Jane Eyre (character)

"I would always rather be happy than dignified."

- Chapter 34

Jane Eyre is the titular character and main protagonist in Charlotte Brontë's novel of the same name. She is the niece of Mrs. Reed, the cousin of John Reed, Eliza Reed, Georgiana Reed, St. John Rivers, Mary Rivers, and Diana Rivers and the wife of Mr. Rochester.

After experiencing a difficult childhood, she redeems herself when she finds loves and happiness in society and with her master Rochester, until she discovers a terrible secret that would nearly have her thinking twice.

Jane Eyre is known to be one of the first-known female protagonists in the Victorian era to have a strong-willed, feminist-like personality, and even earns the status as being one of the greatest heroines in literature.

Description
Jane Eyre is a simple, neglected woman who desires to find the loving, happy home that she never truly had. Alienated and alone in her youth, she is wanting to find her sense of love and kindness while being guided by her spiritualism, morality and independence. Along the way, she has to make decisions when she finds herself in different obstacles; such as when she decides if she should stay with Mr. Rochester as a mistress or leave him to find her new life elsewhere, even if it means reliving her past as an outsider.

Until she finds her success, Jane must toughen herself against her harsh reality in order to build her character and be ready for her challenges in adulthood. She endures a miserable childhood as an orphan at Gateshead Hall, which includes her unsettling experience in the red-room. Then she attends the Lowood Institution, where the conditions and discipline are difficult, but with some help and guidance from her friend and teacher, she finally learns how to be more strong and pious first-hand and perhaps her development also causes Lowood to no longer be an unhealthy, strict home of learning. Once she falls in love with Mr. Rochester, she sees that her romance with him can provide her a haven and he is possibly the only person who can offer her a real home and lifestyle.

Most readers and critics believed Brontë created her main protagonist as a way to reflect aspects of her own life. She also went to a school infested with deadly diseases and severe discipline, as well as living a strict but pious childhood. Later in life, she worked a series of straining jobs but rose to the top of fame after becoming an author. Like Jane Eyre, Brontë may had also struggled to find some balance between romance and freedom, and had explained most of this in her novels; and in Jane's narration, her opinions are told by her.

Birth/Orphaned
Jane was born to Reverend Eyre and Jane Reed. Her father was penniless and mother Jane marries him, against her wealthy family’s wishes not to marry the impoverished clergyman, as they disapproved of the match. Jane’s father Mr. Reed, infuriated of the marriage, disowns her. They soon had their daughter, named after her mother, but the Eyre's lived in poverty after Jane was disinherited.

After their daughter's birth a year later, Reverend Eyre and Jane went to a nearby town to visit the poor, but they both contracted and died of typhus within a month. Jane's brother, Mr. Reed, takes pity for his now orphaned niece, and brings her into his family household at Gateshead Hall. His wife, Sarah Reed, does not approve of her husband having Jane being part of the family; mainly that her disgraced sister-in-law was Mr. Reed's favorite sister and that he loved his young niece as his own.

Before his death, Mr. Reed asks his wife to raise Jane as one of their children, but she never keeps his promise and Jane was abused and unloved by Mrs. Reed, as well as her cousins John, Eliza, and Georgiana Reed taking part in their mother's cruelty. The Reed girls tolerate and torment Jane while John bullies her and her female cousins look on. Mrs. Reed had a servant named Bessie to be a personal caregiver to her niece. Jane was close to Bessie, who cared for her the most and would listen to her sing songs and tell stories to her.

Abusive Childhood at Gateshead Hall/The Red Room
One November day, 10-year-old Jane was supposed to go out for a walk with her cousins, but they refused to due to the cold weather, which makes her relieved as she hates going out for walks. She sees her spoiled cousins John, Eliza and Georgiana are playing around with their mother Mrs. Reed in the drawing room.

Jane was scolded by her aunt and wasn't allowed to join them, so she goes into another room and takes a book off a bookshelf. She sits down on a curtained window seat and starts reading “The History of British Birds” by Thomas Bewick, with the curtain covering her. She pauses to look outside the window before returning to her book. She makes up stories from the pictures in the book, where she imagines herself being at a seashore in an Arctic landscape and witnessing two ships stranded at sea, with one becoming shipwrecked at shore and the other sinking. It reminds her of the stories Bessie would tell her on winter nights.

She was comfortable as she reads alone, until her privacy was interrupted when John barges in looking for her, with his sisters following him. Jane hopes they won’t find her behind the curtain, and Eliza tells her brother where she’s hiding. Jane comes out, with fear he would drag her out if she refused, and asks John what he wants. He corrects her that he is called “Master John” and demands her to come to him. She obeys him, afraid that he will hurt her and disgusted by his ugly appearance. John sticks his tongue out at her and after a moment’s pause, he hits her.

John says that was her punishment for not obeying Mrs. Reed for a while and from hiding away. He insults her by calling her a “rat”. He asks her what she was doing behind the curtain and replies she was reading. He demands her to show him the book and she brings it to him. John tells her she is not allowed to read their books as she is a penniless, dependent child and doesn’t deserve to be treated like a member of their wealthy family. He decides he will punish her for reading, declaring that everything in the house, including the books, belong to him and orders her to go stand by the door. Jane does as she is told, unaware of what he is planning to do. When she turns around, she’s alarmed to see John preparing to aim the book at her. He throws it and the book hits her, causing her to fall over and hit her head against a door, leaving a bloody cut on her forehead. Feeling the pain in her head, she gets angry and calls John a wicked and cruel “murderer”, even comparing him to slave drivers and the Roman emperors (she had read Goldsmith’s History of Rome, and believes in the cruelty of Nero and Caligula).

