Other Characters’ Influence on Jane Eyre’s Development
Charlotte Brontë’s book, Jane Eyre, follows the life of the title character as she grows up as an orphan, receives her education as a charity school, finds work with a wealthy family as a governess, and unexpectedly finds family and love. Throughout the stages of Jane’s life, many characters have a direct influence on her character and the decisions she makes. While almost everyone Jane meets has influence, three characters that make the most difference in Jane’s life are Mrs. Reed, Miss Temple, and Mr. Rochester.
Mrs. Reed, Jane’s adopted mother and Mistress of Gateshead, has influence over Jane when she is a young child. Mrs. Reed is related to Jane by marriage, and unwillingly adopted Jane following her husband’s dying wishes. She treats Jane terribly and encourages others do to so as well, especially her two biological children. Jane is, at this point in her life, very inclined to speak her mind, but the cruel nature of Mrs. Reed and her children lead them to blame Jane for the bad things that they themselves do. This results in the climactic scene where Jane is locked in the red room. It also results in her banishment from Gateshead to a charity school. As literature scholar Lisa Sternlieb writes, “we watch a young girl who vents her anger verbally in the opening pages and retreats further and further into silence as the novel progresses” (457-458). From Mrs. Reed, Jane learns to keep to herself; she learns that listening and observing will gain her more than voicing words of anger.
Miss Temple is a teacher that Jane encounters during her years at the charity school of Lowood. She is both mentor and friend to Jane. Unlike the other teachers who seem resigned to their duties, Miss Temple is an inspiration. As Jane says, she was always “encouraging us, by precept and example, to keep up our spirits, and march forward, as she said, ‘like stalwart soldiers’” (Brontë 51). From Miss Temple Jane receives the first kind attention she has probably ever received. After the school’s patron, Mr. Brocklehurst falsely accuses Jane of being a liar, Miss Temple treats Jane and her best friend Helen to have tea and toast with her. About this, Jane says, “We feasted that evening as on nectar and ambrosia; and not the least delight of the entertainment was the smile of gratification with which our hostess regarded us” (Brontë 61). Miss Temple writes a letter to Brocklehurst, defending Jane and clearing her of the accusations. After years of education, Jane goes on to become a teacher at Lowood and miss Temple the superintendant. Once Miss Temple leaves to marry, Jane says that Lowood no longer feels like a home to her. She also says, “I had imbibed from her something of her nature and much of her habits: more harmonious thoughts: what seemed like better-regulated feelings had become the inmates of my mind” (71). From Miss Temple, Jane has learned to become an independent woman.
However, once Miss Temple and the feeling of home at Lowood are gone, Jane advertises for a position as a governess and finds a position and the estate of Thornfield, where Mr. Rochester is the master. Their relationship is the focus of the novel, as Jane finds herself with the prospect of moving from the position of governess to that of wife of Rochester. Their initial courtship is marked by deception but also kind attention to Jane from Rochester. For example, Rochester apparently courts a beautiful woman named Miss Ingram, but does not reveal to Jane that the courtship is false, so that Jane says, “I was silent: I thought he mocked me” when Rochester asks her to marry him (Brontë 216). The biggest deception of all, of course, is that Rochester is hiding the fact that his first wife, Bertha, is still alive and in the attic. This ultimate betrayal traumatizes Jane and causes her to leave Thornfield. Ultimately, however, she returns to the area of Thornfield to look for Rochester, finding that Thornfield has burned to the ground, Bertha died in the fire, and Rochester was left blind from the incident. Their eventual marriage allows them to discard the silence and deception that marked their life beforehand. Jane says, “All my confidence is bestowed on him; all his confidence is devoted to me; we are precisely suited in character—perfect concord is the result” (Brontë 384). From Rochester, Jane has learned to trust, to love, and to receive love.
Throughout her life, Jane learns many things from the people she encounters, and though every character plays an important role in her development as a woman, Mrs. Reed, Miss Temple, and Mr. Rochester are three of the most important. They teach Jane lessons about listening, observing, kindness, fairness, deception, confidence, and love. Passionate and outspoken at the beginning of the novel, much more reticent in the middle of the novel, and again able to express confidence and trust at the end of the novel, Jane comes full circle through the influence of these characters and finds fulfillment in life.
Works Cited
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Norton: 2001. Print.
Sternlieb, Lisa. “Hazarding Confidences.” Nineteenth Century Literature 53.4 (Mar. 1999): 452-479.
