Jane Eyre Summary

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Jane Eyre Précis

Jane Eyre is a girl growing up in the home of her rich Aunt, Mrs. Reed, who, along with her children, mistreats Jane.  One day after Jane’s cousin, John Reed, knocks her down, she is punished for fighting with him by being sent to the room where her uncle died.  There, she swoons in fear that that room is haunted, and wakes back in the nursery with a kind servant, Bessie, and an apothecary, Mr. Lloyd, at her side.  After Jane confides in Mr. Lloyd about how unhappy she is at Gateshead, he recommends to Mrs. Reed that Jane be sent to school. Mrs. Reed soon has a meeting with the superintendent,  Mr. Brocklehurst, and Jane is sent to Lowood school.  

        At Lowood, Jane finds that the girls are given only the most basic amenities needed to survive.  Jane is frustrated when her friend, Helen Burns, takes unjust punishment from teachers, but uses the example Helen sets to endure the humiliation Mr. Brocklehurst causes her when he calls her a “liar” in front of all the students.  Mrs. Temple, a kind teacher, soon clears Jane of these charges.

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        Many of the girls in the school become ill with the typhus fever, and Helen dies of the consumption.  Mr. Brocklehurst is blamed for the illnesses, and he is soon replaced by a kinder group,  who creates a much more pleasant environment for the girls.  After six more years of schooling and two years as a teacher, Jane takes a governess position at a home called Thornfield.

        At Thornfield, the housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax, is in charge of running the manor.  Jane begins teaching a pleasant but somewhat spoiled French girl named Adele.  Mr. Rochester, the owner of Thornfield, returns from ...

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