Summary of “Jane Eyre” by Brontë in Chapters

Main characters of the novel

Main characters:

Jane Eyre is an orphan, purposeful, honest and kind girl.
Mr. Rochester is a proud, capricious and stern man, a rich and noble gentleman.

Other characters:

Mrs. Reed is Jane's aunt who gave her to an orphanage.
Eliza, John and Georgiana are Mrs. Reed's children.
Miss Temple is the headmistress of Lowood, a kind, compassionate young woman.
Mr. Brocklehurst is one of the trustees of Lowood, a cruel and greedy man.
Helen Burns is Jane's best friend at Lowood School.
Adele Varens is Mr. Rochester's pupil.
Mrs. Fairfax is Mr. Rochester's housekeeper, a kind, caring woman.
Blanche Ingram is an arrogant beauty, the main contender for the heart and fortune of Mr. Rochester.
Bertha Rochester is Mr. Rochester's crazy wife.
Grace Poole is mad Bertha's nurse.
St. John, Mary and Diana are Jane Eyre's closest relatives.

Lowood Asylum and the Lucky Ticket (Chapters 5−10)

The new school turned out to be a very inhospitable, gloomy place. It can be described as follows:

the pupils were dressed and combed the same way;
the food was served very meagerly;
the room was poorly heated;
the teachers were rude and angry.

For Jane, all these hardships were not a burden; thanks to her studies at school, she received a lucky ticket for her future independent life. At Lowood she met Helen Burns, with whom she soon became close friends. Headmistress Miss Temple was one of the few who also supported the girl in difficult situations.

With the arrival of spring, disaster came knocking at the shelter - a typhus epidemic. More than half of the girls fell ill, since their bodies were severely weakened by poor nutrition and frequent colds; many were unable to recover. At the same time, her best friend Helen dies from consumption, which she had been ill with for a long time. After everything that happened, the sole manager, Mr. Brocklehurst, is removed from work, and conditions in the shelter become much better.

Jane, after six years of studying at Lowood School, still has two years left as a teacher. Soon her mentor Miss Temple marries a priest and leaves the walls of the orphanage. The main character realizes that there is nothing keeping her within the walls of the school anymore, and she has a strong desire to change something in her life.

With the help of an advertisement in the newspaper, she finds a job as a governess for the nine-year-old daughter of the owner of the rich Thornfield estate.

Bronte's "Jane Eyre" very briefly

Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" summary for a reader's diary:

Jane Eyre is an orphan who spent her childhood on the estate of her aunt Mrs. Reed. Aunt and her children did not like Jane because she was poor. They constantly humiliated the poor girl and when she had a nervous breakdown, it was decided to send the girl to Lowood School.

This school was not the best place, but for Jane, deprived of affection and love, it became her refuge for a long time. The school principal, Miss Temple, had the greatest influence on the girl. It was thanks to her influence that Jane Eyre decided to become a teacher. But, after being in this position for two years, the girl decides to become a governess and places an advertisement that she is looking for a position. She was offered a job at Thornfield Manor.

At this estate she is met by the housekeeper, Miss Fairfax, who explains that she was hired for the ward of the owner of Mr. Rochester’s estate, Adele. Later it turns out that this is the daughter of the owner and his mistress, who ran away, leaving her daughter and Mr. Rochester.

The owner frightened Jane; she could not fully understand his character. She was also frightened by strange things in the house: someone lived in the room upstairs, about whom no one told her anything.

Gradually, getting to know Mr. Rochester more and more, Jane becomes imbued with respect and love for him. The feeling turns out to be mutual, and he proposes to the girl. In the midst of the wedding ceremony, a man enters who says that Mr. Rochester cannot marry because he already has a wife.

The groom tells Jane that he was tricked into marrying a girl who turned out to be crazy. She was the one who lived upstairs because Mr. Rochester could not leave his wife. Jane decides to leave Thornfield.

The girl had a hard time - she almost died from hunger and cold, but the young priest of St. John's Rivers saved her, settling her in his house, in which he lived with two sisters. St. John was the complete opposite of Mr. Rochester. He wanted to go to India to become a missionary.

