Jane Eyre
Mrs. Sarah Reed
Jane's cruel aunt
Jane's aunt, who took her in as a child and never let her feel welcome.
Mrs. Reed is the mistress of Gateshead Hall. She is cold, proud and hypocritical, an aunt who treats her orphaned niece as an unwelcome burden. She indulges her own three children and allows Jane to be bullied.
Her rule is simple: her children are right, and Jane is wrong. She has Jane locked in the red-room, calls her a liar in front of Mr. Brocklehurst, and refuses to hear her side. She is not a complicated villain, but she is the cause of much of Jane's early pain. She sees Jane as a burden her late husband left her and never forgives the child for it. Her pride in her family's standing leaves no room for warmth toward an orphan with nothing.
“How dare you speak to me in such a tone, Jane Eyre?!”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
After the quarrel with John, Mrs. Reed has Jane locked in the red-room and later, when Mr. Brocklehurst visits, labels her a liar with a wicked heart. Jane replies that she does not love her aunt and would not pretend to. Mrs. Reed answers with a furious outburst.
Years later Mrs. Reed is dying after a stroke, and her son John has died. She asks for Jane. She gives her a letter from her uncle John Eyre in Madeira, which she hid for years and answered by saying Jane was dead. Jane forgives her fully, and Mrs. Reed dies.
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