Character guide

Jane Eyre

major

Also known as Jane, Miss Eyre, Miss Jane, Miss Jane Eyre, Eyre, dear Jane, cousin Jane Eyre, Jane Elliott, Little Jane, J. E., Mademoiselle Eyre

Raised on charity and contempt at Gateshead, then schooled through hardship at Lowood, Jane grows into a governess whose outward quietness hides a hungry, judging, deeply feeling self. Her central struggle is between the love she craves and the independence she will not trade for it, and she narrates that struggle with a directness that makes her feel startlingly modern. Because she tells her own story, every reader's loyalty is bound to her from the first page.

Mr. Rochester

major

Also known as Rochester, The present Mr. Rochester, Mr. Rowland Rochester, Mr. Rowland, Rowland, Edward Fairfax Rochester, Edward Rochester, Edward, Mr. Edward, Poor Mr. Edward, Monsieur Edouard Fairfax de Rochester, Monsieur Rochester, Fairfax Rochester, Fairfax, Jane Rochester, my master, My Master, the master, that master, Your master

Rochester is a wealthy, restless gentleman who seems to find in his plain governess the one person he can actually talk to, testing her with riddles, confessions, and sudden tenderness. He is proud, sardonic, and used to being obeyed, yet visibly haunted by something he will not name, and Jane's refusal to be flattered or frightened fascinates him. His courtship gives the novel its electric center: two wills circling each other, one concealing far more than the other.

St. John Rivers

major

Also known as Master John, John, Mr. John, St. John, Mr. St. John, St., old Mr. Rivers, Mr. St. John Rivers, John Eyre, St. John Eyre Rivers

St. John is a young minister of rigid principle and glacial self-control, driven by ambition to do great missionary work and unable to see why anyone should refuse the sacrifice he demands of himself. He offers Jane family, purpose, and a marriage without love, framing it as God's will, and her resistance becomes a test of everything she has learned about her own worth. He matters because he embodies the alternative to passion: a life of duty that would save her body and starve her soul.

Mrs. Reed

supporting

Also known as Reed, Dear Mrs. Reed, Aunt Reed

Mrs. Reed presides over Gateshead Hall with a favorite-child's favoritism and a settled dislike of the small, questioning girl left in her care, excluding Jane from the family circle and punishing her for not being lovable on command. She is not a monster but something more ordinary and more chilling: a respectable woman whose resentment of a dependent child hardens into lifelong cruelty. Her treatment of Jane sets the novel's moral baseline, teaching the reader exactly what Jane is up against and what she refuses to become.

Helen Burns

supporting

Also known as Burns, Helen

Helen Burns is a scholarship girl at Lowood, brilliant, untidy, and habitually punished, who meets cruelty with forgiveness and speaks of heaven as if it were a place she already knows. Where Jane burns with grievance and the need to be seen as just, Helen counsels endurance and love of enemies, and their friendship becomes the school's one warm shelter. She matters because she gives Jane a model of goodness she can admire without fully adopting, sharpening Jane's own convictions about justice and self-respect.

Miss Temple

supporting

Miss Temple runs Lowood with a dignity that survives its harsh conditions, and when Jane is publicly branded a liar, she listens to the child's account and clears her before the school. She offers Jane the first adult kindness that does not come with humiliation attached, and her approval becomes a standard Jane carries into later life. In the novel's early arc she is proof that authority need not be cruel, giving Jane a memory of justice to measure the world against.

Bertha Mason

supporting

Also known as Bertha Antoinetta Mason, Antoinetta, Bertha, Mason, Miss Mason

Bertha Mason lives hidden behind a locked door on Thornfield's third floor, tended by Grace Poole while her husband plays the restless master below. Her strange laugh, her violence, and the servants' frightened whispers turn the great house into a place where something is deeply wrong. She is the mystery Jane cannot solve and the reason Thornfield's romance carries a buried dread.

Adèle Varens

supporting

Also known as Adèle, Miss Adèle, little Adèle, Little Adèle, Mademoiselle Adela, Mademoiselle, Miss Adela, Adela

Adèle arrives at Thornfield as a child of Paris, the daughter of a dancer Rochester once loved, and she treats Jane as both teacher and friend. Her endless talk and theatrical affection contrast with the house's cold corridors, and her presence softens Jane's arrival into a strange household. Through Adèle, Rochester's past begins to surface, and Jane finds a small, daily purpose.

Mrs. Fairfax

supporting

Also known as God Mrs. Fairfax, tranquil Mrs. Fairfax, a Fairfax, simple dame Fairfax, kind Mrs. Fairfax

Mrs. Fairfax manages Thornfield with quiet competence and assumes Jane has come to teach, not to befriend her employer. She is warm, a little lonely, and fond of small talk, and she offers Jane the ordinary decency Gateshead never did. Yet her cheerful surface also shows how much of Thornfield's truth even a trusted servant does not know.

Blanche Ingram

supporting

Also known as Miss Ingram, Ingram, the beautiful Miss Ingram, the Honourable Blanche, Blanche, Blanche Ingram, Mrs. Fairfax of Blanche Ingram

Blanche Ingram arrives with her grand family to be courted by Rochester, and she performs elegance like a profession. She is proud, quick to mock, and openly contemptuous of governesses, which makes her a mirror for everything Jane is not supposed to be. Her presence forces Jane to confront her own feelings for Rochester long before she can name them.

Diana Rivers

supporting

Also known as Diana

Diana Rivers lives with her sister Mary and brother St. John in a modest parsonage, reading, teaching, and speaking her mind without apology. She takes Jane in as a stranger and treats her as an equal, offering the intellectual companionship Jane has craved since childhood. Her warmth and her willingness to question her brother's severity make Moor House feel like a refuge rather than a duty.

