Jane Eyre Key Quotations wjec-eduqas 19th-Century-Prose

Jane Eyre: Key Quotations

The assessment objectives state that you should use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate your interpretations. Summarising, paraphrasing, referring to single words or plot events and quoting directly from the text are all equally valid ways of showing you understand Jane Eyre. That means you can demonstrate your knowledge of the novel by referring to it and quoting from it. 

Having a really thorough knowledge of Jane Eyre is the best way to give yourself as many options as possible in your response to the exam question. If you just memorise quotations, they may not “fit” the question on your exam paper. However, your deep knowledge and understanding of the novel will enable you to choose your references and quotations appropriately. 

The best way to approach revising quotations is to link them by theme or by character. Below you will find meanings and analysis of the most important quotations, linked by theme:

• Justice and injustice

• Social class

• Love and romance

• Personal growth

Justice and injustice

Jane Eyre’s story addresses ideas of justice and injustice. The ways in which others treat Jane are often unjust, but her sense of moral justice enables her to survive and find happiness.

“You are like a murderer — you are like a slave-driver — you are like the Roman emperors!” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 1

Meaning and context

• Jane is reacting to John Reed, who has just attacked her physically

Analysis

• John, the only son in the Reed family, bullies Jane constantly

• Jane is responding to John’s behaviour by comparing him to three figures who embody cruelty, oppression and injustice:

  • Murderers commit a crime by taking another person’s life

  • Slave-drivers commit injustice by owning and trading other human beings

  • Roman emperors like Nero and Caligula were renowned for their acts of cruelty and oppression

• By standing up to John, Jane shows her intolerance of injustice, even when she knows she will be punished for it

• Brontë is showing that the refusal to accept injustice is one of the fundamental aspects of Jane’s character

• Brontë is also illustrating the way that people with power can behave unjustly towards those without power

“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 12

Meaning and context

• Jane is reflecting on her situation and that of all women in her society

• She feels discontented and trapped in her position as Adèle’s governess

Analysis

• By showing Jane’s dissatisfaction, Brontë is illustrating unjust attitudes towards women’s abilities and strengths:

  • Jane notes that women need to use their minds just as much as men do, but are unable to do so

  • By referring to a “field for their efforts”, Jane is indicating the limited practical opportunities for women compared with men

Paired quotations

“Revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low” – Helen Burns, Chapter 6

“He is a good and a great man, but he forgets, pitilessly, the feelings and claims of little people, in pursuing his own large views” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 35

Meaning and context

• The first quotation is something that Helen Burns tells Jane to try and persuade her that it is better to accept the injustices in her life

• The second quotation is Jane’s explanation of why she is refusing to marry St John Rivers

Analysis

• These two quotations show the ways in which extreme religious views can lead to injustice, or the acceptance of injustice:

  • Helen Burns believes that her suffering is unimportant, because she will have her reward in the afterlife

  • St John’s religious zeal is stronger than his compassion for the feelings of others

• Brontë is showing that even the moral codes of Christianity can be warped into extreme self-denial, or cruelty and injustice: 

  • Jane’s rejection of Helen’s views illustrates Brontë’s certainty that people should never accept injustice, even in the context of religious belief

  • Jane’s comment about St John shows Brontë’s awareness that extreme religious beliefs can be cruel and disempowering for others

Social class

All of the events in Jane Eyre happen against a background of social class. Characters are aware of their position in the social hierarchy, which governs their freedom to act as they wish. 

Paired quotations

“Most things free-born will submit to anything for a salary” – Mr Rochester, Chapter 14

“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!” – Jane Eyre, Chapter 23

Meaning and context

• In the first quotation, Mr Rochester is responding to Jane’s refusal to accept insolence, just because she is his employee

• In the second quotation, Jane is telling Rochester why she will leave Thornfield when he marries Blanche Ingram

Analysis

• Rochester demonstrates the power of people in his social class over those of a lower social class:

  • He argues that money can buy anything, including obedience, even when it contradicts someone’s moral views

• Brontë is showing the cynicism and disregard with which people of Rochester’s class are able to treat those of lower social status, even if they are “free-born” (i.e. not slaves)

• Jane fights back against Rochester’s cruel disregard for her feelings:

  • Rochester is still pretending at this point that he intends to marry Blanche

  • He is trying to make Jane reveal her own feelings for him by making her jealous

• Jane’s anger towards Rochester demonstrates her belief that all human beings are equally entitled to respect

• Jane’s attitude illustrates Brontë’s belief that all human emotions are important, regardless of people’s social position:

  • Jane’s response represents Brontë’s view that personal merits are more important than class status

“I should wish her to be brought up in a manner suiting her prospects” – Mrs Reed, Chapter 4

Meaning and context

• Mrs Reed is explaining to Mr Brocklehurst why she wishes Jane to be educated at Lowood school

Analysis

• Jane’s “prospects”, or life choices, are very limited:

  • As an orphan with no money, Jane will have to work or marry in order to survive

  • Mrs Reed could educate Jane along with her own daughters, but chooses not to

• Brontë is illustrating the extremely limited options for someone of Jane’s social class: 

  • She is also demonstrating the way in which upper-class characters like Mrs Reed can exercise their power over those with very low social status, like Jane

“Mary and I have had, I should think, a dozen at least in our day; half of them detes