Shocked of what she said to him, John hesitates for a moment and then starts grappling her by her hair and shoulders. Jane feels the blood trickle down her neck from her wound, and she starts to fight him, unsure of what she was doing and he was hollering out loud. During the fight, Eliza and Georgiana went to fetch their mother, and they came back with Mrs. Reed, Bessie and another servant Miss Abbott. Jane and John were pulled apart, and Jane is scolded for fighting her cousin. Mrs. Reed orders the maids to take Jane away and lock her in the red-room.

Bessie and Miss Abbot take Jane by her arms and lead her away to the red room. She struggles wildly along the way, and Miss Abbott again scolds Jane for hurting her master John. Jane protests if she is a servant, and Miss Abbott replies she is “less than a servant” as she doesn’t work to support herself. They arrive at the red room and Jane is placed on top of a stool. She tries to get up but Bessie forces her back down, threatening her she will have to be tied down and as Miss Abbott prepares to use her garters to keep her tied, Jane promises she’ll sit still.

Bessie lets go of her and the two maids look down disdainfully at her, and they talk about Jane being an unruly girl. Miss Abbott informs Jane that she is being placed under Mrs. Reed’s care, and if she refused her, Jane would had been living in a poorhouse. She doesn’t reply, annoyed that this is a statement of her dependence. Miss Abbott reminds her again that she should be grateful that she is living with the Reed’s; even if they are rich and she is poor, she still needs to make herself agreeable to them. Bessie agrees with Miss Abbott, advising Jane she needs to be more polite so she would be more welcome in her home; and if she continues to be rude, she would be sent away. Miss Abbott claims that God might punish her by striking her if she goes on with her tantrums. As the maids prepare to leave, Miss Abbott warns Jane to say her prayers while she is alone; otherwise something bad would “come down the chimney and fetch her away.” They shut the door, locked it and left.

The red room was furnished with everything coloured red: from the carpet and the curtains to the mahogany furniture such as the bed and chairs; except the mattress and pillows on the bed are white. The windows always had the blinds down. Jane finds the red room too cold and quiet, and recalls how a maid would come in on Saturdays for dusting. Mrs Reed sometimes would open the room’s wardrobe and review some trinkets she stored inside a secret drawer, which included a miniature of her late husband.

Jane remembers that the red room is where Mr. Reed died 9 years ago and where his body laid in state. Since then, she always senses an eerie atmosphere whenever she is inside it. She was seated on a low ottoman and wasn’t sure if the maids really did lock the door. She gets up to see and it is bolted tight. She sees her reflection in the mirror, and the room looks more strange mirrored as Jane thinks her reflection looks something like a ghost. She sits back down and thinks about her unfair situation; of John bullying her, Eliza and Georgiana tormenting her, Mrs. Reed’s hatred to her and the maids being unprejudiced. She wonders why she is bullied, hated and blamed by the Reed’s, as well as being treated as an outcast. She finds Eliza being treated with respect and Georgiana being pampered. John, who was the worst behaved, would do some heinous things such as harming animals and disrespecting his mother, and often gets away with it without punishment. Jane often tried her best to fit in and behave, but everyone kept turning her away.

Her head still ached from the cut she received earlier, and as nobody punished John, she considers what had happened as unfair, and is filled with so much hatred for her to run away or let herself die. Until she figures this out years later, Jane doesn’t know that the reason she is an outsider at Gateshead is that she is different from everyone. Not only was she is poor, but it is also her personality of being a reckless, angry girl.

Sometime after 4 o’clock in the late afternoon, the room darkens as Jane hears the rain pouring and wind howling outside. She starts to feel cold and uneasy and ponders if she is fit to die and join her uncle in his grave. She doesn’t remember him too well, but had took her in as an infant and remembers that shortly before he died, he makes Mrs. Reed promise to raise Jane among their children. Jane thought she could had kept his promise, but due to her cruelty, she won’t obey him for having to raise her niece she doesn’t love. She thinks if Mr. Reed was still alive today, he would have been more kind to her.

Jane looks at the bed and mirror, recalling that the deceased would haunt and punish those who disobey their final wishes. She fears that Mr. Reed’s spirit would return from the grave and haunt her. She attempts to calm herself down as a hope of comfort and gazes around the dark room, when she sees a gleaming light on the wall and assumes it could be just moonlight. When the light moves, she becomes terrified at the thought it is a ghostly vision. She panics and frantically shakes the lock. The servants run to the door and let her out. Bessie asks Jane is she’s sick and Miss Abbott comments on hearing Jane’s noises. Jane begs Bessie to take her to the nursery, and when Bessie asks her what had happened, Jane says she thought a ghost was coming and holds her hand. Miss Abbott claims Jane screamed on purpose as a trick for her to be released. Mrs. Reed comes down the hallway, demanding to know what’s going on. She is outraged that the servants didn’t keep Jane locked up until she came for her. Miss Abbott said the girl screamed out loud. Mrs. Reed orders Bessie to let Jane go, scolds Jane for being manipulative, and punishes her to be confined at the red room for another hour. Jane pleads to her aunt for forgiveness and be punished differently; but Mrs. Reed silences her, annoyed by her behaviour, and forcefully pushes her back into the red room and locks the door. As soon as Mrs. Reed and the maids left, Jane panics until she passes out.