Mary Rivers

supporting

Also known as Mary

Mary Rivers shares the parsonage with Diana and St. John, less talkative than her sister but no less kind to the half-starved stranger they take in. She keeps the house running, reads, and offers Jane the unshowy acceptance of family life. Her calm presence balances Diana's liveliness and St. John's cold ambition, making Moor House a place Jane can finally rest.

John Reed

minor

Also known as John, Master Reed, Mr. Reed

Jane's bullying cousin at Gateshead who later dies by suicide.

Georgiana Reed

minor

Also known as Georgiana, a Georgiana Reed of the same place, Miss Georgiana

Jane's vain and beautiful cousin at Gateshead.

Eliza Reed

minor

Also known as Eliza, Lizzy, cousin Eliza, Elizabeth

Jane's cold, religious cousin who becomes a nun.

Bessie Lee

minor

Also known as Bessie, Bessie Lee, Leah, Bessie Leaven, Leaven

Kind nursemaid at Gateshead who shows Jane affection.

Mr. Brocklehurst

minor

Also known as Master Broughton Brocklehurst, the Misses Brocklehurst, Brocklehurst

Hypocritical clergyman who runs Lowood School harshly.

Grace Poole

minor

Also known as Grace, Poole, Mrs. Poole

Servant who guards Bertha Mason in the attic at Thornfield.

Mr. Mason

minor

Also known as Mason

Bertha's brother who reveals her existence at the wedding.

Céline Varens

minor

Also known as Céline, Varens, the Varens, Miss Varens

French opera singer and Rochester's former mistress, Adèle's mother.

Rosamond Oliver

minor

Also known as Miss Oliver, Rosamond

Beautiful heiress whom St. John loves but refuses to marry.

Mr. Lloyd

minor

Apothecary who treats Jane at Gateshead and arranges her schooling.

Miss Scatcherd

minor

Harsh teacher at Lowood who punishes Helen Burns.

Pilot

minor

Rochester's loyal dog who accompanies him throughout the story.

Abbot

minor

Also known as Miss Abbot

Servant at Gateshead who assists Mrs. Reed.

Mary Ann Wilson

minor

Also known as Mary Ann, Hannah

Jane's friend at Lowood School.

Frederick Lynn

minor

Also known as Mary, Mr. Frederick Lynn, Richard, Lynn, Sir George Lynn, Henry, Henry Lynn, Mr. Henry Lynn, Lady Lynn

Guest at Thornfield Hall during Rochester's party.

Mr. Oliver

minor

Also known as the rich Mr. Oliver

Rosamond's wealthy father who lives near Morton.

Hannah

minor

Servant at the Rivers' house who initially distrusts Jane.

Carlo

minor

Also known as old Carlo

Pilot's companion dog at Thornfield.

John Eyre

minor

Also known as Mr. Eyre, Mr. Eyre of Madeira, Madeira

Jane's uncle who leaves her a fortune, connecting her to the Rivers.

Sophie

minor

French maid at Thornfield who cares for Adèle.

Robert Leaven

minor

Also known as Robert, little Robert

Coachman at Gateshead who helps Jane leave for Lowood.

Miss Miller

minor

Teacher at Lowood School who greets new students.

Colonel Dent

minor

Also known as Mrs. Colonel Dent, the gentle Mrs. Dent, Mrs. Dent, Dent, Mild Mrs. Dent, Colonel

Guest at Thornfield during Rochester's house party.

Lady Ingram

minor

Also known as the Dowager Lady Ingram, The Dowager, Lady Ingram, the Dowager Ingram, Lord Ingram, Old Lord Ingram, The tall and phlegmatic Lord Ingram

Blanche's proud mother who visits Thornfield.

Mr. Eshton

minor

Also known as Eshton, Mrs. Eshton, Amy Eshton, Amy, Louisa Eshton, Louisa

Local magistrate and guest at Thornfield with his family.

Mr. Carter

minor

Also known as Carter

Surgeon who treats Mr. Mason after Bertha attacks him.

Mr. Briggs

minor

Also known as Briggs

Lawyer who stops Jane's wedding to reveal Bertha's existence.

Mr. Wood

minor

Also known as Presently Mr. Wood, Wood

Clergyman who nearly marries Jane and Rochester.

Samuel

minor

Also known as Sam, the said Sam, Samson

Servant at Gateshead who fetches Mr. Lloyd.

Miss Smith

minor

Teacher at Lowood who instructs in sewing.

Miss Gryce

minor

Teacher at Lowood mentioned briefly.

Madame Pierrot

minor

French teacher at Lowood School.

Julia Severn

minor

Also known as Julia

Student at Lowood whose hair is cut by Mr. Brocklehurst.

Madame Joubert

minor

Mentioned as a former teacher at Lowood.

Mary Ingram

minor

Blanche's sister who visits Thornfield.

Theodore

minor

Also known as Tedo

Mentioned as a child at Thornfield party.

Old John

minor

Servant at Gateshead who works in the stables.

Mrs. Leaven

minor

Bessie's mother, mentioned briefly.

Miss Elliott

minor

Mentioned as a teacher at Lowood.

Barbara

minor

Servant at Gateshead mentioned in passing.

Clara

minor

Mentioned as a friend of Georgiana Reed.

Giacinta

minor

Mentioned as one of Rochester's former mistresses.

Augusta

minor

Mentioned as a guest at Thornfield.

Bobby

minor

Mentioned as a servant at Gateshead.

Mr. Bates

minor

Mentioned as a surgeon at Lowood.