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Plot overview of Jane Eyre In her aunthomeJane Eyre is a young orphan being raised by Mrs. Reed, her cruel, wealthy aunt. A servant named Bessie provides Jane with some of the few kindnesses she receives, telling her stories and singing songs to her. One day, as punishment for fighting with her bullying跋扈cousin John Reed, Janes aunt imprisons Jane in the red-room, the room in which Janes Uncle Reed died. While locked in, Jane, believing that she sees her uncles ghost, screams and faints. She wakes to find herself in the care of Bessie and the kindly apothecary药剂师Mr. Lloyd, who suggests to Mrs. Reed that Jane be sent away to school. To Janes delight, Mrs. Reed concurs同意. At the Lowood School Once at the Lowood School, Jane finds that her life is far from idyllic. The schools headmaster is Mr. Brocklehurst, a cruel, hypocritical, and abusive man. Brocklehurst preaches宣扬a doctrine of poverty and privation贫穷to his students while using the schools funds to provide a wealthy and opulent富裕的lifestyle for his own family. At Lowood, Jane befriends a young girl named Helen Burns, whose strong, martyrlike attitude toward the schools miseries is both helpful and displeasing令人不愉快的to Jane. A massive typhus斑疹伤寒症 epidemic sweeps Lowood, and Helen dies of consumption肺痨. The epidemic also results in the departure of Mr. Brocklehurst by attracting attention to the insalubrious有碍健康的 conditions at Lowood. After a group of more sympathetic gentlemen takes Brocklehursts place, Janes life improves dramatically. She spends eight more years at Lowood, six as a student and two as a teacher. AS a governess家庭女教师 at a manor called Thornfield After teaching for two years, Jane yearns for new experiences. She accepts a governess家庭女教师position at a manor庄园called Thornfield, where she teaches a lively French girl named Adle. The distinguished housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax presides over the estate. Janes employer at Thornfield is a dark, impassioned充满激情的man named Rochester, with whom Jane finds herself falling secretly in love. She saves Rochester from a fire one night, which he claims was started by a drunken servant named Grace Poole. But because Grace Poole continues to work at Thornfield, Jane concludes that she has not been told the entire story. Jane sinks into despondency意气消沉when Rochester brings home a beautiful but vicious品性不端的woman named Blanche Ingram. Jane expects Rochester to propose to Blanche. But Rochester instead proposes to Jane, who accepts almost disbelievingly. The wedding day arrives, and as Jane and Mr. Rochester prepare to exchange their vows, the voice of Mr. Mason cries out that Rochester already has a wife. Mason introduces himself as the brother of that wifea woman named Bertha. Mr. Mason testifies that Bertha, whom Rochester married when he was a young man in Jamaica, is still alive. Rochester does not deny Masons claims, but he explains that Bertha has gone mad. He takes the wedding party back to Thornfield, where they witness the insane精神病的Bertha Mason scurrying急跑around on all fours and growling咆哮like an animal. Rochester keeps Bertha hidden on the third story of Thornfield and pays Grace Poole to keep his wife under control. Bertha was the real cause of the mysterious fire earlier in the story. Knowing that it is impossible for her to be with Rochester,Jane flees逃离 Thornfield . After leaving Thornfield Penniless身无分文的 and hungry, Jane is forced to sleep outdoors and beg for food. At last, three siblings兄弟姐妹who live in a manor alternatively called Marsh End and Moor House take her in. Their names are Mary, Diana, and St. John (pronounced “Sinjin”) Rivers, and Jane quickly becomes friends with them. St. John is a clergyman牧师, and he finds Jane a job teaching at a charity school in Morton. He surprises her one day by declaring that her uncle, John Eyre, has died and left her a large fortune: 20,000 pounds. When Jane asks how he received this news, he shocks her further by declaring that her uncle was also his uncle: Jane and the Riverses are cousins. Jane immediately decides to share her inheritance equally with her three newfound relatives. St. John decides to travel to India as a missionary传教士, and he urges Jane to accompany himas his wife. Jane agrees to go to India but refuses to marry her cousin because she does not love him. St. John pressures her to reconsider, and she nearly gives in. However, she realizes that she cannot abandon forever the man she truly loves when one night she hears Rochesters voice calling her name over the moors荒野. Jane immediately hurries back to Thornfield and finds that it has been burned to the ground by Bertha Mason, who lost her life in the fire. Rochester saved the servants but lost his eyesight and one of his hands. Jane travels on to Rochesters new residence, Ferndean, where he lives with two servants named John and Mary. At Ferndean, Rochester and Jane rebuild their relationship and soon marry. At the end of her story, Jane writes that she has been married for ten blissful充满喜悦的years and that she and Rochester enjoy perfect equality in their life together. She says that after two years of blindness, Rochester regained sight in one eye and was able to behold 看到 their first son at his birth.
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