Jane Eyre: Plot Summary (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Being completely familiar with the plot of Jane Eyre is one of the most helpful things you can do to prepare for the exam. Once you know the order of the key events in Jane’s life, you can link them to Brontë’s ideas more confidently. Having an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the text will enable you to find the most relevant references to support your response. 

Below you will find:

• a general overview of the whole novel
• detailed summaries by phase

Jane Eyre is an 1847 novel by English author Charlotte Brontë. It tells the life story of its protagonist, Jane Eyre, over a period of ten years. The novel is written in the form of a fictional autobiography.  

The novel begins at Gateshead Hall, where Jane, an orphan, lives with her aunt, Mrs Reed, and her cousins John, Georgiana and Eliza. Following a violent fight with her cousin John, Jane is sent away to Lowood, a charity school. Jane suffers physically and emotionally under the cruel regime at Lowood. Her friendships with Helen Burns and Miss Temple help her to overcome these challenges, and she spends her final two years at Lowood as a teacher.

Following Miss Temple’s departure from Lowood, Jane seeks employment as a governess. She finds work at Thornfield Hall, where she is governess to Adèle Varens, the ward of Thornfield’s owner, Edward Rochester. Jane and Rochester fall in love and Rochester asks Jane to marry him. On their wedding day, Jane finds out that Rochester already has a wife, Bertha Mason, a lunatic who he has been kept confined in the attic at Thornfield.  

Fleeing Thornfield, homeless and penniless, Jane is taken in by the Rivers family. St John Rivers, a devout clergyman, finds her a job as a village schoolteacher. Jane discovers that her uncle, John Eyre, has died and left her a fortune. St John asks her to marry him and join him as a missionary in India. She refuses, because she still loves Rochester. 

Returning to Thornfield, Jane finds out that the Hall has been destroyed in a fire, in which Bertha has died. Rochester has suffered injuries that have left him blind. Jane is reunited with Rochester at Ferndean and marries him. 

The 38 chapters of Jane Eyre cover five distinct stages, or phases, of Jane’s life. Each phase is set in a different location and is covered in a range of chapters. 

Phase One (Chapters 1 to 4): Gateshead Hall

• Jane is hiding from her cousin John, a violent bully 
• When John attacks Jane, she defends herself 
• As a punishment, she is locked in the red-room overnight 
• The red-room is where Mr Reed, Jane’s uncle, died, and is reputed to be haunted
• Jane is so terrified at being locked in the dark that she has a “fit” and is ill for several days
• Jane finds out that Mrs Reed plans to send her away to school
• Jane is happy to leave Gateshead because she is unloved and excluded from the family
• Mr Brocklehurst, the manager of Lowood, a charity school, visits Gateshead
• Mrs Reed states that Jane is a liar, which is untrue, and Jane is furious at this injustice
• Before Jane leaves Gateshead, she tells her aunt that she will always remember her cruelty and injustice towards her
• At ten years old, Jane travels the 50 miles south from Gateshead to Lowood by coach, alone 

Phase Two (Chapters 5 to 9): Lowood School

• On her arrival at Lowood in January, Jane quickly realises that conditions for the pupils are extremely harsh
• The girls at Lowood have inadequate food and clothing, so they are starving and freezing throughout the winter months
• Jane makes friends with Helen Burns, who is both kind and extremely religious
• Miss Temple, the superintendent at Lowood, is the only person, apart from Helen, to show Jane any kindness
• When Mr Brocklehurst visits, he orders all the pupils’ long hair to be cut short, to prevent them becoming vain
• Mr Brocklehurst’s wife and daughters are dressed in luxurious clothes, with fashionably curled hair, making his hypocrisy clear
• It is also obvious that the money donated to the school is being misappropriated by Mr Brocklehurst
• Mr Brocklehurst humiliates Jane by calling her a liar in front of the entire school
• Miss Temple investigates and publicly clears Jane of the charge of lying
• The following spring, the school suffers an outbreak of typhus, and many children die
• Helen’s persistent cough is a symptom of “consumption” (tuberculosis) and she also dies, with Jane at her side
• The deaths at Lowood cause a scandal, so the school is relocated and Mr Brocklehurst’s role is taken over by a committee
• Conditions at the school improve dramatically, and Jane starts to thrive
• Jane spends the final two years of her eight years at Lowood as a teacher
• Miss Temple becomes a valued friend and Jane starts to feel happy and settled
• When Miss Temple leaves Lowood to get married, Jane decides to search for a job
• Jane puts an advertisement in the newspaper, which is answered by Mrs Fairfax, who offers her a job as a governess
• Jane leaves Lowood for Thornfield Hall, 50 miles further south

