In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, eponymous character struggles to become a Victorian lady, adopting class attitudes and triumph over Blanche Ingram, a woman who is regarded as a Victorian lady but who lacks Victorian morals. The struggle between Jane and Blanche’s perfection is first illustrated when upon hearing about Blanche’s beauty Jane decides that she is inferior to Blanche and that Mr. Rochester could never love her. To prove that Blanche is better than she, Jane paint to portraits, one of herself in an ugly light, and one of Blanche in a beautiful light so that she will “take out these two pictures and compare them: say, ‘Mr. Rochester might probably win that noble lady’s love, if he chose to strive for it; is it likely he would …show more content…
Through painting the two pictures, Jane struggles to see herself as inferior to Blanche and undeserving of Rochester’s love; she struggles to adopt Victorian class attitudes and accept that she will never triumph over Blanche. Despite her initial struggle with the idea of Blanche, upon meeting Blanche, Jane realizes that while socially inferior to Blanche, she has better Victorian morals than Blanche will ever have. Blanche’s lack of proper morals is demonstrated when, in the drawing room, she calls governesses “a nuisance” and describing how she tortured the governesses of her youth (180). In this display, Blanche’s true colors are revealed and her lack of proper, Victorian morals comes to light, as a true Victorian lady would not insult anyone, especially not when they were in the room. In contrast, Jane’s morals are upright and a point of superiority over Blanche, allowing her to defeat Blanche and win Mr. Rochester’s affections because Mr. Rochester cares more for the mind than for the body. Jane’s perfect ethics are divulged when she accepts Adele despite her parent’s flaws saying, “Adele is not answerable for her either her mother’s faults or [Rochester’s]… [Jane] shall cling closer to her than before”