After seeing Jane working at a rural school, he invites her to leave with him, but she refuses. It is accidentally discovered that Jane's uncle, having been trying to find her for many years, left her a fortune. And he was also Uncle Rivers and his sisters. Thus, Jane found relatives with whom she wanted to share her wealth.

But the girl could not forget about Mr. Rochester and decided to go to Thornfield. But, having arrived there, she finds out that Rochester’s crazy wife started a fire in which she died, and the owner himself lives in another estate.

Jane went there to see her beloved and found out that due to the fire he had gone blind. She decided to stay with him to support him in everything. After some time, Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester got married and later, Mr. Rochester's sight began to return, which made them even happier.

The mystery of the estate and dashed hopes (chapters 26−27)

On the wedding day, the lovers woke up early in the morning and headed to church. At home, their suitcases were already packed for their trip to London. At the moment of the ceremony, Mr. Rochester's terrible secret was revealed, and the wedding had to be called off.

When the priest was ready to tie their knot in marriage, an unknown man made a statement that the groom already had a wife and he could not marry a second time. Edward admitted that in his youth he was matched with a rich bride named Bertha, but withheld information about the lady's predisposition to madness. Immediately after the wedding, the disease began to progress, and the woman turned into an uncontrollable monster who had to be locked in the estate. Despite all the pleas of her beloved, Jane decided to leave Thornfield.

Condensed retelling of Jane Eyre

"Jane Eyre" Brontë summary:

Jane Eyre lost her parents at an early age and now lived with her aunt, Mrs. Reed. Her life was not sugar. The fact is that Mrs. Reed was not her own aunt, but only the widow of her mother’s brother. She had the lowest opinion of the girl’s parents, and how could it be otherwise, since Jane’s mother, coming from a good family, married a priest who did not have a penny to his name.

On her father's side, they told Jane, she had no relatives left, and if there were any left, they were not gentlemen - people were poor and poorly brought up, so it was not worth talking about them.

The family - Mrs. Reed herself, her children John, Eliza and Georgiana, and even the servants - all hourly made it clear to the orphan that she was not like everyone else, that they kept her here only out of great mercy. Unanimously, everyone considered Jane an evil, deceitful, spoiled girl, which was completely untrue. On the contrary, the young Reeds were evil and deceitful, who (especially John) loved to harass Jane, pick quarrels with her, and then make her feel guilty for everything.

Once, after one of these quarrels, which ended in a brawl with John, Jane, as punishment, was locked in the Red Room, the most mysterious and terrible in Gateshead Hall - Mr. Reed breathed his last in it. From fear of seeing his ghost, the poor girl lost consciousness, and then she developed a fever, from which she could not recover for a long time.

Not feeling the desire to bother with a sickly and such a bad girl, Mrs. Reed decided that the time had come to send Jane to school.

The school, which became Jane’s home for many years, was called Lowood and was an unpleasant place, and upon closer examination it turned out to be an orphanage. But Jane did not have a warm home left in her past, and therefore she was not too worried about finding herself in this dark and cold place.

The girls here wore the same dresses and had the same hairstyles, everything was done on call, the food was very bad and meager, the teachers were rude and soulless, the pupils were downtrodden, sad and embittered.

Among the teachers, the exception was the headmistress Miss Temple: she had enough warmth in her soul to bestow it on disadvantaged girls. Among the pupils, there was also one who was unlike the others, and Jane became close friends with her. This girl's name was Helen Burns. During the months of friendship with Helen, Jane learned and understood a lot, and the main thing is that God is not a formidable overseer of bad children, but a loving Heavenly Father.

Jane Eyre spent eight years at Lowood: six as a pupil, two as a teacher.

One fine day, eighteen-year-old Jane suddenly realized with all her being that she could no longer stay in Lowood. She saw the only way to get out of school - to find a position as a governess. Jane advertised in the newspaper and some time later received an attractive invitation to the Thornfield estate.

