The story of Jane Eyre is set in England during the 19th century. The book itself has a very optimistic mood because of the fact that Jane comes from a very limiting background and is still able to find her place in the world. The exposition of the story begins at Gateshead with Jane, the main character, and her family, all minor characters, when Jane is still a young girl. Jane lives with her aunt and cousins because her uncle had taken her in when her parents die. Jane’s cousins and aunt torment Jane to the point of tears on a daily basis and she despises living there. One day, her cousin John Reed, who is a minor character in the story, hits Jane and Jane loses her temper. This causes Jane’s aunt to lock her in the room her uncle died in …show more content…
Helen Burns dies from consumption around the same time. After the sickness breaks out, the school comes under the control of another party and the conditions at the school are improved significantly. After a few years, Jane becomes a teacher at the school. Eventually she gets restless, and decides to advertise to become a governess with a family. When Jane gets a reply, it is from a Mrs. Fairfax that wishes for her to be the governess of young girl under her care; this is an inciting incident. Once Jane accepts and moves to Thornfield, she is told that Mrs. Fairfax is not the owner of the great estate, but rather Mr. Rochester, a major character, is. Mr. Rochester soons returns home and Jane is able to interact with him more. As time goes on and the action of the story rises, Jane finds herself falling in love with Rochester. There are a number of obstacles in the way of this, namely the fortune and class of Jane and Rochester. Jane’s thoughts on the matter create a theme of social class and wealth being of utmost importance in marriages during the …show more content…
man conflict because it makes Jane bitter to know that Miss Ingram is better suited for Rochester and will most likely become his wife in a short amount of time. During this time, Jane receives word that her aunt is very ill and has sent for her. This just adds to the continuing rise of action. Jane immediately goes to her aunt, and as her aunt gets closer to her time of passing, Jane learns that a relative of hers inquired about adopting Jane a few years before because Jane was to inherit a fortune. Her aunt had never told her. Jane finds it in herself to forgive her aunt and begin building a relationship with her cousins. After Jane’s aunt passes away, Jane returns to Thornfield. Upon her return, she learns that Rochester is in preparation for an upcoming marriage between him and another. Jane automatically assumes that his has decided to marry Miss Ingram. After getting into a slight argument with Rochester, Jane receives a request for marriage from him. She happily accepts his proposal and the two begin to plan their wedding. This becomes the turning point of the novel. Unfortunately, a few odd things begin happening around Thornfield. The tree under which Rochester decided to propose to Jane gets struck by lightning, and Jane seems to take this as a bad