Volume I, Chapter 1 Summary:

Jane Eyre narrates from the home of the well-off Reed family, Gateshead Hall. Refused permission by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, to play with her with cousins‹Eliza, John, and Georgiana‹10-year-old Jane reads Bewick's "History of British Birds." The bullying John interrupts her reading and says that, since she was orphaned and is dependent on his family, she has no right to read their books. He strikes her with the book and they fight, but Jane acquits herself well and scares him off. The other children alert Mrs. Reed, who locks Jane away in the "red-room."

Analysis

Immediately the reader is positioned on Jane's side through careful novelistic craftsmanship. From the first page, Jane is oppressed, sent off while her cousins play. We learn through exposition from John that she is a penniless orphan, dependent on the heartless Reed family; indeed, social class will play an important role in the rest of the novel. She is also a sensitive girl given to flights of fancy while reading, but she also displays her strength in her defense against John. All the elements are in place for a classic "Bildungsroman," the literary genre originating in the German literally as "novel of formation" or, as it is generally known, the "coming-of-age" story. In the Bildungsroman, classic examples of which are Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the young protagonist matures through a series of obstacles and defines his or her identity.

Volume I, Chapter 2 Summary:

Jane resists physically and verbally as the servants Bessie and Miss Abbot lead her to the red-room, named for the color of most of its drapery and furniture. The room also contains a miniature version of Mr. Reed, who has been dead nine years; his actual body lies in a vault under the Gateshead church. Before they lock her up, the servants reprimand her for her disobedience and warn her against angering God. Jane catches her ghostly reflection in the mirror and, thinking about her miserable condition and about her dead uncle, recalls how he took the orphaned Jane in and made Mrs. Reed promise to take care of her. Suddenly, a ray of light enters the room, and Jane cries out, believing the light is a ghost. She alerts Bessie, Miss Abbot, and Mrs. Reed, but they accuse her of trickery and refuse to free her. After they leave, Jane faints.

Analysis:

The red-room has both deathly associations (red as the color of blood, the room's containing a miniature version of the dead Mr. Reed, and Jane's belief that she sees a ghost in it) and is a clear symbol of imprisonment. Throughout the novel, Jane will be imprisoned in more metaphorical ways, particularly relating to class, gender, and religion. Ironically, although John is the root cause of Jane's imprisonment here, the three aggressors in this chapter are all women, and Jane's one savior, it appears, was her uncle.

The chapter also introduces Gothic details with the ghost Jane thinks she sees and the revelation that Mr. Reed's body lies beneath the church. The Gothic novel, popularized in the 18th-century, utilizes supernatural, suspenseful, and mysterious settings and events to create an atmosphere of horror and morbidity. The Gothic novel is also characterized by damsels in distress (and women are frequently the protagonists); though Jane faints here, common for Gothic women, she proves herself strong-willed and determined to fight back against her oppressors.

Volume I, Chapter 3 Summary:

Jane wakes up, dimly aware of voices and of someone's supporting her. She soon realizes she is in her bed and sees Bessie and Mr. Lloyd, the apothecary. He gives instructions for Jane's care and departs, and Bessie, more concerned than before over Jane's health, leaves soon after. Jane sleeps and awakens the next day feeling terrible. The family is away, and under Bessie's care she takes Gulliver's Travels, but is unable to thrill to its fantastical tales as she normally does. She cries after Bessie sings her a sad song (a popular one composed by Edward Ransford, c. 1840) about an orphan.

Mr. Lloyd returns and, once Bessie is gone, Jane tries to tell him about the ghost of Mr. Reed she saw. He does not believe her, and whenever she brings up the abuses she suffers at Gateshead, he observes that she is lucky to live in such a beautiful house. She thinks she has some poor relatives, but would not like to live with them, even if they were kind. She would, however, like to go to school.

The family returns, and Mr. Lloyd speaks with Mrs. Reed and apparently recommends sending Jane to school. Later, while pretending to be asleep, Jane overhears Miss Abbot discussing how Mrs. Reed was glad to get rid of Jane, and about her parent's history: her mother married her poor clergyman father against the wishes of her friends and family, was financially cut off by her disapproving father, and the two died of typhus while visiting poor people in a manufacturing town after a year of marriage.

Analysis:

The conflicts of social class, which were suggested in Chapter I by John's taunting of Jane, deepen here. Jane has the odd situation of being poor within a rich family. As such, her notions of poverty are skewed; as she admits, children "have not much idea of industrious, working, respectable povertyŠpoverty for me was synonymous with degradation." Her parents, too, ran into problems with class, as her rich mother's marriage to her poor father directly resulted in both their deaths.

Adding insult to injury, Bessie's song drums home Jane's status as a "poor orphan child." Jane, of course, is poor in both pitiable and pecuniary terms, without anyone to love her and without any money for self-sufficiency.

Volume I, Chapter 4 Summary:

Time passes and Jane regains her strength, but the subject of her unhappiness is never broached, and the family treats her even more poorly than before. Jane challenges Mrs. Reed one day, questioning what her late husband would think of her behavior. Jane is excluded from family celebrations around the holidays, finding solace only in the doll with which she sleeps and in Bessie's kindly goodnight kisses. In mid-January, Mr. Brocklehurst, whose Lowood school Jane learns she will attend, visits Gateshead and interrogates Jane about her religious beliefs, warning her she must repent and cleanse her "wicked heart." Mrs. Reed hopes Jane's time at Lowood will reform her, particularly her tendency to lie, an accusation that stings Jane. After Mr. Brocklehurst leaves, Jane defends her honesty to her aunt and launches a series of recriminations. Mrs. Reed seems stunned and leaves, but Jane's victorious feelings soon give way to remorse. She feels better later when Bessie, who informs her that she will leave in a couple of days for the school, confides that she prefers Jane to the other children.

Analysis:

Jane's love for her doll constitutes one of the major themes of the novel, that "human beings must love something." However, being loved is just as important, and the only affection Jane receives is from Bessie, who acts as a surrogate mother figure.

Religion makes its first formal appearance in the novel through Mr. Brocklehurst. Already, we can see the religious hypocrisies Brontë exposes; he believes the deceitful Mrs. Reed over Jane, and relishes the seemingly heartless reformations that take place at school.

Fire and ice are running motifs throughout the novel; the former is associated with Jane and with positive creation, while the latter is associated with her antagonists and with negative destruction. Brontë is often subtle with these symbolic attachments; Mrs. Reed's eyes, for instance, are twice compared to ice in this chapter: "herŠcold, composed grey eyeŠher eye of ice continued to dwell freezingly on mine."

Volume I, Chapter 5 Summary:

Jane leaves Gateshead by coach alone for Lowood. She is introduced to some of the school's daily routines‹which consist largely of Bible recitations, regular academic lessons, and abominable meals‹and sleeps in a room filled with other girls. The next day she meets the kindly, beautiful superintendent, Miss Temple, and another girl, Helen Burns, who informs Jane that all the student are "charity-children"‹orphans whose tuition is largely made up for by benefactors. One of the nastier teachers, Miss Scatcherd, mistreats Helen in class, though the stoic Helen impressively bears her punishment.

Analysis:

Immediately we see that Lowood's religious education does not necessarily mean the orphans are treated well. Their food is basically inedible, their lodgings are cramped, and some of the teachers are cruel. Brontë drops a few hints about the suspicious goings-on when Helen reveals that "benevolent-minded ladies and gentlemen" make up the tuition and that Mr. Brocklehurst is the treasurer of the house.

Another possible surrogate mother figure arrives in the form of Miss Temple. Her name, with its religious overtones, indicates that she is the only teacher at Lowood who truly upholds the Christian ethic.

Volume I, Chapter 6 Summary:

Jane is introduced to her regular tasks at Lowood, namely sewing. Miss Scatcherd continually berates and even whips Helen, who never makes any response. Jane learns more about Helen, who espouses a doctrine of endurance, since the Bible "'bids us return good for evil.'" Helen also refuses to call Miss Scatcherd cruel; she believes she has numerous character flaws that Miss Scatcherd is correct to point out. Although Helen is very fond of Miss Temple and finds she learns more from her, her mild-mannered teaching style does not force Helen to be actively good; rather, she is passively good, and she believes "'there is no merit in such goodness.'" Jane disagrees with Helen's philosophy; she feels one should repay goodness with goodness and cruelty with cruelty. She tells Helen about the Reed family, but Helen insists in a long speech that one must forgive one's enemies.