Jane wakes up confused. She sees a red glaring light with voices and someone is holding her gently in a sitting position for nobody held her that way before. She is laid on her pillow and within five minutes, she realizes that she is in her bed and the red light was the nursery fireplace's flames. It was evening, and Bessie and an old gentleman surround her bed. Jane is glad the man isn't like one of the Reed's. She recognizes him and it is Mr. Lloyd the apothecary who would come to Gateshead to treat the servants, while Mrs. Reed instead consulted a physician for herself and the children. Mr. Lloyd lays her back on the bed and instructs Bessie to not disturb Jane throughout the evening. He will come back tomorrow and he leaves. Jane is depressed afterwards that he was more kind to her than anyone else at Gateshead.

Bessie asks Jane if she should go to sleep, and says she would try. She turns down Bessie’s request if she should bring her something to eat or drink. It is past midnight and Bessie decides she will go to bed. Jane asks her if she’s sick and Bessie replies that she became delirious when she was found in the red room and assures she’ll recover soon. Bessie goes to a servant’s room and asks her to come and sleep with her in the nursery as she is worried of Jane and how she was treated. The servant and Bessie whispered to each other for half an hour before they fell asleep and the room goes dark.

Jane thinks the servants sleeping with her are filled with dread for what had happened. Her time in the red room would leave her heavily shaken for the rest of her life, and initially blamed Mrs. Reed for her suffering but later forgives her years later.

The next day at noon, she is wrapped in a shawl and sits by the fireplace. She is still physically weak and cries quietly, but is happy that the Reed's are absent, as they were out for the day, and is on her own while Miss Abbott was sewing and Bessie cleaning, with her expressing her kind words to Jane. She thought it could be hospitality that’s making her delighted, but wasn’t enough to regain her strength. Her nursemaid brings her a tart served on a china plate but couldn't eat it. She asks for her favourite book, Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, and after Bessie brings it to her, she reads it. Jane considers the story to be nonfiction but knew even Gulliver himself is lonely like her and stops reading. Bessie comes in after cleaning and sings to her,. While Jane loves her singing and the song, she finds the melody emotional for her, and Bessie consoles her.

Mr. Lloyd arrives that day and asks how Jane is doing. Bessie says she is well and calls Jane over. Bessie claims she is upset because she didn't get to go out. Jane tells Mr. Lloyd that she is upset because she’s miserable. Puzzled, Mr. Lloyd asks her why she’s ill, and Bessie claims she suffered from a fall. He doesn’t believe it since Jane can still walk at her age, and Jane revealed she was knocked down but didn’t make her sick. After taking a pinch of snuff, the servants’ bell rang for dinner. Mr. Lloyd dismisses Bessie as he will talk to Jane alone, and Bessie would rather stay but leaves anyway. After she is gone, Mr, Lloyd questions Jane what made her sick instead of a fall. Jane reveals that she was locked inside a room that was haunted by a ghost. The apothecary is astonished and asks her if she’s afraid of ghosts. Jane replies that she is scared of Mr. Reed’s ghost in the room where he died, and nobody else including Bessie would go in that room at night. She finds it cruel that she was confined without light and it is something she won’t forget.

Mr. Lloyd thinks it nonsense that it made her miserable. He asks her if she’s afraid of daylight and replies she won’t be until evening arrives. Aside from that, she is unhappy. He wants her to tell him what is making her unhappy, and although she finds this a difficult question, Jane says she has no family. Mr. Lloyd reminds her she has her aunt and cousins, but Jane says John harmed her and Mrs. Reed locked her up. He takes out his snuff-box and asks her if she thinks Gateshead’s a beautiful house and grateful she is living here. Jane responds this is not her home as she has less right to live here. Mr. Lloyd wonders if she is foolish enough to leave this house, and Jane would like to leave Gateshead and live somewhere else, but won’t be able to go until she’s grown up. Mr. Lloyd asks if she has any other relatives, but she doesn’t think so.

He questions her about her family and Gateshead, with Jane explaining that she is unhappy from the mistreatment she receives, such as John knocking her down and her aunt locking her in the red room. She also has no immediate family, has no right to live at Gateshead, and desparately wants to leave. Even if she did have other relatives, she wouldn't want to live with them if they are poor, not even those related to her late father. She one time asked Mrs. Reed of any different family relatives and replies that they could be poor, for she doesn’t know them. Mr. Lloyd tells her if she did have relatives and would go live with them. Jane reflects on how poverty affects people of all ages and says she wouldn’t want to live with the poor, even if they were kind to her. She cannot bear to adjust to the lifestyle of even the most generous poverty-stricken people, and remembers seeing how the poorest women lived in a nearby village. She can’t tell if her poorest relatives are part of the working-class, and won’t be a beggar as Mrs. Reed suggests her relations could be.

The apothecary asks her if she would like to go to school, and Jane thinks about it for a moment. She reflects on how Bessie told her school is where students are told to be precise, while John hated his school and his teacher. She doesn't trust both of them, but was interested in the subjects such as singing, art and French. She considers receiving an education would let her escape from the Reed's and offer a fresh start. She agrees to go to school and Mr. Lloyd is satisfied. Bessie comes back in while the Reed’s carriage returns. Mr. Lloyd would like to talk to Mrs. Reed before he leaves, and Bessie leads him out. He manages to have a private conversation with Mrs. Reed, and Jane presumes it is about her schooling when she was in bed and overhears Bessie and Miss Abbott discussing how Mrs. Reed is glad to send Jane away to school.

She overhears a conversation between Bessie and Miss Abbott, discussing about her parentage; with Bessie taking pity on Jane and Miss Abott’s claim she would had more sympathy if she was well-behaved and more pretty like Georgiana before they leave for lunch.

