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A summary of Chapters 1–4 in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Jane Eyre and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
- Important Quotes Explained
This quotation, part of Jane’s outburst to her aunt just...
- Quick Quiz
After having been abroad for some time, Rochester returns to...
- Important Quotes Explained
"Jane, I don't like cavillers or questioners; besides, there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated somewhere; and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent."
- Chapters 1–4
- Chapters 5–10
- Chapters 11–16
- Chapters 17–21
- Chapters 22–25
- Chapter 26
- Chapters 27 & 28
- Chapters 29–32
- Chapters 33–35
- Chapters 36–38
Jane fights with her cousin John, and as punishment her aunt, Mrs. Reed, sends her to the “red-room,” where she is struck with the sense that her uncle’s ghost is near, causing her to faint. After Jane awakens in her own bedroom, it is decided that Jane will leave to attend Lowood, a boarding school for girls. Mrs. Reed insults Jane’s character to ...
Conditions at the school are harsh; Jane is humiliated when Mr. Brocklehurst informs the whole school of her “deceitful” character, although her classmate Helen sticks by her, and the kindly Miss Temple declares her innocent. In the spring, many girls fall ill, including Helen, who dies of consumption. Jane excels in her studies over the next six y...
One evening a few months after her arrival at Thornfield, where she tutors the eight-year-old Adèle, Jane meets the brooding Mr. Rochester. Jane later hears an eerie laugh in the hallway, and upon finding Mr. Rochester’s bed curtains on fire, Jane saves his life. The next morning, she is shocked to learn that neither the servants nor Rochester are ...
Rochester returns to Thornfield with several guests, including Blanche Ingram, to whom Jane guesses Rochester will soon be married. One night a fortuneteller visits the manor, and while she is reading Jane her fortune, Jane realizes the old woman is Rochester in disguise and reproaches him; later that night, he asks Jane for help when a man named M...
Upon returning to Thornfield, Jane finally confesses her love to Rochester, who, to her surprise, asks her to be his wife. Preparations for the wedding do not go smoothly, and Jane writes to her uncle, John Eyre, hoping he’ll make her his heir and put her on more equal footing with Rochester. Jane tells Rochester a mysterious woman entered her room...
On the day of Rochester and Jane’s wedding, it’s revealed that Rochester is already married to a woman named Bertha Mason. Rochester confirms that his wife is alive, and has been locked away in a room on the third floor under the care of the servant Grace Poole due to her madness. He brings the wedding crowd to see Bertha, who attempts to strangle ...
Rochester asks Jane for forgiveness, explaining his past and why he doesn’t consider his marriage to Bertha legitimate, then proposes they leave together and live as husband and wife in France. Jane is torn, but ultimately leaves Thornfield on her own, realizing she would never be more than his mistress. She ends up at the doorstep of three sibling...
Jane learns the siblings’ father lost most of the family fortune in a bad business deal, led astray by their uncle who recently died and left them nothing. St. John finds Jane a job running a girls’ charity school, which she comes to enjoy, though she is having dreams about Rochester. She believes St. John is going to marry the wealthy heiress Rosa...
Jane reveals her true identity to St. John when he informs her that John Eyre has died, leaving Jane a vast fortune of 20,000 pounds, and that John was his uncle, too, making them family. Jane decides to split the inheritance with her newfound cousins to atone for their uncle having led the River family to ruin. St. John pressures Jane to accompany...
Jane travels to Thornfield only to find it in ruins, and learns that Bertha Mason set the house ablaze; Rochester, who saved the servants and attempted to save Bertha, lost a hand and went blind. When Jane reunites with Rochester, he asks her to marry him. Jane explains she’s narrating her story after ten years of marriage to Rochester, who regaine...
Summary. Analysis. On a dreary afternoon in Gateshead Hall, the ten-year-old Jane Eyre, who has been forbidden by her Aunt from playing with her three cousins, finds a curtained window seat where she can read. Jane pages through a copy of the History of British Birds.
Jane has not been allowed to sit with her aunt and cousins after dinner - she is reading Berwick's History of British Birds behind the curtain when John discovers her.. Master John mistreats her, she is injured when she gets into a fight with him, Aunt Jane is called and Jane is sent to the red room.
Books provide Jane with an escape from her unhappy domestic situation. For Jane, each picture in Bewick's tale offers a story that sparks her keen imagination. But Jane also says that the book reminds her of the tales that Bessie, one of the Reeds' servants, sometimes tells on winter evenings.
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Volume I, Chapter 5 Summary: Four days after meeting Mr. Brocklehurst, Jane leaves Gateshead by the 6am coach for Lowood School. When she arrives at the school, she is taken into a dull, grey room for supper and then put to bed in a room filled with other girls.
