GCSE · English Literature · AQA · Spec 8702

Jane Eyre (character)

Jane calls herself 'poor, obscure, plain, and little'. So how does she end up telling Rochester, 'I have as much soul as you'?

Jane Eyre · Jane in her own words

Three ages, one voice

Tap each moment to hear Jane speak: first as a child at Gateshead, then teaching at Thornfield, then in love. Listen for what stays the same.

Jane's voice, from Chapter I to Chapter XXIII

Tap a moment, read Jane's words, then read what they show about her.

Moment 1 · Ch I · 'a tyrant, a murderer'

“I really saw in him a tyrant, a murderer.”

Repeated simile

What to notice

Meet Jane as a child: an orphan living at Gateshead with her cruel, abusive Aunt Reed, who keeps her isolated. She has faced a lot of injustice. So what does she say to her cousin John Reed? She names what she sees: 'You are like a murderer—you are like a slave-driver—you are like the Roman emperors!'

Effect

'You are like…' three times over. Three pictures of cruel power, one after another, and the orphan who (John tells her) has no money of her own says every one of them out loud.

Meaning

The price is instant. Mrs Reed orders, 'Take her away to the red-room, and lock her in there', and Jane is carried off: 'Four hands were immediately laid upon me, and I was borne upstairs.' She has no control over her own body, but she has already said what she saw.

Moment 1 of 8: Ch I · 'a tyrant, a murderer'. technique Repeated simile. Meet Jane as a child: an orphan living at Gateshead with her cruel, abusive Aunt Reed, who keeps her isolated. She has faced a lot of injustice. So what does she say to her cousin John Reed? She names what she sees: 'You are like a murderer—you are like a slave-driver—you are like the Roman emperors!'. effect: 'You are like…' three times over. Three pictures of cruel power, one after another, and the orphan who (John tells her) has no money of her own says every one of them out loud.. meaning: The price is instant. Mrs Reed orders, 'Take her away to the red-room, and lock her in there', and Jane is carried off: 'Four hands were immediately laid upon me, and I was borne upstairs.' She has no control over her own body, but she has already said what she saw.

Chapter I “You are like a murderer—you are like a slave-driver—you are like the Roman emperors!” “I really saw in him a tyrant, a murderer.” “Take her away to the red-room, and lock her in there.” … “Four hands were immediately laid upon me, and I was borne upstairs.” Chapter XII “I am not writing to flatter parental egotism, to echo cant, or prop up humbug; I am merely telling the truth.” “…a power of vision which might overpass that limit; which might reach the busy world, towns, regions full of life I had heard of but never seen” Chapter XXIII “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!” “it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal,—as we are!” “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.” “Are you in earnest?” “Do you truly love me?” “Do you sincerely wish me to be your wife?” … “Then, sir, I will marry you.”
Exam line: Quote Jane at different points in the novel, not just once. Putting 'poor, obscure, plain, and little' beside 'I have as much soul as you' shows how her character works: she admits her low place and claims her worth in the same breath.
Watch out: The line is flat on purpose. It follows WHEN Jane speaks through the novel; it isn't a score for how brave or confident she is. The point is that her voice doesn't need to grow. It's there from Chapter I.

Low place, high voice

Where does each line belong?

For each line, decide: does it show Jane's low place (poor, plain, dependent, humbled), Jane standing up for herself, or both at once?

  • A Jane's low place
  • B Jane standing up for herself
  1. Ch I, Jane at Gateshead: “humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed”
  2. Ch I, John Reed to Jane: “you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg”
  3. Ch XII, Jane on the stranger in the lane: “Had he been a handsome, heroic-looking young gentleman, I should not have dared to stand thus questioning him”
  4. Ch XXIII: “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?”
  5. Ch XXIII: “me who have not a friend in the world but you—if you are my friend: not a shilling but what you have given me?”
  6. Ch XXIII: “I am a free human being with an independent will”
  7. Ch XXIII: “it is my spirit that addresses your spirit”

Exam line: When one quotation shows two sides of Jane at once, say so. That's sharper than two separate points.

Chapter XII · Jane's own reasoning

?

Reason it through

Why does helping a stranger on a frozen lane matter so much to Jane, and why does going back to Thornfield feel so bad afterwards?

Link 1 of 4

First link · your turn

Start with Jane's big claim about people. Are they happy just to be calm and comfortable?

2
Locked — reveal the link above first
3
Locked — reveal the link above first
4
Locked — reveal the link above first

The lane and the ending

First meeting (Chapter XII)vsThe ending (Chapter XXXVIII)

Read each row across: same question, two moments, many chapters apart.

Focus

Who helps whom?

First meeting (Chapter XII)

A rider's horse slips on the ice. Jane stays: “I cannot think of leaving you, sir, at so late an hour, in this solitary lane, till I see you are fit to mount your horse.”

The ending (Chapter XXXVIII)

Rochester is blind, and Jane describes the world to him: “for I was then his vision, as I am still his right hand.”

The insight

Jane is the helper both times. The role she stepped into on the lane becomes her life.

How Jane sees herself

First meeting (Chapter XII)

She isn't afraid of him only because he isn't handsome. She doesn't think highly of herself, and believes no handsome man would have sympathy with anything in her.

