Very Short Summary
England, presumably the 1810s. Ten-year-old orphan Jane lived with her cruel aunt, Mrs. Reed, who mistreated her and allowed her cousin John to bully her. After a particularly harsh punishment in the red-room, Jane was sent to Lowood Institution, a charity school.
At Lowood, Jane endured harsh conditions but found friendship with Helen Burns, who died of consumption. After eight years as student and teacher, Jane took a position as governess at Thornfield Hall, where she met the enigmatic master of the house.
Jane and Rochester fell in love, despite their social differences and the mysterious occurrences at Thornfield, including strange laughter and a fire in Rochester's room. When Rochester proposed marriage, Jane accepted. However, during the wedding ceremony, she learned that Rochester was already married to Bertha Mason, a violent madwoman he kept locked in the attic. When confronted about his deception, Rochester pleaded with Jane to become his mistress.
Do you think I am an automaton? - a machine without feelings? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart!
Jane fled Thornfield and was taken in by the Rivers family, who turned out to be her cousins. She inherited a fortune from her uncle and shared it with them. St. John Rivers proposed marriage and missionary work in India, but Jane refused. Hearing Rochester's supernatural call, she returned to Thornfield to find it burned down by Bertha, who had died in the fire. Rochester was blinded and maimed trying to save his wife. Jane reunited with Rochester at his new home, Ferndean, where they married and had a son. Rochester partially regained sight in one eye, and they lived in mutual devotion.
Detailed Summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Childhood at Gateshead: Jane's Early Struggles
The story began with ten-year-old Jane Eyre living at Gateshead Hall with her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and three cousins. Excluded from family activities and treated with cruelty, Jane found solace in books until her cousin John Reed discovered her reading and struck her with a book, causing her to bleed. When Jane retaliated, Mrs. Reed punished her by confining her to the red-room, where her uncle had died.
In the red-room, Jane experienced intense fear and believed she saw her uncle's ghost. Her terror caused her to faint, and she was attended by Mr. Lloyd, an apothecary. During her recovery, Mr. Lloyd suggested to Mrs. Reed that Jane be sent to school. Shortly after, Mr. Brocklehurst, the manager of Lowood Institution, visited Gateshead. Mrs. Reed told him that Jane was deceitful, a charge that deeply wounded the child.
Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour... If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?
Education and Growth at Lowood School
At Lowood Institution, Jane faced harsh conditions including cold rooms, inadequate food, and strict discipline. Despite these hardships, she found friendship with Helen Burns, a fellow student who taught her about endurance and Christian forgiveness. Helen's deep religious faith and stoic acceptance of suffering profoundly influenced Jane.
A typhus epidemic swept through Lowood, claiming many lives including Helen's. Jane held her friend as she died peacefully of consumption. The public exposure of the school's poor conditions led to improvements in the institution's management. Jane spent eight years at Lowood, six as a student and two as a teacher. During this time, she developed her artistic and academic abilities under the guidance of Miss Temple, a kind superintendent who became her mentor and friend.
Life at Thornfield and Romance with Rochester
Ready for change, Jane secured a position as governess at Thornfield Hall. There she met Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper, and her pupil Adèle Varens, the ward of Mr. Rochester. Strange occurrences at Thornfield, including mysterious laughter and a fire in Mr. Rochester's room, created an atmosphere of unease.
When Mr. Rochester arrived at Thornfield, he and Jane developed a strong intellectual and emotional connection. Despite their different social positions, they engaged in deep conversations and shared a growing mutual attraction. Rochester tested Jane's feelings by pretending to court the beautiful but shallow Blanche Ingram, causing Jane considerable pain.
I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously arrived, green and strong!
Rochester eventually proposed to Jane, and she accepted. However, during their wedding ceremony, it was revealed that Rochester was already married to Bertha Mason, a violent madwoman kept in the attic of Thornfield. This explained the mysterious occurrences in the house. Rochester attempted to justify his actions by explaining how he was tricked into marrying Bertha in Jamaica and how her madness and depravity had destroyed his life.
I looked, and had an acute pleasure in looking, - a precious yet poignant pleasure; pure gold, with a steely point of agony: a pleasure like what the thirst-perishing man might feel who knows the well is poisoned.
The Failed Marriage and Flight
Despite Rochester's pleas and her own deep love for him, Jane chose to leave Thornfield. Her strong moral principles and self-respect would not allow her to become Rochester's mistress. In the middle of the night, with only a few possessions and little money, she fled Thornfield Hall.
I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you... I am not talking to you now through custom, conventionalities, nor even mortal flesh.
New Life with the Rivers Family
After wandering destitute on the moors, Jane was taken in by the Rivers family at Marsh End. She found new purpose as a village schoolmistress and formed close bonds with her cousins Diana and Mary Rivers. Their brother, St. John Rivers, a cold but dedicated clergyman, discovered Jane's true identity and revealed that she had inherited twenty thousand pounds from her uncle in Madeira. Jane shared her inheritance with her newfound cousins.
St. John proposed marriage to Jane, asking her to accompany him as a missionary's wife to India. Though tempted by the opportunity to serve a higher purpose, Jane recognized that marrying without love would destroy her. She refused his proposal, knowing that St. John sought a helper for his mission, not a true wife.
Return to Rochester and Marriage
One night, Jane heard Rochester's voice calling to her across the moors. Following this supernatural summons, she returned to Thornfield only to find it burned to the ground. She learned that Bertha had set the fire and died in the flames, while Rochester was maimed and blinded trying to save the servants and his wife. Jane found him living in seclusion at Ferndean Manor.
Reader, I married him. A quiet wedding we had: he and I, the parson and clerk, were alone present... I know no weariness of my Edward's society: he knows none of mine, any more than we each do of the pulsation of the heart.
Jane and Rochester married and lived together at Ferndean. Rochester partially regained sight in one eye, enough to see their firstborn son. Their marriage was one of true equality and deep love. Ten years later, Jane reflected on their happiness together, while noting that St. John, still unmarried, continued his missionary work in India, anticipating a heavenly reward for his earthly labors.
I have now been married ten years. I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest - blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine.