Jane Eyre Character Analysis Essay

In the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte takes us on a journey through the life of Jane Eyre. Jane’s character in the novel stays very consistent in terms of her personality. In the beginning of the story when she lived at Gateshead, her personality was very shy and independent. In her years at Gateshead, Jane had to live with her nasty cousins and aunt. This is why she became independent and shy. She was often shunned by her cousins forcing her to believe that she was no one, “ I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalage,”(Bronte 10). As she starts to get older, her personality stays the same. When Mr. Rochester asks Jane to marry her, she is kind of taken back. She feels that if she accepts his offer, she would become restricted in her freedom because she would have to listen to Mr. Rochester. “Still I

Rochester was already married and when she returns back to Thornfield a couple of years later. It was interesting to find out that Mr. Rochester was already married to Bertha Mason, and was keeping her locked up at Thornfield, “ In a room without a window, there burnt a fire, guarded by a high and strong fender, and a lamp suspended from the ceiling by a chain,”(Bronte 316). Because Mr. Rochester’s first wife was insane, he had locked her up in a dark room so that no one knew about her existence. This was interesting to me because it changed the whole plot of the story. Jane and Mr. Rochester were so closed to getting married, when all of a sudden an unexpected event happens that ruins everything. I found it especially interesting when Jane comes back to Thornfield, to find it in ashes. Bertha had actually set Thornfield on fire, destroying the house as well as killing herself, “I looked with timorous joy towards a stately house; I saw a blackened ruin,”(Bronte