Analysis

Helen presents to Jane her Christian philosophy of forgiveness and endurance: one must bear the sins of others, turn the other cheek, and love thy enemy. Jane, of course, is at odds with this idea, believing that standing up for herself frequently means fighting back. We have already witnessed several situations in which she availed herself of these tactics, particularly the fight with John and her lashing out at Mrs. Reed. The former led to her imprisonment in the red-room, while the latter was a short-lived victory that soon turned into remorse. While Helen's Christianity is not useful for Jane, neither is Jane's attitude of self-defense; she must find and develop her own brand of spirituality.

Volume I, Chapter 7 Summary:

Jane passes a difficult first quarter at Lowood, with both the snowy weather and strict environment contributing to her misery. Mr. Brocklehurst visits Miss Temple's classroom and instructs her not to indulge the girls in the slightest way; their privations will remind them of the Christian ethic. He spots a girl with curly hair and deems it unacceptable for an evangelical environment, as are all the top-knots on the girls' heads. Jane, nervous that Mr. Brocklehurst will convey Mrs. Reed's warnings about her behavior to Miss Temple, accidentally drops her slate. Mr. Brocklehurst chastises her in front of the class and three visiting fashionable ladies (Mr. Brocklehurst's relatives), telling everyone to ignore her the rest of the day, as she is a liar. Jane must stand on a stool in front of the class all day, with her only solace coming as Helen furtively smiles at her.

Analysis:

Helen's philosophy of Christian forgiveness is tested as Mr. Brocklehurst unjustly punishes Jane. Though Jane does not fight back, she inwardly seethes and thinks, "I was no Helen Burns."

Mr. Brocklehurst's Christianity shows more hypocritical flaws. Though he claims that privation leads to purity, his relatives are dressed to the nines. He even wants to cut off one girl's naturally curly hair, demonstrating his lust for absolute power over others.

Volume I, Chapter 8 Summary:

Jane is filled with self-pity by the time school is dismissed. Helen assures her that not everyone hates her‹in fact, they sympathize with her maltreatment. Jane feels she needs love from others to survive, but Helen thinks she puts too much stock in love from others; the rewards of spirituality and the glorious afterlife should be our ballast. Miss Temple finds them and takes them to her room, where she asks Jane to tell her side of the story concerning Mrs. Reed. Jane does, and also mentions Mr. Lloyd's visit to her when sick. Miss Temple believes her and says she will write Mr. Lloyd for corroboration; when he does, Jane's name will be cleared. She treats the girls to tea and snacks as Miss Temple and Helen discuss intellectual matters.

The bedtime bell breaks the heavenly atmosphere, as Miss Scatcherd reprimands Helen for messiness. The next day Helen must wear the word "Slattern" on a paper crown around her forehead; at the end of the day, Jane tears it off for her and burns it while crying. A week later Miss Temple announces to the school that Jane's name is cleared, and she is reaccepted into the community. The incident prompts Jane to work harder in class, and Lowood, despite its failings, grows on her.

Analysis:

Jane explicates her need for love from others, while Helen outlines her belief that spirituality is enough. While it is clear that Jane will not accept these notions, Helen is correct in noting that Jane needs to be less reliant on others. Jane will have to find a combination of self-reliance and love from others.

As we have seen before, ice is a motif in Jane Eyre for cruel, negative destruction, and here fire fans out as a symbol of goodness and creation. The fire in Miss Temple's room warms the girls, as does Miss Temple's kindness, conversation, and treats. More interestingly, Jane burns Helen's shameful "Slattern" crown in fire; even when destructive, fire is a sort of positive destruction that obliterates evil in the world.

Volume I, Chapter 9 Summary:

As spring comes, Lowood becomes a more pleasant place. However, more than half the girls, including Helen, who suffers from consumption, have gotten sick from neglectful care, some even fatally. Jane, one of the healthy, enjoys the outdoors, all the more so because Mr. Brocklehurst no longer visits the school. Jane is shocked to learn that Helen is on her deathbed, but she is not allowed to visit her in Miss Temple's room. Still, Jane sneaks in at night. Helen accepts her impending death and place in heaven, and tells Jane not to grieve for her. Jane sleeps with her, and Helen dies during the night. Her grave is unmarked at first, but fifteen years later a marble tablet is placed over it inscribed with the Latin word "Resurgam," or "I will rise again."

Analysis:

Jane's devotion to Helen is moving, and Helen lives out her Christian beliefs to her dying day. Jane continues to question Helen's unshakable faith‹she wonders, though does not speak aloud, if heaven truly does exist. Helen completes her representation as a Christ figure for Jane, dying so Jane can learn more of what it means to be Christian; though Jane is not willing to accept fully everything Helen espouses, the "Resurgam" tablet (placed by Jane, it seems) indicates that she has incorporated her beliefs into her own ideology.

Volume I, Chapter 10 Summary:

The typhus fever incites an investigation into Lowood's unhealthy environment, and outraged benefactors bring it up to speed and share administrative responsibility with the dishonored Mr. Brocklehurst. Jane excels as a student under the wing of Miss Temple for six years and as a teacher for two. Miss Temple marries and departs from Lowood, leaving Jane empty and searching for a "new servitude,'" a new job serving someone else. She places an advertisement for being a governess in a newspaper and gains employment for a Mrs. Fairfax at a manor named Thornfield near the manufacturing town of Millcote. Before she leaves, she is overjoyed by a visit from Bessie, now married and with two children. Bessie brings news of the Reeds and of a Mr. Eyre who, seven years ago, came to Gateshead looking for Jane before he sailed to the Portugese island of Madeira looking to make his fortune as a wine-merchant. Bessie and Jane part ways the next day.

Analysis:

This brief transitional chapter jumps eight years through Jane's life, during which she matures greatly from an angry girl bent on self-survival into a mostly independent young woman seeking to serve others.

The mention of Mr. Eyre's visit to Gateshead also suggests he will reappear in some form later on, adding suspense to the narrative.

Volume I, Chapter 11 Summary:

Jane arrives at Thornfield and meets the elderly, welcoming Mrs. Fairfax, who Jane later learns is not the owner, but the housekeeper, of the manor. Two servants and Adèle Varens, the girl Jane will tutor and the ward of Mr. Rochester, the manor's owner, live with her. The next day Jane explores the grounds and meets the young Adèle, a garrulous native French speaker who also speaks English. Rochester, according to Mrs. Fairfax, is a "'peculiar'" man who frequently travels. While exploring the house, Jane hears a loud, odd laugh. Mrs. Fairfax chastises Grace, a seamstress employed in the house, for "'Too much noise,'" and bids her to "'Remember directions!'"

Analysis

The introductory chapter to Thornfield plants a few narrative seeds. First, there is an obvious correspondence between Jane and Adèle, both orphans, although Adèle's living conditions are far better. Rochester's background is mysterious, made more so by Adèle's belief that he "'has not kept his word'" to her by constantly abandoning her and Mrs. Fairfax's opaque label that he is "'peculiar.'" The ghostly laugh at the end of the chapter, emanating from an area "like a corridor in some Bluebeard's castle," also ratchets up the Gothic suspense of the novel, as do Mrs. Fairfax's curious commands to Grace.

Volume I, Chapter 12 Summary:

Life at Thornfield proves pleasant, and Adèle is an affectionate and able, if somewhat spoiled, student. Still, when Jane walks around the attic of Thornfield she yearns for more experience in the world. Here she frequently hears Grace's bizarre laugh and "eccentric murmurs" and observes other strange behavior. One day in January while she is delivering a letter she helps a gruff, nearly middle-aged man who falls from his horse and sprains his ankle; a dog travels with him. He asks her several questions about Rochester before leaving. When she returns to Thornfield, she sees the same dog from before. She discovers that it is, indeed, the dog from the road, and it belongs to Rochester, who has just sprained his ankle while riding his horse.

