Summary and Analysis

Prologue

The author, under the pseudonym of Currer Bell, expresses gratitude for the literary circles for their help, but reserves tough words for the literary critics. Bronte shares that her allegiance is more to the truth than to prescriptions of style or morality.

She names William Thackeray, author of Vanity Fair, as one of the writers who challenged the twisted social systems of the time. She dedicates the novel to him.

Chapter 1

A ten-year-old Jane is seen reading History of British Birds by a window in Gateshead Hall. She has been forbidden by her aunt from playing with her three cousins. The pictures in the book encourage her imagination, and she sees herself having adventures. One of her cousins, John Reed, barges into the room where she is reading and calls her an orphan, a servant, and derogatory names. Jane fights back for the first time when John tries to knock her down with the book she is reading. The children then in a fight.

John is surprised that his cousin has fought back unlike the previous times and runs to complain about her to his mother, Jane’s aunt, Mrs. Reed. Partially, Mrs. Reed declares that Jane is responsible for starting the fight and that she would be locked in the red room as a punishment. The red room is the room where Mrs. Reed’s husband had died many years ago.

Chapter 2

Bessie Lee and Miss. Abbot carry out the punishment by dragging a protesting Jane upstairs to the red room and remind her that Mrs. Reed is her benefactor and that she should behave better and show more gratitude. They also threaten to put her in a poor house. Jane is locked up in the red room and contemplates the injustice that is handed out to her. She regrets the death of her kind uncle who would have put an end to this abusive treatment. She remembers that on his deathbed her uncle had requested Mrs. Reed to take care of Jane as one of her children.

She is also cognizant of the brattish nature of the three young Reeds. She believes that the dead can rise again if their wishes aren’t honored. Convinced that she is experiencing Mr. Reed’s ghostly presence, Jane screams. Mrs. Reed does not believe Jane’s reason and keeps Jane locked in the room. Overwhelmed with fear, Jane faints inside the red room.

Chapter 3

Jane is nursed back to health by Bessie after her unfortunate accident in the red room. Bessie sings her a song an also agrees that Mrs. Reed handled the situation cruelly. However, Jane is removed from the scene. It is when she receives Gulliver’s Travels, a satirical work by Jonathan Swift about non-existent fantasy lands that she cheers up. She imagines the descriptions in the book to be real. Mr. Lloyd, the apothecary is also present and enquires after Jane’s well-being. Jane shares her unhappiness at Gateshead Hall, but is also crippled by the fear of losing connections and being abandoned. It is Mr. Lloyd who comes up with the idea of sending Jane to a school. Jane is overjoyed at this idea and Mrs. Reed is very glad to not have her niece in the same space as her.

Jane overhears a conversation; Bessie is telling Miss. Abbott about Jane’s biological family. Jane’s mother belonged to a rich family but was disowned after marrying Jane’s father, a poor clergyman. They died after contracting a disease while helping the underprivileged, leaving Jane an orphan. Jane’s uncle adopted her and, before his death, he had made his wife, Mrs. Reed, promise that she would raise Jane without discriminating against her.

Chapter 4

Having waited two months to join Lowood school, Jane is interviewed by the taciturn and strict headmaster Mr. Brocklehurst who lectures Jane about. Mrs. Reed falsely allegations that Jane is a habitual liar, and the headmaster promises to pass on the information to Jane’s teachers. Jane is so shaken by this false accusation that she exclaims that her aunt, Mrs. Reed, is a cruel and deceitful person. Mrs. Reed is taken aback, and Jane feels equally terrified and thrilled by the intensity of her passionate outburst.

Jane makes friends with Bessie who treats her to cake and admits that she likes Jane more than her Reed cousins. Jane is ignored by the Reeds for the rest of her time at the Gateshead Hall.

Chapter 5

The cold, haunted-looking Lowood school awaits Jane. The Lowood is a school dedicated to orphan girls and run by a strict charity institution. The food is served in small portions and is mostly tasteless. All students sleep in common dormitories in long, uncomfortable beds. Ms. Maria Temple’s intervention ensures students are provided better food; she also turns out to be a kind teacher. Jane makes an instant connection with an aloof girl, Helen Burns, who she notices reading in a corner. She patiently answers all of Jane’s questions about the school and the people in the school. In their afternoon class, a nasty history teacher, Miss. Scatcherd, humiliates Helen by kicking her out of the class. Jane worries for Helen.

Analysis of Prologue – Chapter 5

Bronte’s note dedicated to William Thackeray gives an insight into her motivations for writing. Bronte is well aware of the social conditions and is also not hesitant to comment on them through her work. She hopes to create an impetus for reform through her writing the way William Thackeray did.

The opening setting involving a young Jane reading a book establishes her character to the reader. She loves reading, acquiring knowledge, and is often lonely at Gateshead Hall. John’s attack on her and his surprise at her retaliation establishes that she is bullied frequently and is expected to tolerate it without complaining or retaliating. The divide between the wealthy family and the servants is clearly discernible. Jane falls in neither of these categories and therefore suffers the wrath of her aunt who mistakes this as petulance. Mrs. Reed behaves in an authoritative and cruel manner.

Jane’s belief that she is surrounded by the dead Mr. Reed is one the first glimpses of the novel’s gothic element. The red room is also aptly titled to evoke an air of mystery and fear in the readers’ minds. These connections to the supernatural overwhelm the young Jane, causing her to faint. Learning about Jane’s familial background is heartbreaking to readers, and her desperation to stay with the Reed family even when they treat her unfairly makes sense when one realizes that the alternative is begging and poverty. Mr. Lloyd’s timely intervention ensures Jane’s access to formal education, which seems like a good way forward for the book-yielding Jane.

Jane’s interview with the headmaster is especially important: in this instance, readers witness Jane’s passionate defense of herself when Jane realizes that Mrs. Reed is attempting to jeopardize her prospects of redemption through education. Though the passion surprises Jane as well as, she is nonetheless reassured by her display of strength. The incident also helps her articulate the miserable living conditions at Gateshead Hall. In doing so, Jane effectively calls out Mrs. Reed’s hypocrisy.

Jane’s school is authoritative, but it is still a space that holds new possibilities for her. Her new acquaintances, like Helen and Miss Maria Temple, are kind and friendly; they show her the more caring hues of bonds. Her concern for Helen also shows that Jane is able to tell when others feel unsafe and humiliated, thereby displaying a remarkable capacity for observation despite her young age.