Leaving Gateshead
Following her meeting with Mr. Lloyd, Jane waits eagerly for any news of her going to school. Days and weeks have passed; during this time she has recovered most of her health, but still no news. Despite Mrs. Reed strictly watching her closely, Jane is kept isolated from her aunt and cousins during her illness; she was condemned by Mrs. Reed to sleep in a closet alone, make her own meals and spend all of her time in the nursery. Mrs. Reed hasn’t mentioned anything of Jane’s schooling yet and Jane can see that her aunt won’t want to have her in her home much longer. Eliza and Georgiana spend little time talking to her, and when John attempted to insult her, Jane punches his nose and he runs crying to his mother. When he tells her what Jane did to him, Mrs. Reed chastises him and wants him and his sisters to leave her alone.

At one point, Mrs. Reed gets angry at her when the girl admits that her cousins were not associated with her and having her locked up in her room. Jane says to her aunt of what her parents and Mr. Reed would think of her behaviour towards her. She becomes isolated, her cousins stop bothering her; and when Christmas came, she wasn't allowed to participate in the holiday festivities or receive any gifts, while Bessie looks after her. But at the same time, Jane is more eager and anticipated of any news of her schooling.

Finally, in mid-January one morning, Jane was tidying up her room when Bessie tells her Mrs. Reed has called her into the breakfast room and she quickly gets washed. She goes to the meeting room where Mrs. Reed and a gentleman are waiting for her. She introduces herself to the man and is interviewed by him about religion. Jane says that wicked people go to hell when they die in a pit full of fire and wouldn't want to fall into it and be buried there forever by maintaining her good health; even commenting her aunt is a benefactress. She says her prayers every night, sometimes reads her Bible and enjoys the Revelations. However, she finds the Psalms not interesting.

Mrs. Reed tells the man Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane is a liar and she must be watched carefully while at Lowood Institution, her new school. He agrees with her and even gives the girl a book called "Child's Guide," which is about sinful children who died horrible deaths. After Mr. Brocklehurst leaves, Jane is upset by Mrs. Reed's accusation on her and refuses to leave the room without standing up to her. She angrily confronts her that she doesn't love her for being a deceitful, hateful person, and that the sight of her makes her sick. She also says that she hates John more than anything and that Georgiana is a liar instead of her because Jane herself isn't lying at all, and adds she will never visit her as an adult. She feels satisfied of her victory as Mrs. Reed calmly leaves the room, and goes out for a walk instead of reading. She doesn't answer Bessie's call and when her nursemaid comes to her, she is coaxed to be in a good mood and they spend the day together.

In her last few days at Gateshead, she becomes more closer to Bessie and wanting the attention while still being shunned by the Reed's.

Arrival at Lowood
4 days later, at five o'clock in the morning, Jane wakes up and gets dressed half an hour before Bessie came into her room. She has her breakfast of bread and boiled milk, already excited to leave for school. She is given some wrapped up biscuits by Bessie and puts on her cloak and bonnet. As they leave the nursery and walk past Mrs. Reed's bedroom, her nursemaid asks her if she would like to say goodbye to her aunt, but Jane refuses.

She says goodbye to Gateshead as she and Bessie walk down the hall and out the front door. They walk down towards the porter's lodge, with Bessie leading the way with a lantern and Jane shivering from the cold weather. The porter's wife is waiting there by the fire and with Jane's trunk. At 6 o'clock, the coach arrives to take Jane to her school. She finds out that the journey to Lowood is 50 miles away and would be travelling alone.

The trunk is hoisted into the coach and Jane clings to Bessie's neck as she was placed inside. The coach drives away and the trip takes a long time. Along the way, the coach stops in a large town for a rest. Jane gets out and was taken into the inn, where the coachman advises her she should have something to eat, but since she wasn't hungry, Jane stays inside a room. She goes for a walk and is afraid she would be abducted by kidnappers that Bessie told her about in her stories.

The coachman takes her back to the coach and they continue the ride to her destination. She passes by some towns and into the countryside as the day goes by. By the time it was dark, Jane thinks she is now far away from Gateshead and could hear strong winds outside. She starts to fall asleep but was awakened when the coach stops and the door opens. A teacher asks her if she is called "Jane Eyre" and says she is. She gets out, her trunk was unloaded and the coach drives away.

She is stiff from sitting in the coach for a full day and the night was rainy and windy. Lowood Institution is a dark-looking building as the teacher escorts her inside and into her room.

Life at Lowood
Jane warms herself by the fire in her room. She looks around and sees there is no candle to be seen and the only light provided was from the fireplace's flames. It wasn't spacious like at Gateshead, but she finds it still comfortable. Two teachers, Miss Miller and a tall-dark haired woman enter the room. Jane says to the tall woman that she is a little tired and she would need to have dinner before bedtime. She is questioned by her about her background.

She is then guided by Miss Miller through the building until they arrive in a long, wide room with 80 girls aged 9-20 sitting at two tables on benches. The students wore plain uniforms and were in the middle of study hour. Jane is given a seat to sit by the door as the monitors collect the books and bring in supper trays. She drinks her water, but didn't eat her thin oaten cake served to her that were broken up in pieces.

After dinner, Miss Miller reads aloud the prayers and the students leave the classroom to go to bed. Jane was taken to a long, narrow dormitory where the beds are to be shared by two occupants. She was to share her bed with Miss Miller, who helps her undress, the candlelight was distinguished and Jane soon falls asleep. She could hardly dream but can still hear the wind and rain outside. Early the next morning, Jane is awakened by the sound of a ringing bell, and the students are already up and getting dressed. As she gets up, she saw how cold the room was and starts shivering.