Analysis:

Jane's craving for experience apart from stereotypical female experience is explained in a lengthy passage: "It is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures [men] to say that [women] ought to confine themselves to making pudding and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags." She goes on, and the conflict is clear; Jane desires a life of action and independence unavailable to her as a woman.

Rochester is further cloaked in mystery in Jane's meeting with him by his refusal to identify himself to her and by his somewhat standoffish manner. Still, Jane asserts some power at the beginning of their relationship, since Rochester is placed in a weakened position‹his sprained ankle from the fall‹and is reliant on Jane for aid. Another physical impediment forcing Rochester's dependence on Jane will arise later in the novel.

Volume I, Chapter 13 Summary:

With Rochester home, Thornfield becomes a noisier, busier place, much to Jane's liking. He invites Jane and Adèle to dine with him and Mrs. Fairfax. Adèle immediately asks if he has a gift for Jane; Jane asserts that the best gift he can give her is praise of Adèle's progress. Rochester interrogates her about her background with hostility, though he is more full of praise for Jane's watercolor sketches Adèle has shown him. After dinner, Jane and Mrs. Fairfax discuss Rochester. His older brother died nine years ago, whereupon Rochester inherited the estate, though he avoids the place as much as possible; Mrs. Fairfax's justification that perhaps Rochester finds the place "'gloomy'" does not satisfy Jane, and Mrs. Fairfax is evasive about Rochester's other "'Family troubles.'"

Analysis:

The mystery concerning Rochester deepens, and this constitutes the major dramatic thrust of the novel. Gothic novels usually have a romantic component that revolves around passionate, unrequited love; Rochester's dark, brooding, nature and secretive past makes him an ideal candidate for such a love.

Part of Jane's struggle with Rochester will be assertion of her independence and equality. As we can already see, Rochester only begrudgingly admits Jane's positive qualities, criticizing her even when praising her watercolors. Nevertheless, he seems to regard her as his intellectual equal.

Volume I, Chapter 14 Summary:

Jane sees little of Rochester the next few days as he deals with business and acquaintances. His moods shift rapidly, but Jane cannot figure out their source. One night he gives Adèle her long-awaited gift and is more genial while talking with Jane. Jane keeps looking at him, a fact he notes; he asks if she finds him handsome, but she answers "No." He claims he does not mean to condescend to her, but that his air of superiority comes from his being much older and more experienced. Jane does not believe age and experience should automatically confer authority. He opens up more as they discuss sin and redemption, and he also promises to explain more about Adèle's mother in the future.

Analysis:

Regardless of what Rochester says about his superiority in regards to experience with Jane, it is clear from his lengthy, involved discussion with her that he views her, at least, as his intellectual equal. Though she has a fraction of his worldly experience, Jane acquits herself well with the complicated topics Rochester brings up, and even earns his approval at points for her thoughts. Their flirtation also unofficially begins, as Jane admits to herself that though "most people would have thought him an ugly man," he carries himself with a charismatic, detached confidence.

Volume I, Chapter 15 Summary:

One afternoon, while Adèle plays elsewhere, Rochester explains that he was once passionately devoted to her mother, a French opera-dancer named Céline Varens, and that, despite her superior beauty, she seemed to return his ardor. He spent a fortune treating her to a luxurious life in Paris until he discovered he was being cuckolded in a rather humiliating fashion. Rochester shot the other man in his arm and thought he was done with the affair, but Céline claimed that the six-month-old Adèle was his daughter. A few years later Céline abandoned Adèle and Rochester, though he is positive Adèle is not his, took responsibility for the destitute girl. Rochester is still clearly affected by the episode.

Jane has more sympathy and affection for Adèle after learning of her background. As for Rochester, these revelations and his confidence in Jane make him handsomer and more amiable to her, and she is worried he will soon leave Thornfield, as Mrs. Fairfax says he always does. In the middle of the night she thinks she hears movement outside her door, then hears a "demoniac" laugh. She finds a candle burning in the hallway, sees Rochester's door is open, and finds his curtains on fire. He is stupefied by the smoky air, but she wakes him by extinguishing the flames‹and dousing him‹with water. She relates what she knows, and he goes into the attic. He returns a few minutes later and says the cause was Grace, as Jane suspected from the laugh. He tells her not to speak about the matter to anyone, and then thanks her sincerely for saving his life; he is reluctant for her to leave him. Jane is unable to sleep that night, thinking instead pleasurably of the "hills of Beulah" which, unfortunately, she is not able to reach.

Analysis:

"Beulah" means "marriage" in Hebrew; at Volume I's poetic end, then, Jane is entertaining thoughts of marrying Rochester. However, she feels there is a "counteracting breeze" that makes this impossible.

All the allusions to the odd goings-on in the attic come to a head here. Rochester is obviously trying to sweep this episode under the rug, as his desire to pin its blame on Grace comes across as disingenuous.

However, there is nothing disingenuous about his thanks to Jane for having saved his life, and his reluctance for her to leave tells something about his wounded heart. After his bitter betrayal by Céline, he is yearning for a constant love based on more than mere physical attraction, and Jane seems to provide that.

Volume II, Chapter 1 Summary:

The day after the fire in Rochester's bedroom, Jane is shocked to see Grace, who presumably tried to murder Rochester last night, mending the curtains. Grace tells Jane that Rochester fell asleep while his candle was lit, but he awoke before the fire spread too far. Both Jane and Grace seem to know more than each lets on, and they test the other's story; Jane accordingly changes part of her story. Jane is flummoxed by Grace's account and by Rochester's desire for Jane not to tell her side of it.

Jane learns that Rochester has left for a social engagement at someone's estate, most likely for a week or more, and that he is a favorite of the ladies there, particularly the young and beautiful Blanche Ingram. Jane feels foolish for having thought she, a plain, poor governess, was of interest to Rochester. She quickly sketches an ugly portrait of herself and paints a gorgeous picture of what she imagines Miss Ingram looks like as a reminder of their different positions in life.

Analysis

The chapter is split into two sections: the plot developments surrounding the fire, and Jane's preoccupation with Rochester.

It is clear that Grace is probably not the culprit behind the curtains, or else Rochester would have fired her. If anything, she knows something about it that she must withhold from Jane, and the odd laugh Jane heard is most likely behind the mystery.

Jane's sense of inadequacy compared to Blanche Ingram pivots around appearance but more around class. Though Rochester is not handsome, his class and noble manners make him attractive, but Jane's personality, for all its sparkle, cannot make up for her relative poverty, especially compared to the beautiful and wealthy Miss Ingram.

Volume II, Chapter 2 Summary:

After two weeks, Rochester sends word that he will be returning in a few days with guests. The servants busily prepare the house for his arrival. Jane notices that Grace spends nearly all her time on the third-floor. Jane overhears the servants discussing Grace's high salary and the difficulty of her job, but they stop when they see Jane.

Rochester arrives with Miss Ingram and several other men and women. Jane and Adèle keep out of their way as they socialize and dine. Rochester appears to prefer the company of Miss Ingram to that of the other ladies. Jane and Adèle are invited to socialize the next night after dinner. Jane aloofly observes the scene, paying special attention to Miss Ingram, as Adèle charms the crowd. Miss Ingram and the others speak dismissively of Jane and governesses in general. Miss Ingram goes on to criticize male vanity; beauty should be the domain solely of women, and her future husband will not be her aesthetic equal. She then plays piano, commanding Rochester to sing. He does, beautifully, and Jane leaves inconspicuously. Rochester meets her outside and beseeches her to return, as she seems "'depressed,'" but Jane declines. He nearly bids her goodnight with a term of endearment before stopping himself.

Analysis:

Although Miss Ingram's beauty and confident manner take center stage in the drawing room, the attraction between Rochester and Jane is evident after Jane leaves, especially in his parting words to her. Miss Ingram demonstrates the snobbery and classism that strikes at the heart of Jane's curious position that she holds both at Thornfield and previously at Gateshead: poverty in the midst of great wealth. The flip comments of the society ladies about their governesses‹and their casual ignorance of Jane in the room‹make Jane a virtual prisoner of her social standing.

