Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre An Autobioghrahy Charlotte Bronte

When the novel begins, the title character is a 10-year-old orphan who lives with her uncle's family; her parents had died of typhus.


Other than the nursemaid, the family ostracizes Jane. She is later sent to the austere Lowood Institution, a charity school, where she and the other girls are mistreated; "Lowood," as the name suggests, is the "low" point in Jane's young life. In the face of such adversity, however, she gathers strength and confidence.

In early adulthood, after several years as a student and then a teacher at Lowood, Jane musters the courage to leave. She finds work as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets her dashing and Byronic employer, the wealthy and impetuous Edward Rochester. At Thornfield, Jane looks after young Adèle, the daughter of a French dancer who was one of Rochester's mistresses and is befriended by the kindly housekeeper Mrs. Alice Fairfax.


Jane falls in love with Rochester, though he is expected to marry the snobbish and socially prominent Blanche Ingram. Rochester eventually reciprocates Jane's feelings and proposes marriage. However, on their wedding day, Jane discovers that Rochester cannot legally marry her, because he already has a wife, Bertha Mason, who has gone mad and is locked away on the third floor because of her violent behavior; her presence explains the strange noises Jane has heard in the mansion. Believing that he was tricked into that marriage, Rochester feels justified in pursuing his relationship with Jane. He pleads with her to join him in France, where they can live as husband and wife despite the legal prohibitions, but Jane refuses on principle and flees Thornfield.