At Lowood Institution, Helen Burns is the voice of reason that tempers Jane’s passion. She is Jane’s first friend at school whose saintly nature and wisdom model the balance between the intellect and the passions. Helen, is another student at Lowood who endures constant struggles of her own. She is constantly chastised by her teacher Miss. Scatchered and gets punished publicly for things that she cannot control: “‘You dirty disagreeable girl! You have never cleaned your nails this morning.’ Burns made no answer: I wondered at her silence. ‘Why,’ thought I, ‘does she not explain that she could neither clean her nails nor wash her face as the water was frozen (57).’” Helen does not blame Miss. Scatchered for her suffering but rather herself: “I am, as Miss. Scatchered said slatternly; I seldom put, …show more content…
Helen also teaches Jane to practice self reflection so she may improve upon her flaws made apparent in an argument. The more Jane self-reflects, the more she will understand herself. When Jane truly understands herself she will then know that she does not need the validation of others to justify moral actions: “If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends (72).” Mr. Brocklehurst pays a visit to Lowood and publicly announces Jane’s corrupt nature as instructed by Mrs. Reed earlier. Despite being falsely and harshly accused, called “an interloper and an alien (69)” She maintains “perfect position of [her] wits (69)” showing that she has learned the lesson of temperance taught to her by Helen Burns. Jane experiences the gratifying feeling of forgiving the petty faults of a person for the sake of the larger picture: “What an extraordinary sensation that ray sent through me! How the new feeling bore me up! It was as if a martyr, a hero, has passed a slave of victim, and imparted