Yet another prisoner lurks at Thornfield: Grace. In her third-floor hideaway, she is "as companionless as a prisoner in his dungeon." "Prisoner" is a loaded word for Jane Eyre, suggesting imprisonment far beyond physical confines. However, the mysterious events and hints surrounding Grace suggest she may not be companionless, after all.

Volume II, Chapter 3 Summary:

Thornfield is a vibrant, fun place with the visitors. One night they play charades; Rochester pairs off with Miss Ingram. Miss Ingram's mother says Jane "'looks too stupid'" to play. Rochester and Miss Ingram pantomime a marriage ceremony among other scenes until one of the gentlemen solves the charade: Bridewell (a London prison). Jane watches the two of them flirt after their mutual success, unable to still her growing love for Rochester. However, she is not jealous of Miss Ingram, whom she views as disingenuous, dim, and rude, and she believes Miss Ingram's attempts to woo Rochester fail. Rochester's desire to marry for social connections also surprises Jane, though she does not hold it against him.

One day while Rochester is out on business, a handsome man named Richard Mason arrives looking for Rochester, whom he knew from the West Indies. That night an elderly fortune-teller comes to Thornfield; after much debate, they allow her to tell the fortunes of the young ladies in private. Miss Ingram is first, and afterwards she dismisses the teller as a charlatan, though Jane sees that Miss Ingram is disturbed by whatever her fortune was. The three other young ladies have their fortunes told, and report, with glee, that the woman seemed to know everything about them. The fortune-teller insists she will not leave until she has read Jane's fortune.

Analysis:

The marriage pantomime has obvious parallels to Jane's romantic anxieties. While she cannot believe Rochester actually prefers Miss Ingram to her, she does believe he can only marry someone of Miss Ingram's elevated social position. Jane is no bride, but a "Bridewell," imprisoned by her social class and confined to limited romantic possibilities.

The Gothic element of the novel continues with the fortune-teller. Brontë creates suspense both by ending the chapter on a cliffhanger‹what will Jane's fortune reveal?‹and by not revealing the nature of Miss Ingram's disturbing fortune.

Volume II, Chapter 4 Summary:

Jane joins the fortune-teller in the library. The fortune-teller, who admits she has an inside source in Grace, tells Jane several truths, focusing on her feelings toward Rochester. The fortune-teller predicts that Rochester will marry Miss Ingram; her previous implication to Miss Ingram that she wants Rochester only for his money is what disturbed the young lady. She gives Jane her own fortune, which revolves around Jane's power of reasoning over her emotions.

Suddenly, the old woman reveals her disguise: it is Rochester. Jane, who had suspected something was amiss from the start, that perhaps the woman was Grace in disguise, is not too upset. When she tells him that Mason has come to Thornfield, Rochester is shocked and nearly faints. He asks Jane to go into the dining-room and find out what Mason is doing. She reports that the party, Mason including, is socializing. Rochester, after assuring himself of Jane's loyalty, asks her to whisper an invitation to Mason to see Rochester. She does so, and goes up to bed; late at night she hears Rochester cheerfully show Mason to his room.

Analysis:

The Gothic element of fortune-teller mingles with the novel's Gothic romance once Rochester reveals his disguise; mysticism and the supernatural give way to Rochester's burgeoning love for Jane. The reader is also delighted to see that he is aware of Miss Ingram's mercenary designs on his estate. Rochester's ability to disguise himself also speaks of his hidden, secretive identity.

In a novel that otherwise focuses on Jane's internal world, Brontë keeps the action moving by constantly introducing new pieces of the mystery of Rochester's past; here, Rochester's feelings concerning Mason apparently reverse completely without any explanation.

Volume II, Chapter 5 Summary:

During the night, Jane hears a shrill cry from the third story, then someone shouting for Rochester's help. Jane hears the sounds of someone opening a door and running upstairs. Jane leaves her room, as has everyone else. Rochester descends from the third story and reassures everyone that a servant has merely had a nightmare. Everyone retires to bed, but Jane goes back and dresses. She thinks she is the only one who heard the words after the scream and is certain Rochester's story is false.

After Jane waits for an hour in her room for another sound, Rochester asks her to come with her upstairs. He has her bring a sponge and some salts, and then shows her the tapestry-room Mrs. Fairfax had once shown her. He opens a door hidden behind the tapestry, from which again emanates the curious laughter Jane sometimes hears, speaks with whomever is inside, and then emerges and closes the door. Rochester then shows Jane what he has brought her up for: a dazed Mason lies on a chair in the tapestry-room, soaked in blood. Rochester promises him that Jane will fix him up and he will be fine by morning. He directs Jane to tend to him without any conversation between the two.

Jane is frightened by the baffling circumstances, especially by the thought of Grace in the next room. After two hours, Rochester returns with a surgeon, Carter. Mason says that "'she'" bit him when "'Rochester got the knife from her.'" Rochester blames Mason for going to see "'her'" without him; had he waited until tomorrow, Rochester would have accompanied him. After Carter does more work on him, Mason stands up, and the party helps Mason into a carriage waiting outside. Rochester instructs Carter to take him home; he will visit in a day or two.

After they leave, Rochester takes Jane on a walk around the garden. Rochester assures her that neither he nor she is in any danger; the only thing he has to fear is Mason's saying a certain thing. He asks her to consider the following "hypothetical" situation: a young man, in a foreign land, made an error‹not a crime or an illegal act‹that has haunted him forever. No measures he took to deal with it alleviated his misery. He traveled copiously, hoping that would help him, but not until he returned home and met someone new did he feel better. He wants to marry this woman, but feels convention is against him. Is this man, who seeks repentance and salvation in this woman, justified in overturning custom, he asks? Rochester then admits he is the man, and says the woman is‹after a long pause‹Miss Ingram.

Analysis:

It is unclear what prompts Rochester to change his tack with Jane; obviously, he is discussing her in his hypothetical story before revealing that Miss Ingram, supposedly, is his object of desire. Jane describes Rochester's face as "losing all its softness and gravity, and becoming harsh and sarcastic" when he names Miss Ingram. There is little doubt that Rochester prefers Jane to Miss Ingram, so to bolster the romantic plot of Jane Eyre, Brontë continues piling on to the mystery of the room on the third story. Whoever is in there‹and how it relates to the "error" Rochester committed in his youth‹is preventing Rochester's marrying Jane, much more so than the presence of Miss Ingram does.

Volume II, Chapter 6 Summary:

Robert Leaven, the coachman at Gateshead for years who is now married to Bessie, visits Jane. He brings news that John Reed, who was in gambling debt, died last week, perhaps of suicide. The shock gave Mrs. Reed a stroke; she has since recovered slightly and asked for Jane. Rochester grants his permission for Jane to leave for a week and gives her some money. Jane arrives at Gateshead in the early evening and reunites with Bessie, who tells her that Mrs. Reed is expected to last another week or two. She also talks with Eliza and Georgiana, who are as cold as ever, though they no longer hurt Jane's feelings. The girls are reluctant to let Jane see their ailing mother, but Bessie arranges a meeting.

Mrs. Reed, her mind clearly elsewhere, does not realize who Jane is, and speaks harshly of Jane's character. Jane prompts her to discuss her feelings about Jane, and Mrs. Reed reveals that she always disliked Jane's mother, her husband's sister, since Mr. Reed always favored her and, subsequently, the orphaned Jane. Mrs. Reed is also under the impression that John is still alive. Jane leaves her bedside.

For ten days Jane does not see Mrs. Reed again, and busies herself with sketching. One day she sketches a portrait of Rochester that attracts the attention of the Reed girls, whom she also sketches. The episode fosters new intimacy between Jane and Georgiana, who is hung up on her former life in high society London. Eliza maintains her distance from both of them; one night she lashes out at Georgiana for her immaturity and slothfulness, and says they will have nothing to do with each other after their mother's death.

