jane eyre identity and self hood

• "Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?—a machine without feelings?" - jane to rochester after she finds out he is already married


  -shows a sense of self respect and determination to maintain her identity

  • jane rejects rochester dehumanisation and manipulation.
  • "an automaton" shows how rochester sometimes treats her as a object of his desire. jane calls attention to this imbalance and insists on equal recognition: proto- feminist character
• "I have for the first time found what I can truly love—I have found you."- rochester to jane


  • previously, rochester was trapped in his past where his identity was shaped by his failed marriage to bertha mason, his moral corruption and cynicism
  • jane helps rochester rediscover himself , she represents a better vesion of rochester built on honesty, passion, moral redemption
  • is rochester truly finding his identity or is he still reliant on someone else to define it for him?
  • suggests he sees Jane as part of his self-fulfillment, rather than respecting her as an independent individual: For Jane, selfhood means autonomy—she does not want to be absorbed into someone else’s identity.
• "A new name had been given me: I was no longer the outcast, vagrant, and disowned orphan."- jane about the rivers


  • "new name" symolises transformation in her identity , earlier she was labeled as rebel, mad cat or poor orphan
  • contrast to when jane was outcast but now her identity is anchored identity as a rivers
  • gives jane family and financial stability: can return to rochester
  • This moment marks Jane’s shift from being passively defined by others to actively shaping her own identity.
• "I scorn your idea of love… I want a wife: the sole helpmeet I can influence efficiently in life, and retain absolutely till death."-st. john to jane 


  • St. John’s ideal marriage erases Jane’s individuality, making her a mere extension of his mission.
  • St. John views identity in terms of religious duty, while Jane seeks personal fulfillment and love. By rejecting St. John’s she asserts that her identity is not defined by a man’s expectations.
  • st john represents patriarchal expectations: Jane chooses her own path, proving that identity should be self-determined, not imposed by social or religious expectations.
  • contrast to jane and rochesters relationship
• "Wherever you are is my home—my only home." jane to rochester


  • Here, she finally chooses her home not based on duty or survival, but on love and emotional connection.
  • Earlier, Jane believed independence was necessary for identity, but now she realizes love does not have to mean loss of self.
  • Unlike Rochester’s earlier possessiveness, Jane now returns as an equal—financially independent and emotionally secure.This reflects Bronte’s Romantic ideals—home is about the heart, not just social security.
  • Rochester is humbled and physically weaker, which shifts the power dynamic.