Jane Eyre

Jane is irrefutably the central character of the novel as it is her autobiography, told from her perspective. Throughout the text, the reader is encouraged to view the events of her life the way that she sees them, as she is the biased narrator of the text.

At the beginning of the novel, and Jane’s life, her character feels isolated, unloved, and extremely melancholy during her time at Gateshead. She docilely accepts that she will remain unloved due to her plain features, poverty, and lowly status as an orphan. However, towards the end of her childhood, she gains a desire for justice and boldly defies her oppressors. This is a mentality that she carries throughout her adult years as she strives for justice in all she does.

The next key transition in Jane’s life is when she journeys to Lowood. It is here that Jane first experiences joy and companionship in Miss Temple and Helen Burns. Miss Temple is the first adult to believe in Jane, supporting her throughout her eight years at Lowood. Conversely, Helen gives Jane the power and ability to believe in and trust in God. Before Helen, she dismissed his existence, and his ability to help her, but Helen’s faith in God’s plan allows Jane to adopt a similar mentality. This is confirmed later on in the novel, when she prays to God, which she never did when she was younger and questioned his existence. It is also at Lowood that Jane learns discipline and becomes a “young lady” with skills and talents that allow her to seek independence later in the novel.

It is evident that Jane’s character defies the norms and expectations of the common woman of 1800s England, as she strives for autonomy and does not want to rely on others, especially the men in her life. She desires to be their equals and to be able to experience and accomplish the way men are readily able to. When Jane becomes engaged to Mr Rochester, she cannot bear to be doted on with lavish gifts and resents the material quantification of their love, declaring that her affections cannot be bought, and that she will not succumb to the stereotype of a housewife with no other purposes.

It is this hard-headed willpower that leads Jane to refuse the notion of being Rochester’s mistress, no matter how much she loves him. This desire for autonomy is also why she refuses St John’s proposal, as she does indeed have a sense of dignity and self-love and cannot bear to live solely for God and the enlightenment of others, as a union with St John would be cold, loveless relationship. Through Jane, Brontë defies the complicit nature of women of the 1800s, proposing that both love and autonomy are possible, expressing her radical ideas about class, religion, and sex.
 
At Moor House, Jane discovers another key aspect of her life: family. Finally, she is able to have real relatives that extend love and warmth towards her. She can finally shed the title of a pitiful and lonely orphan as she has found her family. Because of this discovery, she is also able to gain a fortune, and become her own benefactor, no longer needing to rely on others – especially men. With this new independence, Jane is able to return to Mr Rochester, as her fear in becoming his wife was the loss of her own freewill and autonomy as she was afraid of having to rely on him wholly.

By the conclusion of the novel, it is almost ambiguous whether Jane has become truly independent, or relies more heavily on Rochester than ever. On one hand, with Jane’s fortune, she is an independent, and can truly live with Rochester as an equal. Perhaps she is even his superior, as his permanent ailments require her to take care of him. Yet Mr Rochester’s dependence on Jane causes her to have to devote herself to his wellbeing, and she doesn’t work or expand her freedom or knowledge, so while she has financial independence she is still confined by Rochester, enslaved by him, like a “caged bird.”

Thus, through Jane’s character, Brontë promotes the ideals of feminism and self-worth, though she may also suggest that the claws of the patriarchy are ultimately inescapable.