Jane visits Mrs. Reed one afternoon while no one is around and reveals her identity. Mrs. Reed apologizes for not bringing her up as one of her own, and for spitefully withholding from her a three-year-old letter from her uncle, John Eyre, who wanted Jane to come to him at Madeira. Though Jane says she offers her forgiveness, Mrs. Reed is unable to let go of her hatred for Jane, and she dies that night.

Analysis

Jane's ample growth is demonstrated when she returns to Gateshead. Whereas John Reed fell into a dissolute lifestyle, Georgiana became a spoiled debutante, and Eliza became an aloof, emotionless woman, Jane has dedicated her life to helping others with humility. The initial cold reception from the Reed girls, then, does not disturb Jane as it once might have, nor does Mrs. Reed's unforgiving hatred on her deathbed.

In fact, Jane tells her aunt that "'you have my full and free forgiveness: ask now for God's; and be at peace.'" Jane seems to have found a third way with religion, far from the evangelical posturing of Mr. Brocklehurst and removed from the all-encompassing and self-destructive tolerance of Helen Burns. Jane is forgiving for the past ills done her by Mrs. Reed; they did not destroy her, but only made her stronger. Helen, on the other hand, seems to have been destroyed by her utter forgiveness. The meek, in Jane's eyes, shall not inherit the earth, but neither do the powerful.

In the midst of this emotional chapter, Brontë throws in a twist with the letter from John Eyre. He hints at having accumulated a fortune, so Jane's economic status is again complicated: a poor tutor who squabbles with her wealthy employer over a few pounds before she leaves for Gateshead, she may finally be due some money.

Volume II, Chapter 7 Summary:

Jane leaves Gateshead after a month, helping the Reed daughters longer than expected; she mentions that after this Georgiana married a wealthy man and Eliza became a nun. Jane returns to Thornfield and is surprised to see Rochester, who has just returned from London, where he bought a new carriage‹most likely to prepare for his wedding. Rochester is in an infectiously good mood, but Jane worries that after his marriage to Miss Ingram he will no longer need her services. However, the wedding is never mentioned and no preparations are made, and Jane hopes it has been called off.

Analysis:

Rochester's impending marriage is vague. Not only does Rochester avoid answering questions about it, he only says that his carriage "'will suit Mrs. Rochester exactly.'" The name could apply to any woman who marries him and, as such, leaves open the possibility that he intends to marry Jane.

Volume II, Chapter 8 Summary:

The summer is glorious at Thornfield. One evening Jane runs into Rochester in the gardens. He reveals that he will marry Miss Ingram in a month and Jane must leave Thornfield; he already has another governess position lined up for her in Ireland. A devastated Jane says she does not want to leave Thornfield or Rochester, but Miss Ingram's presence makes it necessary.

Rochester suddenly reverses position, asking her to stay, but Jane will not do so if she means so little to him that he is willing to marry someone else inferior to him. Rochester asks her to marry him, but she does not believe he is serious. He is aware that Miss Ingram only wants him for his money, and he does not love her. After Jane is convinced of his earnestness, she accepts. Rain forces the overjoyed lovers inside, where they retire to their separate quarters; Rochester checks on Jane three times during the storm to make sure she is all right.

Analysis:

The long build-up to Jane and Rochester's romance culminates in Rochester's marriage proposal, but a greater change comes about within Jane. Oppressed much of her life because of her poverty, she asserts her validity as a person to Rochester, regardless of her material wealth: "'Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? ‹ You think wrong! ‹ I have as much soul as you, ‹ and full as much heart!'"

Jane has so much soul and heart, in fact, that she is not necessarily willing to submit her desires to those of someone else. While her search for being loved drives Jane Eyre, Jane is understanding that attachment to others comes at a price, and she will not sacrifice her autonomy: "'I am a free human being with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you.'" Her relationship with Rochester, however, promises the opportunity for a balance of love and independence.

Volume II, Chapter 9 Summary:

The next morning, Jane feels she looks prettier. Rochester compliments her, says they will marry in four weeks, and says he is sending for jewels from London for her, though Jane makes him rescind the order‹she will feel uncomfortable wearing such ostentation. He also vows to take her traveling with him around Europe and pledges his love to her, and confesses that he feigned interest in Miss Ingram to make Jane jealous.

Jane gets ready for a drive to Millcote with Rochester, and he tells Mrs. Fairfax about their upcoming marriage. Mrs. Fairfax expresses her shock to Jane, and warns her to be on her guard, as wealthy men rarely marry their governesses. Adèle wants to go to Millcote with them, and Jane convinces Rochester to bring her along. They ride off, and Rochester jokes to Adèle that he is bringing Jane with him to the moon, and makes a veiled reference to their marriage that Adèle does not understand.

In Millcote, the clothing and jewelry Rochester lavishes on Jane embarrasses her. She tells Rochester that she will not be his "English Céline Varens," but will continue to work as Adèle's governess and maintain her financial independence. She also declines his dinner invitation, though she spends time with him in the evening as he sings and plays piano. He sings a love song and advances toward her, but she refuses to submit to his charms. Jane maintains this distance between them as she falls deeper in love with Rochester, believing it will serve them better.

Analysis:

Jane discusses her shock at hearing Rochester call her "Mrs. Rochester": "'Because you gave me a new name ‹ Jane Rochester; and it seems so strange.'" She reminds us that the title of the book is Jane Eyre, and that this name will always define her identity as an independent woman. "Eyre" is a 14th-century word that means "a circuit traveled by an itinerant justice in medieval England or the court he presided over," and derives from the Old French word "errer," "to travel." If this etymology was Brontë's intention, then the name is ironic. While Jane travels far mentally as she develops into a woman‹she is an avid reader, an artist, a musician‹her physical journeys are quite circumscribed compared to those of the globe-trotting Rochester.

Jane asserts her desire for both economic and emotional independence. She wants to earn her keep at Thornfield, and her teasing of Rochester, as she calls it, is to ensure she does not completely submit her will to his.

Volume II, Chapter 10 Summary:

A month passes, and the household has finished preparing for Jane and Rochester's marriage tomorrow. Jane is disturbed by something she saw last night. She waits for Rochester to return from business and tells him about it. Last night, with a strong wind blowing, she seemed to hear a howling sound while she lay in bed. She then had a series of nightmares revolving around her care of a little child. She woke up in the night to see a strange woman who, after looking through her closet, ripped Jane's wedding veil. The woman then looked at Jane, who fainted.

Rochester tries to convince Jane the episode was a dream, but she is adamant it was not‹the wedding veil is ripped in two. Rochester is horrified, and grateful that nothing more harmful happened to Jane. He tells her the woman must have been Grace, and says he will one day explain why he keeps her in the house. Jane appeases him, though she is not satisfied with the explanation. Jane sleeps in Adèle's room that night, though she does not fall asleep.

Analysis:

It should be obvious by now that the woman who entered Jane's room is related to the laughter from the third story and from the fire in Rochester's room (especially because the woman uses a candle as she investigates Jane's closet). It is also clear from the ripped wedding veil that the woman harbors hostility toward the wedding, and that Rochester is still covering something up by claiming the woman was Grace.

Jane's devotion to children, both in her dream and when sleeping with Adèle, also speaks, as she says, to her departure from her childhood identity of Jane Eyre and her ascent into married adulthood as Jane Rochester.

Volume II, Chapter 11 Summary:

Jane prepares for the marriage ceremony in the morning, and she and Rochester head to the nearby church. Jane notices two strangers enter the church before they do. The priest begins the ceremony, but when he asks Rochester if he will take Jane as his wife, one of the strangers objects to the marriage. The man, Briggs, a solicitor from London, comes forward and claims that Rochester already has a living wife from a previous marriage 15 years ago. He has a witness to attest to the wife's being alive three months ago: Mason. Mason steps forward and reveals that Rochester's wife is living at Thornfield, and that he is her brother. Rochester confesses that the accusation is true, and that his insane wife, Bertha Mason, who he married not knowing of her family's history of madness, lives upstairs in his attic under careful watch of Grace. He invites everyone to see Bertha and judge for themselves whether or not he was justified in seeking remarriage.

