How Does Bronte Present Poverty In Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre and Poverty Jane Eyre is a novel set in Industrial England that explores the life of a governess. Charlotte Bronte describes Jane’s journey through life as a part of two social classes. Though Jane is a poor orphan, she is given an education that allows her to acquire the manners of those in upper class society, and work as a governess, living at a wealthy manor. While she does not have the economic standing of an upper class woman, Jane is an upper class woman in all other respects. Still, Jane experiences the effects of poverty while at boarding school and out on her own after leaving her position as governess. Her experiences influence her ideals regarding poverty. As a child, Jane would have agreed with the harsh statements made

Jane’s low financial status caused her many hardships, and shaped her views on love. Jane held the notion that Rochester could not possibly love her due to her lesser economic status. In the beginning stages of Jane’s love for Rochester, she even told herself to “keep to her caste” and that if she were to advance on Rochester, her love would be “despised.” (Jane Eyre, 189) This notion of class would have caused Jane to sympathize with the poor of society. Jane’s position in society made it inconceivable that a wealthy man would love her, and with this position, Jane would have considered herself lower in society, having commonalities with the poor instead of the upper class. In some ways, Jane would have related to the poor, and this relation would have caused a disagreement between her views and Smiles’. Jane’s period of homelessness would have formed a relation between Jane and the poor, causing sympathy to the lower class. Jane’s bout with poverty gave her experience as to what it was like to live in dire circumstances, and thus she would have challenged Smiles’ notion that the poor were at fault for their own poverty, and that slow social change was acceptable. Jane even scolded Hannah, her cousins’ servant, for “considering poverty a crime.” (Jane Eyre, 393) Jane recognized that others should not view those in poverty at fault for their own circumstances, and she would have presented this argument to Samuel