Charlotte Brontë has been called the "first historian of the private consciousness" and the literary ancestor of writers like Proust and Joyce.

The novel revolutionized prose fiction in that the focus on Jane's moral and spiritual development is told through an intimate, first-person narrative.

When the novel begins, she is an isolated, powerless ten-year-old living with an aunt and cousins who dislike her.

Jane's parents died from typhus, which Jane's father contracted while caring for the poor. The disease is characterized by a purple rash, headaches, fever, and usually delirium.

During the wedding ceremony, it is revealed that he is already married. Mr. Rochester admits this is true but explains that his father tricked him into the marriage for the woman's money. Once they were united, he discovered that she was rapidly descending into congenital madness, and he eventually locked her away.

One day, as punishment for defending herself against her cousin John Reed, Jane is relegated to the red room in which her late uncle has died; there, she faints from panic after she thinks she has seen his ghost.

Mr. Rochester's faithful companion, Pilot is first introduced in Chapter 12, when Jane sees him against the backdrop of the wild and windswept moor where she also meets Mr. Rochester for the first time.

Mrs. Reed cautions Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane has a "tendency for deceit". He later announces to the whole Lowood School that she is a "liar".

During a school inspection by Mr. Brocklehurst, Jane accidentally breaks her slate, thereby drawing attention to herself. He then stands her on a stool and shames her before the entire assembly.

Jane's best friend at Lowood School, Helen refuses to hate those who abuse her, trusts in God, and prays for peace one day in heaven. She dies of consumption in Jane's arms.