Character guide
Who's who in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: meet the 15 main characters, see how they connect, and open a detailed profile for each.
15 illustrated profiles
Also known as Janet, Jane Elliott, Miss Eyre, Jane Rochester
The orphaned narrator and heroine, a governess of fierce integrity and passionate inner life who rises from mistreatment at Gateshead and Lowood to love Edward Rochester.
Bonds:RochesterNew acquaintancesReedGuardian-wardFairfaxNew acquaintancesBrocklehurstPublic accuser
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Also known as Mr. Rochester, Edward Fairfax Rochester, the master of Thornfield
The brooding, sardonic master of Thornfield Hall who falls in love with Jane while concealing his mad wife locked in the attic.
Bonds:JaneNew acquaintancesAdèleBenefactor-wardBlancheRiding companionsBerthaMarried spouses
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Also known as Mr. St. John, St. John
The austere, ambitious clergyman cousin who shelters Jane at Moor House and presses her to become a missionary's wife.
Bonds:DianaSistersJaneAcquaintances
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Also known as Bertha Antoinetta Mason, the maniac, the madwoman, Mr. Rochester's wife
Rochester's violently insane first wife, a Creole heiress from Jamaica kept hidden in Thornfield's attic under Grace Poole's guard.
Bonds:RochesterMarried spousesGraceCaretaker and ward
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Jane's saintly, patient friend at Lowood School who bears cruelty with Christian forbearance and dies of consumption in Jane's arms.
Bonds:JaneClose friends
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Also known as Aunt Reed, Sarah Reed, Missis
Jane's cold, resentful aunt by marriage who raises her grudgingly at Gateshead and later banishes her to Lowood.
Bonds:BessieDisciplinary alliesJaneGuardian-ward
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Also known as Robert Brocklehurst
The harsh, hypocritical clergyman who runs Lowood School with pious cruelty and publicly humiliates Jane.
Bonds:JanePublic accuserMariaSchool authorityFairfaxProfessional contacts
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Also known as Miss Temple
The kind, dignified superintendent of Lowood School who shields Jane and Helen and clears Jane's name.
Bonds:BrocklehurstSchool authority
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Also known as Bessie, Bessie Lee, Bessie Leaven
The Gateshead nursemaid who shows Jane occasional kindness in childhood and later reappears married.
Bonds:ReedDisciplinary alliesJaneNurse-child
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Also known as Adèle, Adela Varens
The lively French child, ward of Rochester and daughter of an opera-dancer, whom Jane is engaged to tutor at Thornfield.
Bonds:RochesterBenefactor-ward
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Also known as Alice Fairfax
The gentle, placid elderly housekeeper of Thornfield Hall who welcomes Jane warmly.
Bonds:JaneNew acquaintancesBrocklehurstProfessional contactsGraceEmployer-servant
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Also known as Miss Ingram
The proud, accomplished society beauty whom Rochester feigns courting to provoke Jane's jealousy.
Bonds:RochesterRiding companions
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Also known as Mrs. Poole
The taciturn Thornfield servant employed to guard and tend the mad Bertha Mason, whose drinking allows escapes.
Bonds:FairfaxEmployer-servantBerthaCaretaker and ward
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Also known as Diana
St. John's warm, spirited elder sister who nurses Jane at Moor House and becomes a beloved cousin.
Bonds:St. JohnSistersMarySistersJaneNew acquaintances
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Also known as Mary
St. John's gentle, studious younger sister who, with Diana, takes Jane in at Moor House.
Bonds:DianaSistersRochesterHousehold employees
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Storieta keeps this cast at your side while you read Jane Eyre, portraits, names, and an ask-anything assistant that only knows what you've read so far. No spoilers, ever.
Explore the book page for Jane Eyre and read the opening free, with no account needed.
Jane Eyre: An Autobiography is a first-person novel about a young orphan growing up dependent on relatives who treat her as an unwelcome outsider. At ten, Jane is excluded from the family circle, finds refuge in a window-seat and a book, and faces humiliation and violence from her cousin John Reed. Her fierce response brings punishment rather than sympathy, revealing a household where rank, money, obedience, and the obligations of dependence govern daily life. The book steps into the emotional world of a thoughtful child whose imagination, sense of injustice, and longing for a true home are already sharply alive.
Written in the mid-nineteenth century and first published under the name Currer Bell, the novel combines intimate autobiography with vivid atmosphere. Its prose moves from close psychological observation to stormy, Gothic imagery: rain-darkened grounds, lonely seas, wrecks, and haunted-looking scenes in old illustrations. Jane’s narration is direct, intelligent, passionate, and alert to the cruelty hidden beneath respectable manners. It will appeal to readers drawn to historical fiction, young women asserting their dignity, governesses and family tensions, morally serious love stories, and richly expressive nineteenth-century language.
Every cast illustrated from the original text.