In Thornfield she was met by a pleasant-looking elderly lady, the housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax, who explained to Jane that her student would be Miss Adele, the ward of the owner of the estate, Mr. Edward Rochester (as Jane later learned, the daughter of Rochester’s mistress, a French singer who abandoned first her lover, and then Adele). Mr. Rochester himself visited Thornfield only on rare, sudden visits, spending most of his time somewhere on the continent.

The atmosphere at Thornfield was nothing compared to the one in which Jane had spent the previous eight years. Everything here promised her a pleasant, storm-free life, despite the fact that some kind of secret was obviously hidden in the house: sometimes strange things happened at night, inhuman laughter was heard...

Still, at times the girl was overcome by a feeling of melancholy and loneliness. Finally, as always unexpectedly, Mr. Rochester showed up in Thornfield. Strongly built, broad-shouldered, dark-skinned, with stern, irregular facial features, he was by no means handsome, which circumstance in the depths of her soul pleased Jane, who was sure that no handsome man would ever honor her, a gray mouse, with a bit of attention.

A deep mutual sympathy arose almost immediately between Jane and Rochester, which they both carefully concealed. she - for the cool respectfulness, he - for the rudely good-natured mockery of the tone.

Jane had to experience the pangs of jealousy, although she herself did not admit it, when Rochester, of all the society ladies visiting Thornfield, began to give emphasis to a certain Miss Blanche, a beauty who, in Jane’s opinion, was unnatural to the core. There were even rumors about an imminent wedding.

Jane was focused on sad thoughts about where she would go when Rochester brought a young wife into the house and Adele was sent to school. But then, unexpectedly, Edward Rochester revealed his feelings and proposed not to Blanche, but to her, Jane. Jane joyfully agreed, thanking God, for she had long loved Edward with all her soul. They decided to have the wedding in a month.

This month flew by like one day with pleasant chores. And now Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester stand before the altar. The priest was just about to declare them husband and wife, when suddenly a man stepped into the middle of the church and declared that the marriage could not be concluded, since Rochester already had a wife. Killed on the spot, he did not argue. Everyone left the church in confusion.

To justify himself, Edward revealed to the failed Mrs. Rochester the so carefully guarded secret of his life.

In his youth, he found himself in a very difficult financial situation because his father, in order to avoid fragmentation of his estates, bequeathed everything to his older brother. Not wanting, however, to leave his youngest son beggar, he betrothed Edward, then still a beardless, inexperienced youth, to a rich bride from the West Indies.

At the same time, they hid from Edward that Bertha had insane and binge drunks in her family. After the wedding, bad heredity was not slow in affecting her; very soon she completely lost her human appearance, turning into a soulless, evil animal.

He had no choice but to hide Bertha under reliable supervision in his family nest - both Edward’s father and brother had died by this time - and live the life of a young, wealthy bachelor himself. It was his wife’s laughter that was heard at night in Thornfield, it was she who, breaking out of seclusion, somehow almost burned the sleeping inhabitants of the house, and on the night before the wedding of Jane and Edward, a terrible ghost appeared in the bride’s bedroom and tore the veil.

Even though Jane could not be his wife, Rochester begged her to stay with him, because they loved each other... Jane was adamant: she should leave Thornfield as soon as possible, so as not to succumb to temptation.

Early in the morning, almost completely without money or luggage, she boarded a stagecoach heading north and went, not knowing where. Two days later, the coachman dropped Jane off at some crossroads among the endless wastelands, since she had no money to go further.

The poor thing miraculously did not die from hunger and cold, wandering through unfamiliar wild places. She held on with all her strength, but when they left her, she fell unconscious at the door of the house, into which the cautious servant did not let her in.

Jane was picked up by the local priest, St. John Rivers, who lived in the house with his two sisters, Diana and Mary. These were kind, beautiful, educated people. Jane immediately liked them, and they liked her, but out of caution, the girl gave her fictitious name rather than her real name and did not talk about her past.

St. John's appearance was the complete opposite of Rochester: he was tall, blond, with the figure and face of Apollo; His eyes shone with extraordinary inspiration and determination. Rosamund, the beautiful daughter of the richest man in the area, was in love with St. John.