After washing herself at the basin that is surrounded up to six students, Jane joins the girls as they walk from their dormitory to their cold, dim classroom. She witnesses as Miss Miller reads the morning prayers and then has the students stand for formation. Afterwards, the girls were marched into another room to have breakfast. Jane was greeted by a very foul odour the moment she enters the room and the students are served burned porridge, followed by grace and a hymn. The teachers were served their tea and breakfast begins.

None of the girls can eat their disgusting meal, and Jane only had two spoonfuls. She was busy monitoring closely at the teachers and their behaviour. After breakfast was over following a second hymn, the students leave the room, while Jane looks back and sees one of the teachers tasting the basin of the porridge. The students arrive in their classroom where at 9 o'clock, Miss Miller orders everyone to their seats. Jane could see that all the plain girls didn't have curly hair and wore brown, ugly wool dresses with strange pockets on the front. She finds out the tall, dark-haired woman is the superintendent of Lowood.

The first lesson was geography after a pair of globes were brought in. The lower classes were taught history, grammar, arithmetics and writing for an hour, and the eldest students had music lessons. At 12 o'clock, the superintendent tells the students she has ordered them a lunch of bread and cheese to make up from the burnt porridge at breakfast.

After lunch, everyone was ordered to go out into the garden. Jane goes outside, and despite wearing warmer clothing, it was still cold and bleak outdoors and the garden beds were still withered. She sees some of the girls playing while others huddled together to keep warm, and hears someone coughing. She finds herself all alone in a strange new place that wasn't Gateshead from her past and she was cold and starving. She sees that most of the building is old but there is a new part of it that contains the dormitory and classroom and was lit up by latticed windows. She reads the stone tablet above the door that says "Lowood Institution --This portion was rebuilt A.D. by Naomi Brocklehurst, of Brocklehurst Hall, in this country." "Let your light shine so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven-- St. Matt v 16." Jane reads the quotes repeatedly, wondering what does institution mean to her.

She hears a cough again and sees a girl sitting on a stone bench reading. The book she was reading was called "Rasselas" and when she looks at her, Jane asks her if she enjoys her book and replies she does. She asks her what it was about, although she finds it odd to talk to a stranger but she enjoys reading like Jane does. The girl gives her the book and when Jane looks through it, she sees that it didn't include anything imaginary like fairies.

Jane asks her about Lowood and why it is called an institution. She explains that it is a charity school for orphaned girls who have lost a parent or both, and when asked if she is orphan, too, Jane replies that both her parents died before she can remember. The girl also explains that either the students or their family friends would pay 15 pounds every year, but the money isn't enough for the school's teaching jobs and education and is mainly subscribed by kind, wealthy people around the school's area and in London. Jane asks her who is Naomi Brocklehurst, and the girl answers that she built the new part of Lowood and her son owns and runs the school as the manager. Jane even asks if Lowood isn't owned by the superintendent who kindly served them bread and cheese for lunch. The girl states that she is Miss Temple and she always does what she is told by Mr. Brocklehurst. In addition, Mr. Brocklehurst pays for all the food and clothing, and doesn't live at the school but in a hall nearby. He is also a clergyman.

Jane next questions her the names of the teachers and the girl explains some of them to her. Miss Smith is responsible for sewing the fabrics and materials for the students to make their own clothing, Miss Scatcherd teaches history and grammar as well as making second class repetitions, and Madame Pierrot, who is from France, teaches French. Jane asks her if she likes the teachers, and the girls does; although she reminds her that Miss Scatcherd is quick-tempered and she should be careful around her, Madame Pierrot isn't too bad, and Miss Temple is the most good and intelligent of the teachers. Finally, Jane questions how long she has been here and if she is also an orphan. The girl responds that she has been at Lowood for 2 years and her mother is dead.

Jane asks her if she is happy at Lowood, but the girl wants to focus on her reading than answer her questions. At that moment, everyone is summoned back into the building for dinner. The smell is even more harsh than breakfast and their meal served in tin-plated vessels consists of rusty, shredded meat and potatoes mixed together. She eats some of her meal, and wondered if all the meals at Lowood would be like this every day.

After dinner, the students gathered in the classroom for their studies. During a history lesson, Jane sees the girl she had met earlier in the garden being punished by Miss Scatcherd. She is dismissed from class and was forced to stand in the middle of the schoolroom. Jane is surprised that the girl calmly accepts her punishment and would be ashamed if she was in her place. She also doesn't understand why the girl wasn't upset from being humiliated and even takes pity on her, wondering if she is a good student. Lessons continued until 5 o'clock, when they had another meal of a slice of brown bread and a mug of coffee. Jane ate her food with delight, but was still hungry. The rest of the day included half an hour of activities, studying, having some water and oaten cakes, prayers and then bedtime.

On her second day, Jane wakes up and the building is even more cold from the windy night that caused her and the others to shiver in their sleep. The wash water in the pitcher is frozen and the girls aren't able to wash themselves. The students went for breakfast and as Jane listens to an hour-long sermon she felt like she is ready to die from the cold. The porridge served wasn't burned like yesterday.