The party goes to Thornfield and up to the attic. In the room where Mason was stabbed and bitten, Grace cooks food while the crazed Bertha runs around like an animal. Bertha lunges at Rochester and bites him, and he wrestles her into submission and ties her to a chair. They all leave the room. Briggs informs Jane that her uncle is on his sickbed but wanted to prevent the marriage, which Mason told him about. He suggests Jane stay in England until she hears more from her uncle. Briggs and Mason leave, and Jane goes into her room alone, reflecting on the sudden change of fortune. She feels she cannot love Rochester anymore; even though she does not consider it a betrayal, he is no longer who he once was to her. She thinks of a prayer to God, unable to summon the energy to speak them.

Analysis:

The loose ends are tied up with the revelation of Rochester's marriage to Bertha: the laughter from the third story, Rochester's early error in life and desire for a new wife, Mrs. Fairfax's warning to Jane to be on her guard, the fire in Rochester's room, and the interloper in Jane's room. Just as Jane has trouble deciding how to judge Rochester, the reader, too, is in a difficult position, especially since the times are different now. Obviously, in modern times Rochester would simply divorce his insane wife and be done with her; in Victorian England, such an arrangement was not so easy, and his imprisonment of Bertha would not be considered quite so barbaric.

Jane narrates the bad turn of events with relentless imagery of ice: "A Christmas frost had come at midsummer; a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe applesŠ" As before, ice symbolizes destruction, cruelty, hopelessness, and death. In this moment of despair, Jane reaches out to God. While she does not have blind faith in Him (as evidenced by her inability to speak the prayer), God is her last salvation and her last chance (so she believes) to be loved by another.

Volume III, Chapter 1 Summary:

Jane wrestles over whether to leave Thornfield or not. Rochester asks her forgiveness, and Jane privately grants it to him, though not outwardly. Moreover, she does not let him kiss her, as he already has a wife. Rochester apologizes for bringing Jane to Thornfield and for concealing his wife from her. He will send Adèle off to school and have Grace stay at Thornfield to watch over Bertha. Jane refuses to go off with him and cries, saying that though she loves him, she must leave him.

Rochester explains the conditions surrounding his marriage to Bertha. His greedy father wanted to leave his entire estate to Rochester's older brother, Rowland. So that Rochester was not completely poor, he arranged for a marriage to the daughter of his old acquaintance, Mr. Mason; Rochester would gain 30,000 pounds from the union. After college, Rochester went to Jamaica to meet the beautiful and desirable Bertha Mason, though he spent little time alone with her. They were quickly married, and soon after he learned that Bertha's mother was in an insane asylum and her younger brother was mad, too; Rochester suspects that her older brother, Mason, will also one day go mad. Over the four years he lived with Bertha in Jamaica, she grew increasingly insane and violent. In the meantime, Rochester's father and brother died, leaving him with their fortune. Feeling hopeless, Rochester took Bertha to Thornfield, where he hired Grace to take care of Bertha in the attic cell. Rochester then sought out another wife in his travels around Europe, though he found no one suitable‹until he met Jane, whom he was attracted to from the start, although he could not tell if she returned the affection.

Jane is torn, but she declares she still must leave him. Rochester points out that she has no family who will be offended by her marriage to him, and it occurs to her that no one else in the world cares for her‹except for herself. Rochester, incensed and desperate, cannot convince her to stay with him. She leaves him in the room alone.

Jane cannot sleep at night, and instead packs up and furtively leaves Thornfield, resisting the temptation to express her love to Rochester and stay. She gets a ride on a coach to a distant town called Whitcross.

Analysis

Although Jane's departure from Thornfield is her third major exit from a place after Gateshead and Lowood, it is by far her hardest decision. If she stays, she enjoys the love of a man whom she admits she worships, as well as the luxury that his wealth affords (but this is of secondary concern to Jane).

However, if she stays, she feels she will lose self-respect, and more than the love of others, Jane's quest is for self-love and independence. As she puts it to herself, "I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself."

Why will marriage destroy Jane's independence? Jane continually uses the excuse of Rochester's marriage to Bertha, but this is most likely not the true reason‹after all, she was at times hesitant about marriage before she learned about Bertha. Rather, we can view Rochester's marriage to Bertha as a symbol for the inequalities of Victorian marriage‹especially in the way it imprisons (literally, in Bertha's case) the female. Jane is worried about similar imprisonment, particularly from Rochester's higher social standing and the proprietary feelings he has for her (note his frequent pet names for her).

Rochester's marriage to Bertha has other implications. Bertha has been identified as a Creole, meaning she is white but was born in the British-colonized West Indies, or she has some actual black ancestry. If we read Bertha's status as a metaphorically imprisoned "colony" of the British empire, then it is safe to assume that Brontë saw the same issues of colonization in marriage.

Volume III, Chapter 2 Summary:

The coach drops Jane off at the desolate crossroads of Whitcross; the nearest town is ten miles away. Finding nature her only ally, she heads deep into the heath and seeks protection under a crag. She tries to sleep, but longs for Rochester. After finding evidence of God in the majesty of nature, she sleeps. The next day, she sets out on the road and finds a village. She looks around for work, but there is none available, and she is reduced to begging for food.

As night falls, Jane walks toward a lit house in the distance among the marshes. She looks through the windows and sees two young ladies, Diana and Mary, and their elderly servant, Hannah. She listens in on their conversation, and discovers they are awaiting someone named St. John, and that the woman's husband‹and the ladies' father‹recently died. Jane knocks on the door and begs Hannah to let her stay for the night, but Hannah fears Jane will bring others with her. St. John arrives at the same time and rescues her, bringing her into the house. After being revived with bread and milk, she gives her name but can give no further details, and says she puts herself in their hands. The members of the household privately discuss the matter, then put Jane to bed.

Analysis:

Jane, seeking autonomy throughout the novel, finally receives it‹and promptly abandons it. Freed from the bonds of marriage at Thornfield, she learns that truly independent living means sleeping outdoors, scavenging for food, and giving up all dignity. She leans more heavily on God in this chapter, and, indeed, it is a religious man, St. John, who proves her salvation. At the chapter's end, Jane relinquishes whatever independence she previously claimed: "'I will trust you. If I were a masterless and stray dog, I know that you would not turn me from your hearth tonight: as it is, I really have no fear. Do with me and for me as you likeŠ'" She willfully succumbs to the identity of a stray dog, putting her faith in others rather than in herself.

Volume III, Chapter 3 Summary:

Jane spends the next three days in bed at the house, attended to by Hannah and occasionally seeing Diana and Mary. On the fourth day, Jane gets out of bed and goes downstairs to the kitchen. She assures Hannah she is not a beggar, and discovers that the house is called Marsh End or Moor House, and that the ladies' brother, the parson St. John Rivers, lives in his parish in nearby Morton. Jane reprimands Hannah for trying to turn her out the other night and for reproaching Jane for her poverty, but she quickly forgives the elderly woman. Hannah fills Jane in on the history of Marsh End, which has been in the Rivers family for generations. Since the children's father has recently died, the ladies are staying at the house for a few weeks.

Diana, Mary, and St. John soon return, and the sisters direct her to keep out of the kitchen and sit into the parlor. St. John is there, and Jane examines his classically handsome face. Jane tells them that she has no home or friends, and refuses to reveal her last residence. Instead, she provides a bare-bones history of her life. She admits that the name "Jane Elliott" she gave them is a pseudonym, but will not tell them her real name. She asks to stay with them until she finds work, and they agree to help her.

Analysis:

Brontë draws an obvious contrast between the altruistic, kindly Rivers children‹Diana, Mary, and St. John‹and the spoiled, cruel Reed children‹Eliza, Georgiana, and the far from holy John. That St. John is a parson indicates Jane's view of religion will undergo further revision as she seeks a Christian model applicable to her life.

