Use Quiz Question 6 (Chapters 23-27) to begin a discussion of Bertha’s symbolic value in
the novel. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s pioneering feminist study, The Madwoman in the
Attic (1979), takes its title from Bertha’s character and argues that she symbolizes the
anxieties of 19th-century women who didn’t conform to their conventional gender role. Other
readings of the novel interpret Bertha as a symbol of Jane’s repressed desires or the guilt Mr.
Rochester harbors over his dissipated past. What examples from the novel might support
these ideas?
6. Use Quiz Question 1 (Chapters 28-35) to begin or continue a discussion of the ways in
which the novel represents various practices of Christian faith. How does St. John ‘live’ his
faith differently than Helen Burns did, and can those differences be attributed to gender and
class differences? Why is Jane not satisfied with either Helen’s or St. John’s form of faith?
7. Use Quiz Question 4 (Chapters 36-38) to begin or continue a discussion of how Jane often
challenges Victorian gender stereotypes and models an identity that expresses feminist
values. Over the course of the novel, how has Jane continually asserted her independence
and autonomy? What experiences have helped her in realizing that she is worthy of and
entitled to a loving, even passionate relationship? Mr. Rochester repeatedly refers to Jane as
his equal, but how is their relationship actually more equitable by the end of the novel?

Answers
Preface–Chapter 9
Reading Check
1. those who have criticized the morality of Jane Eyre

2. John Reed
3. clergyman
4. poor, orphaned girls
5. luxurious velvet and fur clothing and accessories
Quiz
1. B
2. D
3. B
4. A
5. being a liar
6. She is eager to return to her home with God.
Chapters 10–16
Reading Check
1. Miss Temple
2. He is a wine merchant and likely a gentleman.
3. strange laughter
4. His bed is on fire.
5. an unflattering self-portrait
Quiz
1. A
2. C
3. B

4. D
5. set fire to Mr. Rochester; kill Mr. Rochester
6. She feels foolish for imagining he could return her feelings of love for him.
Chapters 17–22
Reading Check
1. Grace Poole
2. a marriage ceremony
3. Mr. Rochester
4. He is stabbed and bitten.
5. He became an alcoholic and died by suicide.
Quiz
1. B
2. C
3. C
4. A
5. Mrs. Reed refuses to reconcile with Jane.
6. There are none.
Chapters 23–27
Reading Check
1. Lightning splits the tree in half.

2. She refuses to wear them, preferring her usual modest attire.
3. one year and one day after their wedding day
4. Jane’s Uncle, John Eyre
5. her mental illness
Quiz
1. D

2. C
3. A
4. B
5. a beast or animal
6. cruelty towards Bertha
Chapter 28–35
Reading Check
1. Jane Elliot
2. teaching at a school for poor girls
3. missionary work
4. her real name
5. Her uncle has died and left her money.
Quiz
1. B
2. A
3. C
4. A
5. a familiar voice calling her name
Chapters 36–38
Reading Check
1. It is in ruins.
2. She jumped from the roof of Thornfield Hall and died.
3. He is blind.
4. her voice saying she was coming to him
5. 10 years
Quiz

1. C
2. B
3. D
4. A
5. his death


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C H A P TER S UM M A RIES & A N A LYS ES 6

Religion, Hypocrisy, and Moral Complexity 44

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The Madwoman in the Attic 48

REA D IN G , D IS C US S IO N & Q UIZ Q UES TIO N S 78

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

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Mr. Brocklehurst, the headmaster of Lowood School, demonstrates a similar kind of

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accomplishments as a French speaker, a seamstress, and an artist. Bessie believes Jane’s

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Chapters 10-16 Analysis

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Chapters 17-22 Analysis

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Mr. Rochester is battling some internal conflict he cannot reveal to Jane.

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Chapters 23-27 Analysis

Chapters 23-27 feature a number of symbolic representations of the troubled, complex

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is it better […] to be a slave in a fool’s paradise at Marseilles—fevered with delusive

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Chapters 28-35 Analysis

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Chapters 36-38 Analysis

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Jane is an unusual female character in the Victorian novel: Specifically described as

Mr. Edward Rochester

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Mrs. Reed (or Aunt Reed)

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than his own children.

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Miss Maria Temple

Miss Alice Fairfax

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Bertha Rochester (nee Mason)