Helen Burns
Jane finds her lessons to be long, overwhelming and difficult. She is relieved when study hour concluded at 3 o'clock and took part in sewing with the other students. At the same time, Miss Scatcherd was teaching lessons with another group of girls. Jane watches as the teacher reads to them English history and she reprimands the girl from the garden whose name was Burns; as Jane suggests that all the students are called by their surnames. The teacher proceeds to lecture about King Charles I and asking them questions. She scolds Burns and the girl didn't answer.

Jane helps Miss Miller by holding thread as she winds it, and is asked if she can sew or knit. After she was taken back to her seat, Jane watches as Burns was ordered to bring back a pair of bundled twigs tied together. Miss Scatcherd then whips her on the neck with the twigs. Jane is surprised the girl didn't cry or flinch and her fingers even quivered of anger from watching Burns being beaten unjustly. Burns was ordered to return the twigs and a faint tear was seen on her face.

During her free-time, Jane finds her life at Lowood to be more decent than at Gateshead, since the food wasn't too bad to satisfy her hunger, and the classrooms were a bit warmer during the day that were slightly lit by candles. But she also finds herself lonely without a companion. She even wonders if she was sent to Lowood by a loving family, she would have missed them terribly and the strong winds outside would have made her more miserable.

While exploring the school, she finds Burns sitting by the fireplace reading. Jane asks her if she is still reading 'Rasselas ' and she had just finished it, giving Jane the opportunity to talk to her more. She asks Burns what her first name is, and says she is Helen. She next asks her where she is from, and Helen answers she comes from somewhere up north close to the Scottish Borders and is uncertain when she would return home. She doesn't wish to leave Lowood since she was sent there to get an education and would stay there until she is finished. Jane notes on how Miss Scatcherd was cruel towards her, and Helen says that she is mostly bitter who doesn't appreciate her faults.

Jane tells her if she was in her place she would hate Miss Scatcherd, and if she was beaten by her, she would take the cane and break it. Helen reminds her she would probably not do such a thing, as she could be expelled for it. She tells her she should turn the other cheek and patiently endure anything that comes to her. Jane said that being flogged in front of the class was disgraceful, and Helen said she should bear it with doctrine of endurance.

Jane is confused, but saw that Helen is considerate and that she could be right and herself wrong. Jane asks her what are her faults, and Helen answers that she can forget the rules, and cannot bear to be subjected to any systematic arrangements. Jane adds that Miss Scatcherd is cruel and angry, but Helen doesn't answer to her comment. When Jane asks her if Miss Temple is hard on her, Helen responds that Miss Temple is the most good-hearted who gently corrects her errors, but says that it is her own fault whenever Miss Temple is around to improve her. Jane listens as Helen talks about how she focuses on her work and when she listens to Miss Scatcherd, she would lose herself in thought and daydreams of her home in Northumberland but has to wake herself up when the teacher calls on her.

Jane sees that Helen is now talking to herself. She questions her if she is in her thoughts when being taught by Miss Temple, and she responds that she doesn't often and is able to listen to her in a proper way. Jane tells her that wicked, cruel people would still go on with their ways if they were treated with kindness and should strike back if she was ever beaten. She would hate anyone who opposes her and would love only to those who are good to her. Helen again reminds her that she would change her mind when she gets older and needs some learning.

Jane cannot understand what Helen is talking about and what she should do about it. Helen says that violence and vengeance can't overcome hate, but that she can read the New Testament and follow Christ's lessons. Jane is advised to love her enemies, be blessful to them and do them good. She is disgusted that she should love her vile aunt Mrs. Reed and bless her son John, which she finds impossible. She explains about her suffering from Gateshead and asks her if Mrs. Reed is a hateful person. Helen explains that her aunt may be hard on her but it is Jane's own obsession of her anger that makes her looked down by Mrs. Reed, just like how she was treated the same way with Miss Scatcherd. She even says that everyone has to live with their faults, but she adds that when her times comes, she can find peace in the afterlife. Jane sees Helen again lost in thought and no longer wanting to talk.

For her first, full month at Lowood, Jane struggles to cope with the rules and daily life. From January to early March, conditions at the school remain harsh. Every Sunday, the students would walk to Mr. Brocklehurst's church for the daily service. But since their clothes are thin and old, Jane and the others would shiver from the cold winter when they make the hour long trek to the church. They also wore no boots and snow easily got into their shoes and their hands and feet would turn numb, even suffering sores exposed from the frigid weather. During the service at the church, Jane and the girls were nearly paralyzed from the long walk. Since it was too far to walk back for dinner, cold meat and bread was served between the service hours. After the afternoon service, the students would endure a strong, freezing wind blow past them that nearly shredded their skin.

The girls are constantly underfed from the food's poor quality served to them in small portions. The youngest students usually starved and the oldest would steal their food and keep them away from getting warm from the fires. Jane would offer some of her food to her peers. During these difficult times, Miss Temple would lightly encourage and motivate the students. They felt better when they warmed themselves by the fire and later that night, a Church Catechism was performed following by a sermon delivered by Miss Miller. Several of the younger students fell asleep during the sermon.

Jane has not seen Mr. Brocklehurst at Lowood, since he is hardly present at the school. But 3 weeks after her arrival, she spots someone pass the window during class and Mr. Brocklehurst enters. He chastises Miss Temple for being too kind to the students and spending a lot of money on food and clothing. He instructs her on how to run the school properly, even demands all the students who have curly hair to cut them and make them more modest. His wife and daughters enter, who wore wealthy, lavish outfits and spent some of their time going around the building and inspecting the students' belongings.