In fact, Jane cites Christianity in her defensive speech to Hannah: "'Some of the best people that ever lived have been as destitute as I am; and if you are a Christian, you ought not to consider poverty a crime.'" Once again, Jane is out of sorts financially. Whereas before she was consistently a poor figure in a rich environment (in the Reed house and at Thornfield), she is here identified as a beggar. Although she has indeed been begging, Jane resists this definition, seeking an identity divorced from money.

Volume III, Chapter 4 Summary:

Jane gets to know and like her hosts and the house more over the next few days; she is especially drawn to Diana's charisma. She does not see much of St. John, and when she does, he is generally reserved and brooding. One day she hears him preach in his church, and his stern Calvinist oration about predestination has a profound, thrilling effect on her, although it leaves her saddened. Despite his eloquence, she feels he has not "found that peace of God which passeth all understanding" anymore than Jane has.

After a month, Diana and Mary prepare to return to their positions as governesses elsewhere in England. Jane asks St. John if he knows of any work for her. He informs her that after his sisters leave, he will shut up the house, and that his relative poverty means he can offer her only one job: that of headmistress for a girls' school he is establishing in Morton. Jane gladly accepts, but St. John suspects that Jane will grow bored of the job and soon leave. Before the sisters leave, St. John tells them that their uncle John is dead. They are relieved by this news, and Diana explains that their uncle and father quarreled, and the upshot was that their father lost most of his fortune while their uncle profited greatly. The uncle has left almost all his 20,000 pounds to his one other relation, while giving a pittance to the Rivers children. Over the next few days, all the inhabitants of the house leave.

Analysis:

Jane finds greater intimacy with the residents at Marsh End, and there is a reason for this not yet revealed in the narrative. The astute reader will notice some connections between the fortune left by the Rivers's uncle and that of Jane's own uncle John.

St. John's calculated, somewhat cold Calvinism is not an ideal Christian model for Jane, as she finds in it "a strange bitterness; an absence of consolatory gentleness." While Helen Burns's doctrine of tolerance and forgiveness was too meek for Jane, St. John's is far too intolerant and unforgiving.

Volume III, Chapter 5 Summary:

Jane is installed in her cottage and has finished the first day of school. Her students are largely uneducated, but many are eager learners. She has sunk into some self-pity over her situation, but resolves to work hard and help the students. She maintains that she is better off being free and in somewhat difficult conditions than staying with Rochester as a beloved slave in luxury. St. John opens up and tells her that a year ago he was unhappy as a priest and was looking for a more exciting lifestyle. But he heard a call from God to be a missionary, and he will soon leave Europe to proselytize in the East. A beautiful, angelic young lady, Rosamond Oliver, interrupts them; her father has told her St. John's new school has opened, and she wants to know how the first day was. Jane realizes that Miss Oliver is the wealthy benefactress of the school. Miss Oliver invites St. John to visit her father, but he stolidly declines. They part ways.

Analysis:

Jane has come full circle; she was once a neglected, poor orphan at Lowood and is now headmistress of her own school. Following in the mold of the kindly Miss Temple, she resolves to help her students who, while not orphans, are poor and largely uneducated. In fact, Jane nearly turns to snobbishness when describing the students, and must remind herself that "these coarsely clad little peasants are of flesh and blood as good as the scions of gentlest genealogy."

Such a scion comes in the form of the stunning Miss Oliver, the first example in the novel of someone who is rich, beautiful, and good-natured (everyone else has only one or two of the qualities).

Volume III, Chapter 6 Summary:

Jane adjusts to the rigors of teaching, and over time finds her students able and amiable. She becomes a well-liked fixture in the community. Still, she often dreams at night of being with Rochester. Miss Oliver frequently visits her, and Jane can see the effect she has on St. John, who does his best to conceal his feelings‹though he clearly desires her, he has devoted himself to his religion. Jane visits her and Mr. Oliver one evening at her home, Vale Hall. Jane discovers that Mr. Oliver wants his daughter to marry St. John. One day, while Jane is working on a portrait of Miss Oliver she has been asked to do, St. John visits. He is taken by the portrait, and Jane tells him of Miss Oliver's affection for him. He confesses that he loves her, too, and finds her beautiful, but thinks she is not a good match for him as a missionary, a calling he will not relinquish. St. John then sees something on the edge of the blank paper between the portrait and the cardboard backing‹Jane is not sure what it is‹and furtively rips it off and leaves.

Analysis:

St. John is much like Jane; unwilling to give up his independence for love, he would rather seek his own calling in life than be beholden to someone else, even someone he might love passionately.

Without much fanfare, Jane is, indeed, finding her calling as she teaches girls who are much like she once was. Without romance on her mind, except for the occasional nightmares about Rochester, she is learning to love and be loved in a stable, affirming community.

Volume III, Chapter 7 Summary:

It snows heavily. St. John comes in, covered in ice. He tells her a story of a poor curate who, twenty years ago, fell in love with a rich man's daughter and married her; her friends disowned her after the wedding. They both died within two years, leaving behind a daughter, who was raised by her aunt-in-law, Mrs. Reed of Gateshead. St. John recounts the rest of Jane's life up until her departure from Thornfield, after which everyone searched for her to no avail. He has just received a letter from Briggs telling him these details. It also appears that Rochester has left Thornfield, most likely for somewhere else in Europe.

The reason Briggs sought Jane, St. John says, is because Jane's uncle, Mr. John Eyre of Madeira, has died and left her his great fortune of 20,000 pounds. Jane is stunned, but also questions why Briggs reached her through St. John. St. John reveals that his full name is St. John Eyre Rivers, that his mother's brother is Jane's uncle, that Jane's legal name scrawled on the sheet of paper before tipped him off, and that they are cousins. Jane is as overjoyed to discover she has cousins as she is by the fortune. Jane decides to split the fortune four ways among the cousins and live to at Moor House with Diana and Mary, but St. John urges her to reconsider; the fortune was left solely to her, and she should not feel obliged to share it. Jane says having close relations is more important to her than the money; she also discards the notion of ever marrying. St. John pledges to treat her as his sister, and Jane says she will stay on as headmistress until he finds a replacement. Eventually, Jane persuades her cousins to share her fortune.

Analysis

Various clues from before‹including that of Jane's wealthy uncle John, the fortune the Rivers children were cut out of by their uncle John, and the scrap of paper St. John tore from Jane's paper‹come together in a satisfying way that allows the reader to overlook one of the more improbable events: that Jane, purely by accident, came across her long-lost cousins.

Although the fortune is a deus ex machina plot twist that, as Jane says, gives her a victory she "never earned and do[es] not merit," she has, in many ways, earned it. By being selfless, humble, and eschewing the fortune Rochester would have given her in return for her virtual servitude, Jane is most deserving of a gift that will finally give her true independence.

Volume III, Chapter 8 Summary:

Jane finishes her duties at the school before Christmas, but promises to visit weekly and teach her students. Jane cleans Moor House in preparation for Diana and Mary's arrival. Jane observes St. John's taciturn, reserved nature, and understands why he and Miss Oliver would not make a good match. Still, even he cannot dampen the joy of his sisters' homecoming. They all soon hear that Miss Oliver is to marry the wealthy Mr. Granby. St. John is stoic and claims that he is glad, as it has cleared the way for his mission. While Jane loves living with her female cousins, St. John continues to treat Jane coldly, treating her more as a servant than as a relative. Jane continues to think of Rochester and writes to Mrs. Fairfax for news, but receives nothing.

One spring day, St. John tells Jane that he will leave for his mission in India in six weeks, and asks Jane to come with him as his helper. He says she is intended to be a "'missionary's wife,'" and he will claim her "'not for my pleasure, but for my Sovereign's service.'" Jane resists, saying she is unfit for the position, but he insists she has the right qualities. She tells him she will go as his adopted sister, but not as his wife. St. John says she could only do this as his real sister; otherwise, their union must be consecrated by marriage. Jane grows irritated, and says she scorns his conception of marriage. St. John drops the proposal for now, and says he will leave for Cambridge tomorrow for two weeks, during which time Jane can reconsider. When he says goodnight to Jane, he insists that he is not offended, but Jane wishes "he had knocked me down."

