CLASS IN DETAILSHow do we read the interpretation

of class in small details in Jane Eyre?

3 women, 3 classes, 3 morals

Blanche Ingram

“Blanche was straight and tall as poplars and molded like a Dian (Italian Goddess). She had the noblest bust, the sloping shoulders, the graceful neck, the dark eyes and black ringlets were all there:- but her face? Her face was like her mother’s; a youthful unfurrowed likeness: the same low brow, the same high features, the same pride. She laughed continually; her laugh was satirical, and so was the habitual expression of her arched and haughty lip. She was a puppet.”

On Class By. James Eli Adams

In Bronte’s novel, an aristocratic order that locates value in wealth finds its expression in Blanche Ingram: beautiful, elegant, theatrical, and disdainful of all outside her sphere, she incarnates aristocratic luxury and display in her very body.

Bertha Rochester

“A figure ran backwards and forwards. What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight tell: it groveled seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some wild animal: but it was covered with clothing, and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face…the clothed hyena rose up on its two hind legs. The maniac parted its hair and I recognized that purple face and bloated features…She was a big woman, in stature almost equaling her husband…She spent her time trying to drag me to the bedroom.

On Class By. James Eli Adams

Yet in the novel poor women, like their male counterparts, also frequently embody a failure a failure of middle-class discipline that reinforces stark boundaries. As male violence or drunkenness exiles a character from bourgeois (middle class) standing, so too does it illicit female sexuality.

Jane Eyre

She was a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one cannot care for such a little toad like that…Little darling!- with her curls and her blue eyes, and a such a sweet color as she has; just as if she were painted! She was famous for her plainness and she naturally conformed to nature.

On Class By. James Eli Adams

In Jane, by contrast- ‘poor, disconnected and plain’ – Blanche’s ornamental being is countered by an ideal of inner worth, of moral character located in earnestness, independence, and self-discipline.