The Child of Nature, the Child of Grace, and the Unresolved Conflict of Jane Eyre

After Jane Eyre has recovered strength at Moor House, she descends to the kitchen and meets Hannah, the housekeeper who had refused her shelter three days earlier. Recognizing now that Jane is not a thief, but a lady of some refinement, Hannah begs forgiveness. Explaining her concern for the two girls and their defenseless position, she asks Jane not to judge her harshly. Jane's judgment is rather harsh-not because Hannah denied Jane shelter or regarded her as an imposter, but because Hannah has just now made it a species of reproach that Jane has no brass and no house. Some of the best people that ever lived, Jane argues, have been as destitute as I am; and if you are a Christian, you ought not to consider poverty a crime. The response is typical of Jane. From childhood on, she has asserted the innate dignity of individual people, and she has stood for an equality among men that transcends differences in material possessions and social rank. A similar spirit of independence and self-assurance rose against Mrs. Reed's accusation that Jane was a deceitful girl: People think you a good woman, but you are bad; hard-hearted. You are deceitful! (p. 36, original italics). As an adult, she argued with Rochester that the poor, obscure, plain, and little have full as much soul and heart as their social superiors: I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, or even of mortal flesh: -it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal-as we are (p. 240). Jane speaks passionately when she defends herself or those she identifies with. But the basis of her defense is reasonable

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• Tying the Knot in the Economic Warp of Jane Eyre

  Open Access•Joseph A Dupras•Victorian Literature and Culture•1998

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