How does Jane Eyre end?

Jane returns to Thornfield to find it burned, and learns Rochester is blind and living at Ferndean. She goes to him and they marry. Two years later he regains sight in one eye and sees their first son.

What is Rochester's secret in Jane Eyre?

He is already married. His wife, Bertha Mason, has lost her reason and is kept in the third-floor rooms at Thornfield.

Do Jane and Rochester end up together?

Yes. They marry quietly at the parish church of Hay after Jane returns, and she writes that they live in equal partnership.

When and where is Jane Eyre set?

It is set in nineteenth-century England, at Gateshead Hall, Lowood School, Thornfield Hall, Moor House and Ferndean Manor.

Who is St. John Rivers?

He is Jane's cousin and a clergyman who takes her in. He asks her to marry him and go to India, but she refuses.

Story summary

Jane Eyre summary

An orphaned governess falls in love with her brooding employer at Thornfield Hall, and discovers a secret that forces her to choose between love and her principles.

Jane Eyre is Charlotte Bronte's novel of a young woman who has to make her own way in the world, retold here as a full-color graphic novel. It follows Jane from a lonely childhood at Gateshead Hall, through the harsh Lowood School, to Thornfield Hall, where she is governess to Mr. Rochester's ward, Adèle.

It is a story about independence, conscience and love between equals, with a touch of Gothic mystery in the strange laughs and midnight fires of Thornfield. It will suit readers who like classic romance, strong heroines and a good secret.

Main characters

The plot

Spoilers from here on, including the ending.

Gateshead and the red-room

Jane is an orphan living with her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her cousins. After John Reed throws a book at her and she fights back, she is locked in the haunted red-room. A kind apothecary suggests school, and when Mr. Brocklehurst visits, Mrs. Reed calls Jane a liar. Jane tells her aunt exactly what she thinks, and leaves for Lowood.

Lowood School

Lowood is cold and hungry. Mr. Brocklehurst shames Jane in front of the school, but Miss Temple clears her name. Jane's friend Helen Burns teaches her patience, and when a fever sweeps the school Helen dies in her arms. Jane stays eight years, becomes a teacher, and when Miss Temple marries and leaves, she advertises for a post as governess.

Thornfield Hall

At Thornfield, Jane teaches Adèle, meets the kind housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax, and hears a strange laugh from the third floor. She helps a rider whose horse has slipped on the ice, and learns he is her employer, Mr. Rochester. Their talks grow close. After she saves him from a fire in his bed, he leaves for a house party with Blanche Ingram.

When a visitor named Richard Mason arrives, Rochester is shaken, and in the night Mason is wounded in the attic. Jane tends him and is told to say nothing.

The proposal and the wedding

Called to Gateshead, Jane forgives the dying Mrs. Reed and learns of an uncle in Madeira. Back at Thornfield she tells Rochester she has as much soul as he, and he proposes. Two nights before the wedding, a figure in white tears her veil.

At the church, the wedding is halted: Rochester already has a wife, Bertha Mason, who lives in the attic. He begs Jane to go with him to France, but she refuses and leaves at dawn.

Moor House

Penniless on the moors, Jane is turned away by villagers and collapses near Moor House, where St. John Rivers and his sisters take her in. She becomes a village schoolmistress under the name Jane Elliott. St. John discovers her real name, and she learns that her uncle has died and left her a fortune, and that the Riverses are her cousins. She splits it four ways.

St. John asks her to marry him and go to India. As she wavers, she hears a voice calling her name, and she refuses.

Ferndean

Jane returns to find Thornfield burned to a shell. Bertha set the fire and died, and Rochester, blinded and maimed trying to save others, lives at Ferndean. Jane finds him, and they marry. Two years later he regains sight in one eye and sees their first son. St. John, unmarried, labors on in India.

Themes

Independence and equality: Jane insists on being treated as an equal, whether by her aunt, her employer or her cousin. She will not be a dressed-up doll, and she returns to Rochester only when she is an independent woman.
Conscience over passion: Jane loves Rochester but refuses to live with him against the law. She also refuses to marry St. John without love. The story respects both her feelings and her principles.
Cruelty and kindness: Hypocrites such as Mrs. Reed and Mr. Brocklehurst are set against people like Bessie, Miss Temple and Helen. Jane learns who is truly good.
Secrets and truth: Thornfield is full of secrets, from the laugh to the fire, and Jane lives by telling the truth, even when it is costly.

Questions about Jane Eyre

How does Jane Eyre end?: Jane returns to Thornfield to find it burned, and learns Rochester is blind and living at Ferndean. She goes to him and they marry. Two years later he regains sight in one eye and sees their first son.
What is Rochester's secret in Jane Eyre?: He is already married. His wife, Bertha Mason, has lost her reason and is kept in the third-floor rooms at Thornfield.
Do Jane and Rochester end up together?: Yes. They marry quietly at the parish church of Hay after Jane returns, and she writes that they live in equal partnership.
When and where is Jane Eyre set?: It is set in nineteenth-century England, at Gateshead Hall, Lowood School, Thornfield Hall, Moor House and Ferndean Manor.
Who is St. John Rivers?: He is Jane's cousin and a clergyman who takes her in. He asks her to marry him and go to India, but she refuses.