He also had a strong feeling for her, which, however, he drove away from himself in every possible way, considering it low and unworthy of his high destiny - to bring the light of the Gospel to the pagans languishing in darkness. St. John was going to go as a missionary to India, but first he needed to acquire a companion and assistant in his life’s feat.

Jane, in his opinion, was the best suited for this role, and St. John asked her to become his wife. Love, as Jane knew and understood it, was out of the question here, and therefore she resolutely refused the young priest, expressing at the same time her readiness to follow him as a sister and assistant. This option was unacceptable for a clergyman.

Jane with great pleasure devoted all her energy to teaching at a rural school, opened with the help of St. John with the money of local wealthy people. One fine day, the priest came to her after school and began to tell the story... of her own life! Jane was greatly perplexed, but the story that followed put everything in its unexpected place.

Having accidentally learned Jane's real surname, St. John suspected something: of course, it coincided with the surname of his late parent. He made inquiries and became convinced that Jane’s father was the brother of his mother, Mary and Diana, who also had a second brother, John Eyre, who had become rich in Madeira and several years ago unsuccessfully tried to find his niece, Jane Eyre.

When he died, it was to her that he bequeathed his entire fortune - as much as twenty thousand pounds. So, overnight, Jane became rich and acquired two lovely cousins. In her generosity, she violated the will of her late uncle and insisted that the fabulous inheritance be divided equally among her nephews.

No matter how well she lived with her newfound relatives, no matter how much she loved her school, one person controlled her thoughts, and therefore, before entering a new period of life, Jane could not help but visit Thornfield. How amazed she was when, instead of a majestic house, she saw charred ruins.

Jane turned to the village innkeeper with questions, and he said that the culprit of the fire was Rochester's insane wife, who died in the flames. Rochester tried to save her, but he himself was crushed by the collapsing roof; As a result, he lost his right hand and was completely blind. Now the owner of Thornfield lived on his other estate nearby. Jane hurried there without wasting any time.

Physically, Edward had not given up at all in the year that had passed since Jane's disappearance, but his face bore the deep imprint of the suffering he had endured. Jane happily became the eyes and hands of the person most dear to her, with whom she was henceforth inseparable.

A little time passed, and tender friends decided to become husband and wife. Two years after his marriage, Edward Rochester's sight began to return; this only added happiness to the already happy couple. Diana and Mary also happily married, and only St. John was destined to accomplish the feat of spiritual enlightenment of the pagans in severe solitude.

The plot of the novel "Jane Eyre" chapter by chapter

A summary of Bronte's Jane Eyre with a description of each chapter:

Chapters 1–4

In Mrs. Reed's house, Jane was raised as an orphan. Having a straightforward character, she did not get along with Mrs. Reed's children - Eliza, John and Georgiana - and often spent time alone.

New job and falling in love (chapters 11−25)

The eighteen-year-old girl was warmly greeted by the elderly housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax. It was difficult to see the owner of the estate, Mr. Rochester, at home; he spent most of his time on the continent. Jane met her student Adele - a wayward, spoiled, but charming girl. She was not the natural daughter of the owner of Thornfield, but ended up in his care after her French mother, Rochester's mistress, abandoned her daughter .

In the new place, the life of the main character has changed a lot, it has become calm and measured. She really liked her new job, but only one fact alarmed her: sometimes inhuman laughter could be heard in the house, frightening the girl. Housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax said that it was their seamstress Grace Poole who was misbehaving because she had too much whiskey in the evening.

One day, while walking in the forest, she helped a man who had fallen from his horse, who turned out to be Mr. Edward Rochester. Despite the assistance provided, the owner of the estate was not friendly with Jane in the evening and asked many provocative questions .

He was not handsome in appearance, had a complex character, and was gloomy, but despite this, the girl fell in love with him. Mr. Rochester looked closely at her for a long time, but did not reveal his feelings, which also arose in him after their first meeting. She had already begun to think about changing jobs in order to avoid the torment of unrequited love, but then unexpectedly Edward proposed to her.

Before the wedding, Jane told her future husband that at night she saw a strange woman in her room, who cut her veil. But Edward hastened to reassure her, saying that Grace Poole was there again.