JANE EYRE QUOTES

• “You are like a murderer – you are like a slave-driver – you are like the Roman emperors!” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 1

  • Jane is responding to John’s behaviour by comparing him to three figures who embody cruelty, oppression and injustice
  • By standing up to John, Jane shows her intolerance of injustice, even when she knows she will be punished for it
  • Brontë is showing that the refusal to accept injustice is one of the fundamental aspects of Jane’s character
  • Brontë is also illustrating the way that people with power can behave unjustly towards those without power
• “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 12

  • By showing Jane’s dissatisfaction, Brontë is illustrating unjust attitudes towards women’s abilities and strengths:
  • Jane notes that women need to use their minds just as much as men do, but are unable to do so
  • By referring to a “field for their efforts”, Jane is indicating the limited practical opportunities for women compared with men
• “Revenge never worries my heart, injustice never crushes me too low” – Helen Burns, Chapter 6

  • Jane’s rejection of Helen’s views illustrates Brontë’s certainty that people should never accept injustice, even in the context of religious belief
• “He is a good and a great man.. in pursuing his own large views” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 35

  • Jane’s comment about St John shows Brontë’s awareness that extreme religious beliefs can be cruel and disempowering for others
• “Most things free-born will submit to anything for a salary” – Mr Rochester, Chapter 14

  • Rochester demonstrates the power of people in his social class over those of a lower social class.
  • He argues that money can buy anything, including obedience, even when it contradicts someone’s moral views
  • Brontë is showing the cynicism and disregard with which people of Rochester’s class are able to treat those of lower social status, even if they are “free-born” (i.e. not slaves)  
• “Do you think, because I am poor.. I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 23

  • Jane fights back against Rochester’s cruel disregard for her feelings
  • Jane’s anger towards Rochester demonstrates her belief that all human beings are equally entitled to respect
• “I should wish her to be brought up in a manner suiting her prospects” – Mrs Reed, Chapter 4

  • Jane’s “prospects”, or life choices, are very limited:
  • As an orphan with no money, Jane will have to work or marry in order to survive
  • Mrs Reed could educate Jane along with her own daughters, but chooses not to
  • Brontë is illustrating the extremely limited options for someone of Jane’s social class
• “Reader, I married him” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 38

  • In this statement, Brontë reverses the more conventional “he married me”, making Jane the subject of the sentence
  • Brontë suggests a reversal of the power dynamic that has characterised Jane’s relationship with Rochester throughout the novel
  • Brontë presents their marriage as a happy one, with Rochester regarding Jane as his “equal”
  • This represents Brontë’s ideal of an egalitarian marriage, with mutual respect and enjoyment of each other’s company 
• “Reader, though I look very comfortably.. I am not very tranquil in my mind” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 11

  • Brontë wants to give readers access to Jane’s thoughts, without the intervention of a third-person narrator
  • It also means that nobody contradicts Jane’s view, unless she chooses to report that
  • Brontë demonstrates her belief that a woman’s voice is as valid and powerful as a man:
  • This challenges 19th-century gender norms, which regarded women’s voices and ideas as having far less credibility and importance
• “The strange little figure there gazing at me” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 2

  “I saw a robed and veiled figure, so unlike my usual self that it seemed almost the image of a stranger” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 26

  • Both quotations show Jane regarding, assessing and describing her reflection in the mirror:
  • The words “strange” and “stranger” are used in each case to convey her alienation
  • There is something uncanny about the way Jane both recognises and does not recognise her own image
  • Brontë uses Jane’s alienation and sense of foreboding as a foreshadowing device
• “i was like nobody there” - chapter 2

  • Jane is narrating her formative experience at Gateshead with the Reeds.
  • the simile shows she was not in harmony with them.
  • she wasn’t regarded as their social equal (she values equality for all).
• “i like this day“ “like thorn-field” “i like the sternness and stillness” - chapter 16

  • anaphora = repetition of “i like” emphasises her fondness.
  • highlights how reluctant she is to leave yet proves how she prioritises her self-worth.
• “long night passed in ghostly wakefulness“ - chapter 3

  • personification of the night, she is alone + sees the night as her companion
  • she longs for peaceful sleep.
  • Gothic imagery “ghostly” highlights a figment of her stressed mind.
• ”your mind is my treasure” - Theme of Love


  showing her deep underlying life for Rochester
• “i am no bird and no net ensnares me” - independence


  • Jane asserting her autonomy and strength in character as victorian women progressing her bildungsroman
  • dehumanises Jane
  • brontë also described bertha as a “clothed hyena”