Jane Eyre

By charlotte Brontë 
About the Novel

Jane Eyre was first published in 1847

as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, with
Currer Bell (Brontë’s pseudonym)
listed as the editor.

Genres: Romance novel, Gothic fiction,

Bildungsroman, Social criticism,
Fictional Autobiography
MAJOR CHARACTERS
Jane Eyre
The protagonist and narrator of the novel, Jane is an
intelligent, honest, plain-featured young girl forced to
contend with oppression, inequality, and hardship.
Caught between class boundaries, financial situations,
and her own conflicted feelings. Although she meets
with a series of individuals who threaten her autonomy,
Jane repeatedly succeeds at asserting herself and
maintains her principles of justice, human dignity, and
morality

Edward Rochester
Jane’s employer and the master of Thornfield, Rochester is a
wealthy, passionate man with a dark secret that provides much
of the novel’s suspense. Rochester is unconventional, ready to
set aside polite manners, propriety, and consideration of social
class in order to interact with Jane frankly and directly. He is
rash and impetuous and has spent much of his adult life
roaming about Europe in an attempt to avoid the consequences
of his youthful indiscretions. His problems are partly the result
of his own recklessness, but he is a sympathetic figure because
he has suffered for so long as a result of his early marriage to
Bertha.
 Mrs. Reed
Mrs. Reed is Jane’s cruel aunt, who raises her at
Gateshead Hall until Jane is sent away to school. 

Important Georgiana, Eliza and John Reed

Characters Mrs. Reed's children and cousins to Jane, they too
at partake in the cruelty afflicted upon Jane by Mrs.
Reed.
Gateshead
Bessie Lee
The maid at Gateshead, Bessie is the only figure in
Jane’s childhood who regularly treats her with
kindness. 
 Maria Temple
 The warm-hearted superintendent at Lowood. She's a
Important compassionate person and a positive role model for Jane. 
Characters Helen Burns
at Lowood Jane's spiritual and intellectual friend at Lowood. 

school Mr. Brocklehurst 

The stingy, mean-hearted manager of Lowood. He represents a
negative brand of Christianity, one that lacks all compassion or
kindness.
 Bertha Mason
Rochester’s clandestine wife, a formerly beautiful and
wealthy Creole woman who has become insane, violent,
and bestial. 
Important
Characters Adèle Varens
Jane’s pupil at Thornfield and Rochester's ward. 
at
Thornfield Alice Fairfax
Alice Fairfax is the housekeeper at Thornfield Hall and a
hall distant relative of Rochester
 St. John Rivers

The minister at Morton, St. John is cold, reserved, and

often controlling in his interactions with others.
Important Because he is entirely alienated from his feelings and
characters at devoted solely to an austere ambition, St. John serves
as a foil to Edward Rochester.
Moor House
Diana and Mary Rivers
Jane’s cousin, and the sisters of St. John.
The Plot
Gateshead, where the Reeds
live and Jane spends
her young childhood days,
home to the dreadful "Red
Room"
Lowood,a charity school 
where Jane discovers the harsh
realities of class and gender
hierarchies in Victorian
England while also cultivating a
moral sense, independent will, and
self-image that transcend it.
Arrival at Thornfield Hall,
Home to Edward Rochester
and his dark secrets
A series of
unfortunate events
plague Jane's life at
Thornfield hall
The proposal and the split
chestnut tree
Strange Dreams and stranger
reality
The wedding that
couldn’t be
The mad woman in the attic
The escape, survival and
arrival at Moor House: Home
to the Rivers
A proposal sans love 
A quest for love and the
painful revelations
"Reader I married
him"
Themes
in Jane Eyre
 Gender and oppression

“I do not think, sir, you have a right to command

me, merely because you are older than I, or
because you have seen more of the world than I
have; your claim to superiority depends on the use
you have made of your time and experience.”
 Religion

"I Prayed in my way- a

different way to St John's, but
effective in its own fashion"
 Social Class

“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain,

and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think
wrong!—I have as much soul as you—and full as
much heart! And if God had gifted me with some
beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as
hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave
you.” 
Love Versus Autonomy

“to gain some real affection from

you, or Miss Temple, or any other
whom I truly love, I would willingly
submit to have the bone of my arm
broken, or to let a bull toss me, or
to stand behind a kicking horse, and
let it dash its hoof at my chest” 
 Gothic elements

"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?"
Motifs and
symbols
The Red Room

"No severe or prolonged bodily

illness followed this incident of
the red-room: it only gave my
nerves a shock, of which I feel
the reverberation to this day"
The split chestnut tree
      Bertha Mason
"The Madwoman in the attic"
•Fire and Ice
•Portraits
•Eyes
•food
A feminist novel 
By a Feminist
ahead of her times
 conclusion

At its core, Jane Eyre follows

Jane’s quest for home and
belonging without
compromising on her sense of
individuality and her
freedom.