Analysis:

Autonomy again appears as Jane's main desire. Though the idea of being a Christian missionary appeals to her and would add structure to her life‹and continues her notion of servicing others‹she is unwilling to be imprisoned in yet another marriage. While she disdained Rochester's marriage because, although she would be loved, she feared a status of inferiority, she refuses St. John's proposal because love would not even enter the equation.

Jane thus rejects St. John's model of Christianity, as she formerly rejected Helen Burns's and Brocklehurst's. While St. John's Christianity is neither overly meek nor hypocritical and corrupt, his is too dutiful and not emotional enough. As Jane said earlier, he has not found his peace with God, and his religious zeal seems more mechanical rather than human.

Volume III, Chapter 9 Summary:

St. John waits a week to leave for Cambridge, treating Jane coldly in the interim. However, she refuses to buckle by marrying him, and he rejects taking her along as his unmarried assistant. Jane admits she will seek out Rochester, and St. John leaves. Jane reveals St. John's plans to Diana, and Diana approves of Jane's decision. Later, St. John is his usual polite, aloof self to Jane while reading from Revelations‹and through it he hints that Jane will end up in Hell for her refusal to join him. The next morning, he leaves for Cambridge, and in a sincere moment again tells Jane she should reconsider her decision while he is gone. She is so moved by his warmth that she is tempted to yield to his desires. She has a mystical vision and hears Rochester's voice declare "Jane! Jane! Jane!" She announces that she is coming for Rochester. She does not find him, of course, and tells St. John to leave her alone. In her room alone, she prays and feels rejuvenated.

Analysis:

The continuing debate between Jane's need for autonomy and her desire to succumb to St. John's powers continue, but the outcome is rarely in doubt. Instead, Jane's love for Rochester deepens, and she now has the tools needed for a liberated marriage: self-esteem, the love of others (including relatives), financial independence, and an identity she has carved out on her own. While St. John would most likely batter these traits as he leads Jane through his missionary work in India, a marriage to Rochester would no longer squelch these qualities.

With such assurance, Jane can now also turn to religion in a positive, healthy manner, one different from all other models she has observed: "I...prayed in my way ‹ a different way to St. John's, but effective in its own fashion. I seemed to penetrate near a Might Spirit; and my soul rushed out in gratitude at His feet." Jane's spirituality that has neither the hypocritical postures of Brocklehurst's evangelism, the meekness of Helen Burns's forgiveness, nor the detachment of St. John's proselytizing, but attains a transcendence of love and connection lacking in the philosophies of those three.

Volume III, Chapter 10 Summary:

The next morning, St. John leaves a note for Jane requesting her decision when he returns from Cambridge. But Jane's mind is on Rochester, and she leaves that afternoon for Thornfield. Two days later she arrives, only to find the house has burned down. At a nearby inn, she talks with the innkeeper who was Rochester's father's butler, who tells her that one night Bertha Mason had escaped from Grace's watch (since Grace frequently drinks) and set fire to the governess's old bed. Rochester got all his servants out of the house, but Bertha jumped to her death from the roof. Rochester was blinded by a falling beam during the fire, and is relegated to Ferndean, a nearby manor house. Jane asks him to drive her to Ferndean immediately.

Analysis:

While the fire at Thornfield destroyed both Rochester's estate and his eyesight, fire continues to be a positive force, even through destruction, in at least one respect: it has killed Bertha Mason, thus opening the door for Rochester's remarriage to Jane. In another sense, the fire levels the playing field more between Jane and Rochester; while she has recently gained her own fortune, he has lost much of his.

That Rochester's eyesight is gone seems no impediment to the love between him and Jane, since it was never founded upon physical attraction. As the innkeeper says about Rochester and Jane, "'nobody but him thought her so very handsome.'"

Volume III, Chapter 11 Summary:

Jane travels to the desolate Ferndean. She sees Rochester come out the front door and reject his servant John's help to reenter. He goes in on his own, and Jane knocks. John's wife, Mary, answers, and brings Jane in. Jane brings in a tray of candles to Rochester, and he eventually figures out who she is. He is overjoyed by her return, and she tells him that she is now independently wealthy and offers to stay with him as his nurse; she contends she does not care about marrying anyone. He thinks she would be revolted by his blindness and by the loss of one of his hands, but she is not. She starts tending to him, reviving his spirits, but teasingly refuses to tell him whom she has been with the past year.

The next day, Jane tells Rochester of the last year, and he insists he would not have treated her as his subjugated mistress, but as his equal. Rochester is obviously jealous of St. John and disheartened by the news of his marriage proposal, but Jane assures him that she does not love her cousin, and that her heart belongs to Rochester. He asks her to marry him, and she agrees. He wants the ceremony to take place in three days. Rochester reveals a new spiritual side, and says that four nights ago he prayed to God for a reunion with Jane, and involuntarily recited Jane's name three times. Jane says that she heard his voice in her own mystical vision that night, and Rochester tells her that he seemed to hear her reply to him. Rochester thanks God for this gift. Jane helps him home.

Analysis:

Jane's search for religion culminates with the mystical union between her and Rochester. Their bond is based on a profound, spiritual connection that passes through God.

Jane's independence is asserted here, both in her own words ("'I am an independent woman now'") and by a symbolic action at the end of the chapter: "I took that dear hand, held it a moment to my lips, then let it pass round my shoulder: being so much lower of stature than he, I served both for his prop and guide." Though Jane is of "much lower stature" than Rochester‹she comes from humbler origins‹she now has sufficient strength and independence to lead Rochester and, indeed, he is dependent on her for it. Her quest for autonomy is complete, and it does not exclude a happy marriage to someone she leaves.

Volume III, Chapter 12 Summary:

Jane and Rochester have a quiet marriage. She writes to Moor House and Cambridge and tells her cousins the news; the females are joyful, but she does not hear from St. John until six months later, and he does not mention the marriage. Finding Adèle unhappy at her strict boarding school, Jane enrolls her in a better school closer to home, and she blossoms there. After ten years of marriage, Jane is still enthralled with her union with Rochester. Two years into their marriage, Rochester's vision improved slightly in one eye, enough to see their newborn son. Diana and Mary are both married, while St. John tirelessly continues his missionary work in India and remains unmarried, as he always will, since he is a "faithful servant" to God.

Analysis:

Two major themes‹Jane's desire for love and her search for religion‹mingle with her greatest preoccupation, her need for independence, in different ways. As we have already seen, she has blended love with independence in her marriage with Rochester: "To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company."

However, Jane is also able to maintain a spiritual relationship with God without sacrificing her independence. St. John, on the other hand, is not, as his letter to Jane reveals: "'My Master,' he says, Œhas forewarned me. Daily he announces more distinctly, ‹ ŒSurely I come quickly!' and hour I more eagerly respond, ‹ ŒAmen; even so come, Lord Jesus!'" Brontë ends the novel on this note to underscore the connections between St. John's religious devotion and her concern with female subjugation. Unlike St. John, Jane fears yielding her will to her "Master" (or husband), and Brontë has used Bertha's imprisonment in the attic and Jane's imprisonment in the red-room as symbols for the ways in which Victorian society can confine women in marriage or in any other regard. Thus, Brontë concludes the novel on a critique of religion while demonstrating that marriage need not incorporate its restrictions of individual will.

• Biography of Charlotte Bronte
• About Jane Eyre
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Short Summary
• Full Summary and Analysis
• Summary and Analysis of Volume I, Chapters 1-5
• Summary and Analysis of Volume I, Chapters 6-10
• Summary and Analysis of Volume I, Chapters 11-15
• Summary and Analysis of Volume II, Chapters 1-5
• Summary and Analysis of Volume II, Chapters 6-11
• Summary and Analysis of Volume III, Chapters 1-6
• Summary and Analysis of Volume III, Chapters 7-12
• Related Links on Jane Eyre
• Author of ClassicNote and Sources
• Purchase Jane Eyre and Other Works
• Test Yourself! Quiz 1
• Test Yourself! Quiz 2
• Essays on Jane Eyre
• E-Text
• Message Board on Jane Eyre