The ending (Chapter XXXVIII)

“I am my husband’s life as fully as he is mine.”

The setting around her

First meeting (Chapter XII)

A cold, still, isolated lane, which can be read as reflecting Jane's isolation and innocence. The white of the scene could represent that innocence.

The ending (Chapter XXXVIII)

Married, and speaking to us directly: “Reader, I married him.” Ten years on, she and Rochester are each other's life.

How she behaves

First meeting (Chapter XII)

Polite, calm and helpful, calling the stranger 'sir' while she offers her services unasked.

The ending (Chapter XXXVIII)

His “right hand”: not a servant but the part of him that acts.

How Jane was made

A plain heroine, on purpose

Jane tells her own story as 'I', and she's small, plain and poor. Readers often wonder where a heroine like that came from. Charlotte Brontë's friend Gaskell recorded what Brontë said about it.

Which is closest to what you think right now about how Brontë created Jane?
How sure are you?

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

Brontë's heroine never pretends to be more than she is, and that's exactly what gives her the right to say she matters.

What you need to know

  • Jane is an orphan who grows up at Gateshead with her cruel Aunt Reed, isolated and treated unjustly. Even as a child she speaks out, calling her cousin John 'like a slave-driver', and she's locked in the red-room for it.
  • Jane tells the truth, including about herself: 'I am merely telling the truth' (Chapter XII). She admits she's 'poor, obscure, plain, and little' (Chapter XXIII).
  • She needs action. People 'must have action', and women 'need exercise for their faculties' as much as men (Chapter XII).
  • She claims equal worth: 'I have as much soul as you' and 'I am no bird' (Chapter XXIII). She tests Rochester's love before she accepts him.
  • Brontë made Jane plain on purpose, against her sisters' view that a heroine had to be beautiful (Gaskell's account).

The big picture

Brontë presents Jane as an orphaned, dependent girl who thinks herself plain and little, yet tells the truth, craves action and claims an equal soul. From calling John Reed 'a tyrant, a murderer' in Chapter I to 'I have as much soul as you' in Chapter XXIII, her low opinion of her looks and position sits right beside her insistence on her own worth and will.

Key points

1Jane's humility and her defiance often live in the same sentence: 'poor, obscure, plain, and little' is the ground she stands on to claim 'as much soul as you'.
2She is honest even when it's unflattering: about her pupil, about her looks, about wanting more than Thornfield.
3Her restlessness is an argument, not bad temper: human beings 'must have action', women included.
4At the first meeting and at the end, Jane is the one who helps Rochester. By Chapter XXXVIII she is 'his vision' and 'his right hand'.
5She is not a meek governess waiting to be chosen. She speaks out as a child, questions a stranger, tests a proposal and leaves when she must.

Worked example

Problem

Write an analytical sentence or two on how Brontë presents Jane in the novel's last chapter, using 'Reader, I married him.' (Chapter XXXVIII).

⚠ Watch out

Calling Jane a meek, quiet governess who simply waits for Rochester. From Chapter I she tells John Reed he is 'like a slave-driver'. In Chapter XII she insists women 'need exercise for their faculties'. In Chapter XXIII she asks 'Do you truly love me?' before she says yes.

🧠

Memory hook

Low place, high voice. The child names a tyrant, the teacher wants action, the woman says 'I have as much soul as you'. Three ages, one voice.

✓

Check yourself

From memory, finish Jane's question: 'Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, …' Then say in one sentence why admitting her plainness makes her claim stronger.

Flashcards

(13)
Who does Jane live with as a child, and how is she treated?
Her cruel, abusive Aunt Reed at Gateshead. She's an orphan, isolated and treated unjustly, and kept apart from her cousins.
What does Jane call John Reed in Chapter I?
“You are like a murderer—you are like a slave-driver—you are like the Roman emperors!” She “really saw in him a tyrant, a murderer.”
How does Jane feel beside her cousins (Chapter I)?
“humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.”
What does John Reed say Jane is (Chapter I)?
A dependent: “you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg”.
Jane's rule when describing her pupil Adèle (Chapter XII)?
No flattery: “I am merely telling the truth.”
What does Jane long for on Thornfield's roof?
“a power of vision which might overpass that limit”, reaching the busy world she has never seen. She expects to be “called discontented.”
Jane's argument about women (Chapter XII)?
“women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do”.
Why does Jane dare to question the stranger in the lane?
Because he isn't handsome. She doesn't think highly of herself and feels no handsome man would have sympathy with anything in her.
How does Thornfield feel after the lane?
“To pass its threshold was to return to stagnation”. She'd enjoyed doing something active.
Jane's image for her freedom (Chapter XXIII)?
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will”.
What three questions does Jane ask before accepting Rochester?
“Are you in earnest?” “Do you truly love me?” “Do you sincerely wish me to be your wife?”
How does Jane describe her role once Rochester is blind?
“I was then his vision, as I am still his right hand.”
According to Gaskell, why is Jane plain?
Brontë determined to make her heroine plain, small and unattractive, against her sisters' view that a heroine had to be beautiful to be interesting.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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