Helen Burns

"Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good them that hate you and despitefully use you"

- Chapter 6

Helen Burns is a major character in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. She is a student at Lowood School and a close friend to Jane Eyre.

While still a young girl, Helen is a wise and spiritual girl who gives Jane religious advice and guidance. Admidst the typhus outbreak at Lowood, Helen succumbs to the consumption she's been suffering from since before her introduction as a character.

Description
From her introduction it is to be assumed that Helen is ill as she comes into the scene with a "hollow cough". Anyone with even basic knowledge of the time period Jane Eyre is set in will almost automatically assume that Helen is suffering from consumption, what is now know as tuberculosis. During the night where Jane and Helen spend the evening with Ms. Temple, Jane notes that Ms. Temple watches Helen with concern, sighs sadly and holds her just a little bit longer than Jane. Though Jane does not seem to understand why, it assumes its because Ms. Temple knows that Helen is ill and will not survive it.

Storyline
Amidst the typhus outbreak that haunts Lowood School, Helen's illness takes a significant turn for the worse and she is bed ridden. Upon seeing the surgeon leave Lowood and inquiring about Helen to the nurse who tells Jane that Helen will "...not be ill long.", it strikes Jane for the first time that Helen is on death's doorstep. The nurse will not allow Jane to visit Helen, so Jane stays awake until the rest of the house is asleep and sneaks out to visit Helen. Though Helen is now deeply ill and merely hours from death, she comforts Jane, rather than the reverse. She's spends the last of her time on Earth attempting to calm and reassure Jane, asking Jane if she is warm enough.

Helen does not live until morning and the two are found holding each other even after Helen has passed. She is buried in the Brocklebridge Church-yard with no headstone. Later, after Jane comes into her fortune, she purchases a headstone that bears the Latin word, "Resurgam", meaning 'I will rise again.' referencing Helen's deep and valued belief that her spirit would rise once more to her heavenly home.

Personality/Appearance
Helen Burns is described as a serious, grounded young girl that Jane admires deeply. She is intelligent, kind, patient and understanding of Jane's passionate and opinionated nature. Helen often counciled Jane to accept punishments and criticisms from teachers with grace and gratitude, though Jane seems to find this baffling. She repeatedly tempers and attempts to calm some of Jane's more impulsive behaviors to no avail.