She is afraid that Mr. Brocklehurst would keep his promise from Mrs. Reed to tell all the teachers about her and looks down, hoping he won’t notice her. She is so nervous that she accidentally drops her slate which made a loud crash that catches the attention of everyone, even Mr. Brocklehurst. She is ordered by him to go up front, and two students sitting next to her pushed her towards him. Miss Temple whispers to her, assuring her it was just an accident and won't go unpunished. Jane thinks in an instant the superintendent would see her as a hypocrite.

A stool was brought in and Jane is ordered to stand on top of it by Mr. Brocklehurst. In front of the students and teachers, the clergyman tells everyone that Jane is a deceitful liar and everyone must avoid her. They were also told not to talk to her throughout the rest of the day. She is humiliated and mortified from her punishment, but her spirits are lifted a bit when Helen smiles at her when she passes by her.

At 5 o'clock, after class was dismissed, Jane gets off the stool and collapses in the corner of the room where she bursts into tears. She wept that she tried her best to fit in the school and make new friends, but is certain her reputation is ruined. Her day was going fine so far and now sees that she will be hated and shunned by everyone; even wishing she could die. Helen comes in and gives her some food but Jane pushes it away. As her friend sits next to her, Jane asks her why she is with someone who has just been seen as a liar. Helen tells her that only 80 people in the school have heard her. Jane doesn't understand her and knew all the students and staff will hate her now. Helen says that everyone mostly pities her and Mr. Brocklehurst himself is not liked by anyone and no one would hardly believe him for his unfairness. Jane cannot bear the thought of being hated, and her friend promises that if she is ever unloved, she would still have friendship and love, as well as being more conscious without her guilt. Jane calms down when Helen talks about focusing on spirits of the afterlife but is concerned when Helen coughs ominously.

As Jane embraces her, Miss Temple comes in and summons the girls to her office with a blazing, warm fire. She tells the superintendent that she has been wrongly accused of being a liar and would be seen by everyone else as being wicked. Miss Temple assures her to still be good and asks her who was the benefactress Mr. Brocklehurst had said. Jane says that it was her aunt, who was left in her care by her uncle who made her promise to raise her as their own. She realizes how important it was for her to tell the truth to Miss Temple and says she was just accused of falsehood while not exaggerating. In a moderate tone, Jane talks about her tormented childhood at Gateshead and felt that she believes her story. When she mentions the apothecary Mr. Lloyd, Miss Temple says she knows him and would write him a letter explaining the girl's statement, confirming she is not a liar and would inform the school for her to be cleared of that charge. Jane is kissed by her and Miss Temple asks Helen of her health.

The superintendent rings her bell and has a servant serve the two girls some tea and seed cake. Jane is delighted on being offered some food, and while she eats, she listens to Miss Temple and Helen discuss several topics, which leaves her awestruck of their radiance. As bedtime arrives, Jane and Helen are embraced by Miss Temple and blesses them.

The next day, Helen is punished by Miss Scatcherd for being disorganized and has a paper written "Slattern" placed on her forehead. After the teacher was dismissed later that day, Jane takes the paper off and tosses it into the fire. A week later, she is told by Miss Temple that Mr. Lloyd has received her letter and she is now cleared of all charges at Lowood. The teachers shook hands with Jane and kissed her, while most of her classmates are satisfied of her. Afterwards, Jane is relieved and she devotes herself to her studies, excelling at French and drawing. She is happy at her impoverished school and would rather live there than at Gateshead.

Spring arrives, bringing warm weather and flowers to Lowood by May. Everything was fine at first, but the damp forest dell where the school is located is a breeding ground for typhus. Before long, an epidemic of the disease breaks out at Lowood, infecting half of the students with most of them being sent home while others died.

Jane spends most of her time playing outside since she is encouraged to be outdoors for her health. She admires the lush scenery and flowers around her, and is lucky enough to stay healthy. The Brocklehurst's did not return to Lowood for fear of being infected; even the school's cross housekeeper has left and a matron took her place to look after the infected students. The girls who were healthy got to eat larger portions of food while those that are sick ate less. There wasn't enough time to prepare a regular dinner, so everyone were given a piece of pie or a slice of bread and cheese. They would eat their food when they are outside in the forest.

Jane enjoys sitting on a large, smooth rock, which is surrounded by a stream and she would have to wad through the water on barefoot to reach it. She has also befriended a girl named Mary Ann Wilson, who is a few years older than her but they often converse with each other and got along well. Jane doesn't know what happened to Helen and wondered if she had forgotten about her. While Mary Ann is someone who enjoys telling her stories and keeping her entertained, she is not as special as Helen is.

She eventually finds out that Helen is sick and confined in a room upstairs. Her friend is suffering from consumption, not typhus, and Jane is unable to visit her for she can only see her from the window in the room she is kept in whenever she is outside. She assumes consumption is just a mild illness and Helen would recover from it soon.

One evening in early June, Jane and Mary Ann were out in the forest when they had wandered too far and got lost. They even asked an elderly couple living in a cottage nearby how to get back. When the girls came back late to the school, a surgeon named Mr. Bates had arrived, and Jane's friend thinks someone must be gravely ill. After Mary Ann goes inside, Jane stays outside for a few minutes to plant some roots in her garden she found in the forest. While the evening is warm, she fears about death and dying, as well as spending the afterlife in a different place.

The surgeon and nurse come out and prepare to leave. Jane asks her about Helen and if Mr. Bates was here to see her. The nurse replies he is and Helen is doing very poorly, and she won't be around for much longer. Jane assumes that Helen could be moving back home soon, but then realizes she is dying. She asks her where her friend is and the nurse says she is in Miss Temple's room. She wants to talk to her friend one last time before she dies but the nurse says she is unable to and she'll catch a fever if she stays outside for too long. After the woman leaves, Jane goes back inside and it was soon time to go to bed.

