It is decided that Jane will go to school and in chapter four she meets her future headmaster. Brontë uses phallic imagery to describe Mr Brocklehurst ‘the straight narrow, sable- clad shape standing erect on the rug,” which exaggerates the dominating patriarchal male. When Mr Brockelhurst questions her about hell, her reply is impertinent, “I must keep in good health and not die.” Mr Brocklehurst reveals the hypocrisy of his Christian value because although he advocates physical suffering for the girls at Lowood, his wife and daughters are allowed to wear fancy clothes and rich jewels. Mrs Reed intimates that ‘Jane has a tendency to deceit’ this comment hurts Jane deeply as she upholds the value of truth in all things. Jane reveals her strength of character as she waits until Mr Brocklehurst has gone before confronting Mr Reed, “if anyone asks me how I liked you, I will say that the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty.” Jane’s outburst to Mrs Reed is a turning point; it illustrates the assertiveness of her character and marks her emotional liberation. She displays her sense of justice and recognition of her need for love, “you think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness.’
In chapter five, Jane leaves to go to Lowood School. There she finds a friend in Helen Burns. Unlike Mr Brocklehurst who uses religion to gain power and dominate others, Helen represents the aspect of Christianity that emphasizes tolerance and acceptance. Helen is acquiescent and willingly submits to punishment, which disquiets Jane because she cannot accept it, “because my fingers quivered at this spectacle with a sentiment on unavailing and impotent anger, not a feature of her pensive face altered its ordinary expression,” Helen believes that heaven is more important than life on Earth and defers happiness until death, “it is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend all connect with you; and besides the bible bids us return good for evil. “Jane admires Helen but rejects her submissiveness, Helen teaches Jane the value of self control resulting in Jane trying to disguise her passionate side. Miss Temple plays a significant role in Jane’s life. She also has to conform as Mr Brocklehurst upbraids her for giving the girls an extra lunch, ‘she now gazed straight before her and her face, naturally pale as marble, appeared to be assuming also the coldness and fixity of that material.’ Miss Temple influences Jane a great deal through her sense of justice and this is most evident when she leaves to marry. Jane has ‘imbibed from her something of her nature’ and is now ‘a disciplined and subdued character’ which reflects the angelic idea of the Victorian woman.
Jane leaves to become a governess at Thornfield. She is initially restless revealing the ‘monster’, “quickened with all incident, life, fire, feeling, feeling, that I desired and had not in my actual existence” She is also frustrated at the woman’s role, “women are supposed to be calm generally: but women feel just as men feel.” Her first encounter with Mr Rochester is when he falls off his horse and she is obliged to help him ‘necessity compels me to make use of you,’ this foreshadows his eventual physical dependence on her. Jane’s passionate nature is evident when she describes her gradual descent into loving Mr Rochester. When Mr Rochester tells her she must leave as he will marry Miss Ingram, she strips her disguise and reveals her anger “do you think , because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless?” This passionate response is unashamed and unconventional for a Victorian woman. Although Jane is of lower social status than Rochester, she speaks as an individual, who demands to be treated with respect and fights to maintain her identity, ‘I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” Subsequently Mr Rochester proposes to Jane and she accepts. However Jane is aware that she is becoming dependent on him and asserts her need for independence “ I shall earn my board and lodging and thirty pounds a year besides, I’ll furnish my own wardrobe out of that money,” which reveals the ‘monster’ in Jane.
As the rings are about to be exchanged, Jane finds out that Mr Rochester is already married, to Bertha Mason. She is torn, she does not want to go but she allows reason to prevail over passion. The two conflicting sides of Jane are personified ‘Conscience, turned tyrant, held passion by the throat.’ Brontë uses personification to make the reader aware of Jane’s deepest feelings and inner turmoil. Jane refuses to become Rochester’s mistress because although she loves him intensely, she believes that it is degrading and not morally right. Jane declares “Mr Rochester I will not be yours” which expresses her assertiveness and independence, she decides to leave him to retain her own self worth rather than stay with a man who manipulated and lied to her.
After leaving Thornfield, Jane is destitute and alone, she wanders the countryside in search of work but is reduced to begging. However, the Rivers family welcome her into their home. St John Rivers, like Helen, defers happiness until death, ‘the humanities and amenities of life had no attraction for him.” He is another patriarchal figure in her life and lacks inner warmth, “there are no such things as marble kisses or ice kisses,” this comparison with ice reflects his austerity and coldness towards her. St John asks Jane to marry him and join him as a fellow missionary. Unlike Rochester, he does not regard Jane as equal but treats her like a possession, “a missionary’s wife you must be- shall be. You shall be mine: I claim you- not for my pleasure but for my sovereign’s service’s. St John describes Jane as ‘docile, diligent, disinterested, constant and courageous,’ which implies that Jane only allows him to see the angelic side of her nature as she feels oppressed and trapped. He tries to dominate Jane as his features are described as ‘commanding’ and ‘imposing.’ Brontë uses the imagery of fire to represent Jane’s passion and anger which she finds difficult to restrain, “forced to keep the fire of my nature, to compel it to burn inwardly and never utter a cry,” is how she would envisage a life with St John, one that would have been frustrating and controlled. Jane contemplates marrying St John and putting her Christian duty before her identity as it would be the ultimate submission to God’s will, “I sincerely, deeply, fervently longed this to do what was right: and only that. Show me, show me the path!’ However, Brontë uses the conventions of the Gothic genre to extricate and save Jane from a marriage unsuited to her, “it was a voice of a human being- a known, loved well- remembered voice- that of Edward Fairfax Rochester; and it spoke in pain and woe, wildly, eerily, urgently.”
Jane returns to Thornfield but is shocked to find it a ‘blackened ruin.’ Bertha set fire to the house before throwing herself from the battlements and Mr Rochester who tried to save Bertha is now ‘helpless, indeed- blind and a cripple.’ The beginning of chapter thirty-seven is reminiscent of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, “all was interwoven stem, columnar trunk, dense summer foliage- no opening anywhere.” Which makes it seem unrealistic and is subverting the idea of the Prince saving Sleeping Beauty. Jane has come back to Mr Rochester because she loves him. She returns independent but still refers to Mr Rochester as ‘Sir’, which suggests that she still thinks of him as her master. She offers herself to Mr Rochester as the typical Victorian woman because of his disabled state, “I will be your neighbour, your nurse, your housekeeper. I find you lonely: I will be your companion- to read to you, to walk with you to sit with you, to wait on you, to be eyes and hands to you”. Jane has attained the freedom that she has always desired without having to sacrifice love, “all his confidence is devoted to me, we are precisely suited in character perfect concord is the result.” She has found someone who she can communicate with and express herself freely with as she is now his equal financially, morally and emotionally.
I feel that the ending is satisfactory, as Jane has found her equal in Mr Rochester; the relationship is based on their mutual dependence on each other. Jane’s fierce rebellion is a constant throughout the book but is only evident in uncontrollable form when she is bullied and intimidated. She grows to maturity, as a passionate and strong willed woman who has achieved fulfilment both emotionally and financially, therefore is able to harness this side of her in a positive way. Jane Eyre is an assertive heroine, she is neither meek nor subservient and is forthright and honest with her self
