Bessie’s perspective
In the novel Jane Eyre, Jane is not one of Misses Reed and Master Reeds’ children and for that reason Bessie has a soft spot for Jane in her heart. Bessie is almost trying to fill the role of a mother in Jane’s life. Unfortunately, Bessie is one of Misses Reeds’ servants and cannot go against her word. If Misses Reeds wants Jane punished and to be taken to the red-room, Bessie and the other servant, Miss Abbot, must do it. Bessie has a lot of sympathy for Jane, she gives her advice to make her life a little easier for herself, “‘What we tell you is for your good,’ added Bessie, in no harsh voice: ‘you should try to be useful and pleasant, then, perhaps you would have a home here; but if you become passionate and rude, Misses will send you away, I am sure’” (Brontë: 10) it shows the mother figure inside of Bessie. Bessie wants a future for Jane, one which does not include the “poorhouse” (Brontë: 10). Jane grasps her hand when she was terrified inside the red-room, she also identifies with Bessie on a deeper level, a mother figure. Bessie is also the only one who takes care of Jane when she fell ill in the red-room. There is a sign of love shown through these two characters.
“Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Woman.”
Yes, I do agree with Adrienne Rich. Jane is utterly mistreated by the people who are supposed to be her ‘family’ and if she stands up for herself and by doing that she is also standing up for her as a woman, she gets punished and is belittled as a person. Jane is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, if she stays with her ‘family’ she will be mistreated and live a miserable, long life and if she ran away from her so called home, she would have no one caring for her basic needs. But yet, this thought does not dampen her spirit. She still refuses to be the person she is forced to be in the house she lives. The red-room is the beginning of a new perspective in Jane’s life, she is more aware of the injustice against her, because of who she is and because of the fact that she is a woman.
Plain Jane’s progress
Jane knows exactly the feeling to all alone in a house full of people, to be unloved and worst of all being on the lowest class of the social hierarchy. This is the reason for her affection and love for Adel, Mr Rochester’s daughter. She falls deeply in love with Mr Rochester, but is humiliated by the fact that he is actually married to a crazy woman. The same humiliation she felt when she was belittled by her ‘family’ she was still a young girl. The anxiety rises in her again when she was attacked by the crazy woman, Bertha. It is the same feeling she had when she was locked up in the red-room with the ‘ghost’ of her uncle. This had a big impact on her as a child, and still it has a hold on her many years later. From the numerous incidents Jane experienced from her childhood, the red-room had the most effect. The situations may differ and it is a few years after the red-room incident, but it still haunts Jane. All her choices were based on the effects the red-room left on her and the life choice she made that night.
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