Two hours later, Jane has a hard time sleeping. While everyone else was asleep in the dormitory, she puts on her frock over her nightgown and still in barefoot, sneaks out of the dormitory and finds her way to Miss Temple's room, guided by the moonlight from the windows. She fears she would be caught by the nurse and be sent back to bed, but she must see her friend while she is on her deathbed. She made her way through the building until she is at Helen's door. It was slightly ajar with light inside, and she looks in.

The room was quiet and brightened by a dimly light candle. There was a curtained bed and Miss Temple is not there. Jane goes in and is afraid of pulling back the curtain and seeing a corpse. She whispers to Helen if she is awake and when her friend sees her, Jane is shocked at how pale and frail she looks, even still thinking she would be alright and the doctor was wrong.

Jane climbs into her bed and kisses her cold face. She tells her she has come to see her and cannot sleep until she has talked to her again, with Helen saying she has come just in time to say goodbye. Jane asks her if she is going home, and her friend replies she is about to go to her eternal home, with Jane crying that isn't true. As she snuggles close to Helen and covers herself with her quilt to keep warm, she tells Jane that she is happy and she would surely not grieve when she is dead. She is about to handle death without regrets and can finally leave her suffering behind.

Jane asks her where she would go and if there is Heaven where people go after they die. Helen says she is going to God, and there is a future place in the afterlife, for she loves and trusts her saviour. When Jane asks if she would see her again in death, Helen replies that they would meet again in the same happy place. She wonders if somewhere like that exists.

She sees that she is more attached to Helen with her arms clasped around her, and her friend says she is comfortable and doesn't want to be left alone. Jane tells her she will stay with her, then the two girls bid good night to each other, followed by a kiss and fell asleep.

The next morning, Jane wakes up to see a nurse carrying her away from the bedroom and back to her dormitory, and wasn't scolded from leaving her bed for everyone else had something to think about it. She realizes that Miss Temple had found Jane and Helen in bed that day. Jane was still asleep while Helen had died, with Jane's arms around her neck. Helen was interred in an unmarked grave at the Brocklebridge churchyard, and 15 years later, a marker would be placed at her resting place that read "Resurgam".

Governess at Thornfield Hall
Following the typhus outbreak and Mr. Brocklehurst's cruel deeds come to light, arrangements were immediately made at Lowood; such as rebuilding the school in a different place and making changes in food and clothing, improving Lowood and the students' lives. Jane stays at the school for 8 years during the improvements, 6 as a student and 2 as a teacher. She had excelled in her studies, and is no longer the impulsive, furious child who went there in the beginning, but is now an accomplished young woman, graduating first in her class.

Her teacher and mentor, Miss Temple, has gotten married and left Lowood. Without her, Jane roams around her chamber, thinking it may be about time for her to move on from her life at Lowood. As she looks out the window, she imagines travelling down the same road on the coach 8 years ago on that cold, dim night. She spent all of her vacations at Lowood, as Mrs. Reed never called her back to Gateshead, nor did anyone else came to visit her. Already bored of the same routines of Lowood and not receiving any outside communication, Jane decides that she is ready for a new change, wanting to seek new adventures in the world and finding new servitude.

Her thoughts are interrupted when a bells rings for dinner and goes downstairs. She continues with her teaching duties, and when Miss Gryce, a Welsh teacher who shares a room with Jane, goes to sleep, Jane goes back to her plans of how she should leave Lowood. She asks herself on what she really wants, and it is to be a new place with new people. She tries to think harder but nothing seems to come to light, until she comes up with an idea of advertising. She doesn't know how to do it, and her mind tells her to secretly enclose her advertisement to the editor of the Herald, then she would mail it at a post office at Lowton with the initials "J.E." and come back after a week to see if she was written back.

Early the next morning, she writes her advertisement, explaining that she is a governess looking for a private family with children under 14 years who are in need of an education, following by her initials and address. She keeps her document hidden in her drawer all day, and after tea, she receives permission from the superintendent to go to Lowton. She walks 2 miles to her destination, stopping at 2 shops along the way and mails the letter at the post-office before walking back in the heavy rain.

A week later, Jane returns towards Lowton and wonders if any letters have responded to her advertisement. She first stops at a shoemaker's shop to be measured for some new shoes before she arrives at the post-office. She asks the elderly woman running the building if there are any letters for "J.E.", and as the woman rummages the drawer, Jane is worried for a moment that her hopes are dashed. She is given a document with the initials "J.E." and when Jane asks if this is the only one, the woman says there are no more letters for her.

Jane places the letter in her pocket and returns to Lowood, since she can't read it yet and has to be back before 8 o'clock. She completes her duties such as attending the students during study hour and reading out the prayers. After dinner, everyone retires for the night and while Miss Gryce was asleep, Jane takes out the letter and reads it by the dim candlelight, marked by the initial "F". The letter explains that Jane is to tutor a young girl under 10 years old. Her salary would be 30 pounds yearly and she must write back her reference, name and address. It was written by Mrs. Fairfax of Thornfield near Millcote.

After reading the letter, Jane thinks that Mrs. Fairfax is an elderly woman since her writing is old-fashioned, and even sees her as a widow and the owner of Thornfield. She looks up the town of Millcote and its county on a map and saw it is located nearly 70 miles from London. It was a bustling, manufacturing town and it would still be a new change for her. She then burns out the candle.