Phase Three (Chapters 10 to 27): Thornfield Hall

• Jane discovers that Mr Rochester, not Mrs Fairfax, is the owner of Thornfield, but does not live there
• Jane becomes governess to Adèle, Mr Rochester’s ward
• At first, Jane is glad to be in such a comfortable situation, but soon starts to feel stifled by its limitations
• In the corridor on the third floor, Jane hears an uncanny laugh from one of the rooms, which Mrs Fairfax explains is a servant, Grace Poole
• After three months, Jane finally meets Mr Rochester
• Mr Rochester remains at Thornfield and starts to spend time talking to Jane
• Rochester’s conversations with Jane become more personal and revealing, and he hints at something terrible that happened when he was a much younger man
• One night, Jane is woken by a “demoniac" laugh outside her door, finds Rochester’s room on fire, and saves his life
• Jane realises she loves Rochester and considers leaving Thornfield
• A group of Rochester’s friends arrive at Thornfield, including Blanche Ingram, who Jane believes he intends to marry
• Richard Mason arrives from Jamaica and is injured mysteriously, Jane believes by Grace Poole
• Jane receives the news that John Reed has died, and that Mrs Reed is dying and insisting on seeing her
• On visiting Gateshead, Jane discovers that her uncle, John Eyre, had written to Mrs Reed wishing to adopt Jane three years previously, but that Mrs Reed had never told Jane of the letter
• When Jane returns to Thornfield, Rochester asks her to marry him and she accepts
• The night before her wedding, Jane is woken by a strange, terrifying figure in her room, who tears her wedding veil in two
• Jane’s wedding ceremony is interrupted by a solicitor, Mr Briggs, and Richard Mason, Bertha’s brother, who inform everyone that Rochester is already married and that his wife is still alive
• Jane cannot bring herself to stay with Mr Rochester as his mistress, and she runs away before dawn the following morning

Phase Four (Chapters 28 to 35): Moor House

• After spending her last money on a coach, Jane wanders, penniless and starving, for three days, then collapses at the door of Moor House
• She is taken in by St John, Mary and Diana Rivers, who care for her and become close friends
• St John finds a job for Jane in the village of Morton, where she is the village schoolteacher
• The Rivers family find out that their uncle John has died, leaving his fortune to a cousin
• St John visits Jane to tell her that the solicitor, Briggs, has been searching for her to tell her that her uncle, John Eyre, has died and left her a fortune of £20,000
• Jane discovers that the Rivers siblings are her cousins; their uncle John is John Eyre
• Jane resolves to share her fortune equally between herself and the three Rivers siblings and to live at Moor House with them
• St John puts pressure on Jane to marry him and join him as a missionary in India, although they do not love each other (he is in love with Rosamund Oliver and Jane still loves Rochester)
• Jane almost accepts St John’s proposal, but she thinks she hears Rochester calling her name and instead decides to leave Moor House

Phase Five (Chapters 36 to 38): Ferndean Manor

• Jane returns to Thornfield Hall to find it was destroyed in a fire two months after she left
• The fire was caused by Bertha Mason, who jumped off the roof to her death
• Rochester survived the fire, but was injured and lost his sight and one hand
• Jane is reunited with Rochester and marries him 
• They live happily at Ferndean, Rochester’s manor house
• Rochester gradually recovers his sight sufficiently to see his first child