Charlotte Bronte also shows us what other people think and say about Jane. A good example of this is when Mrs Reed is talking to Jane,
“Jane, I don’t like cavillers or questioners: besides, there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated somewhere; and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent.”
This is when Mrs Reed was talking to Jane in the drawing room. She treats Jane with no respect and as if she was not even there. Jane is made to feel small and insignificant by Mrs Reed and she does not like it at all. This is another reason that makes us feel sorry for Jane, as she has done nothing wrong and is not wanted by Mrs Reed at all.
Another example of what people say about Jane is when she was thought to be asleep in the nursery and Bessie and Abbot were with her, she overheard Bessie saying
“Missis was, she dared say, glad enough to get rid of such a tiresome, ill-conditioned child, who always looked as if she were watching everybody, and scheming plots underhand.”
Charlotte Bronte is obviously trying to build up the impression that Jane is bullied at home by mentioning it more than once in the novel and by different people. This again makes us want to side with Jane and feel sorry for her. We feel sorry for her because she is so badly mistreated by Mrs Reed and is always picked on by the whole family.
Charlotte Bronte also uses Jane's actions a lot of the time to establish her character. A time when this is shown in the novel is when Jane describes how she is taken upstairs by Bessie and Miss Abbot:
"I resisted all the way: a new thing for me, and a circumstance which greatly strengthened the bad opinion Bessie and Miss Abbot were disposed to entertain of me."
This shows us that Jane is strong minded and has a lot of will power. She will never give up; if she thinks something has been given unjustly then she will fight back. When she says 'a new thing for me' this gives rise to us believing that when she has previously been taken upstairs forcefully she has given up by the time she reaches the top, but this time she is so determined that she is in the right that she fights all the way to the end. We feel that Jane does not deserve this punishment as she has rightly done nothing wrong. She is in the right with what she is doing, restraining all the way, and should not give in to the spiteful Mrs Reed.
Another example of when Jane's actions are shown is when Mr Lloyd the doctor is looking after her:
"I felt an inexpressible relief, a soothing conviction of protection and security, when I knew a stranger was in the room: an individual not belonging to Gateshead, and not related to Mrs Reed."
This example shows us that Jane is not treated well at Gateshead, so much so that she only feels comfortable and safe when strangers are in the room. Jane also likes older men very much, as she is always looking for someone to have as a father figure, to protect her and look after her. She looks to Mr Lloyd the doctor in that way as she wants someone to protect her from Mrs Reed and her family. Jane does not like Mrs Reed and her family at all, she hates living with them and is treated with no respect whatsoever, she just tries to get on with it and except it. Also Jane stands up to her cousin John Reed’s tormenting ways:
" John thrust his tongue in his cheek whenever he saw me, and once attempted chastisement; but as I instantly turned against him…he thought it better to desist, and ran from me uttering execrations, and vowing I had burst his nose."
Jane does have a very short temper and does not like to be teased by others. She dislikes John Reed very much and when he gives her the opportunity to attack him she takes it, but doesn't actually do anything, yet still he runs to his mother and tells her about Jane punching him in the nose. John Reed is not just telling on Jane for the sake of getting her into trouble. The reader by this time is definitely siding with Jane as she is the one who is being treated with no respect, not just by Mrs Reed, but by the entire family.
I said that in this essay I would show some of the techniques that Bronte has used to show the character of Jane Eyre throughout the beginning of the novel. Bronte showed them through Jane’s actions, what she says, what people say about her and also what they think about her. Also I can draw from the novel that she is still trying to establish parts of Jane at the end, she is a hard character to write about as she has lots of different actions and moods. When she was a Gateshead she is very uptight and not loved at all, because of this it creates a link with the reader and draws you into the situation and makes you side with Jane through the book. When she is at Lowood and further throughout her life she slowly begins to relax and let people into her life and they are people that really love her for who she is and they are all her friends. I also think that Bronte establishes the character very well as she doesn’t give away all of Jane at the beginning, she makes you want to read more to find out what happens to Jane and how she develops her character throughout the novel.
