Mrs Reed and Mr Brocklehurst

Two authorities who fail to protect Jane

Mrs Reed and Mr Brocklehurst exercise different kinds of power over the young Jane. Mrs Reed is her guardian at Gateshead: her late husband was Jane’s maternal uncle, and she promised him that she would bring Jane up as one of her own children. Brocklehurst is the clergyman who manages Lowood, the charity school to which Mrs Reed sends Jane. Both present their treatment as necessary correction, yet Brontë shows how their authority produces fear, exclusion and suffering.

Their connection matters to the plot. Mrs Reed’s accusation that Jane is deceitful follows Jane into Lowood through Brocklehurst. Leaving an unkind household therefore does not immediately free Jane from its influence.

The novel’s first-person, retrospective narrative gives Jane something these adults repeatedly deny her: the opportunity to explain herself. We experience the child’s fear while also hearing the older narrator’s judgement of what happened.

Mrs Reed makes affection conditional

In Chapter 1, Jane reports Mrs Reed’s decision to “exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy, little children”. The verb “exclude” establishes Jane’s separation from the family before the main action begins. Mrs Reed’s own children gather around her beside the fire, while Jane is kept at a distance. The arrangement of the room makes the unequal treatment concrete: warmth and belonging are available to the Reeds but withheld from Jane.

“Privileges” presents family affection as a reward rather than something a vulnerable child needs. There is also a cruel circularity in Mrs Reed’s reasoning: Jane must appear happy before she can receive the kindness that might make her happy. The gentle-sounding description of “little children” disguises an act of rejection.

Jane’s dependence makes this especially damaging. As an orphan without money, she has little power to challenge the household’s judgement. Mrs Reed indulges John while refusing to acknowledge his violence against Jane. When Jane fights back after he injures her, Mrs Reed orders her confinement in the red-room in Chapter 1 and prolongs it in Chapter 2 despite Jane’s desperate appeals. She interprets distress as manipulation rather than recognising its cause.

The accusation that follows Jane to Lowood

In Chapter 4, Mrs Reed tells Brocklehurst that Jane has “a tendency to deceit”. “Tendency” makes dishonesty sound like an established part of Jane’s character, not a particular action that could be investigated. Mrs Reed speaks in front of Jane but does not give her a fair opportunity to defend herself. Her authority allows her interpretation to become Jane’s reputation.

This moment links Gateshead to Lowood structurally. School promises a new beginning, but Mrs Reed plants suspicion before Jane arrives. Brocklehurst later repeats the accusation publicly in Chapter 7, showing how one adult’s prejudice can become institutional mistreatment.

After Brocklehurst leaves in Chapter 4, Jane directly challenges Mrs Reed and insists that she is not deceitful. The exchange briefly reverses their usual power relationship: the silenced child becomes the speaker, and her guardian becomes frightened. Jane experiences release, but the older narrator also records the bitter aftermath of revenge. Brontë therefore validates Jane’s need to speak without presenting uncontrolled anger as a complete solution.

Brocklehurst turns religion into intimidation

Jane’s first impression of Brocklehurst in Chapter 4 is “a black pillar”. This architectural metaphor makes him seem tall, rigid and inhuman. His dark clerical clothing contributes to the image, while the description reflects the frightened child’s perspective: an imposing adult appears more like a structure than a sympathetic person. His face resembles a carved mask, suggesting an absence of warmth.

Brocklehurst begins his questioning with “No sight so sad as that of a naughty child”, adding that this is especially true of a little girl. He assumes Jane’s guilt from Mrs Reed’s judgement rather than investigating her treatment. His language presents him as sorrowful and morally concerned, although his questioning intensifies the child’s fear.

When he asks what hell is, Jane replies, “A pit full of fire” in Chapter 4. The simple, concrete image shows that she already understands the threat of punishment. Brocklehurst then asks whether she wants to burn there forever. Instead of offering guidance or comfort, he uses the prospect of death and damnation to demand obedience. Jane’s answer that she must remain healthy and avoid dying introduces humour: her practical reasoning punctures the solemn religious interrogation.

Brocklehurst was inspired by William Carus Wilson, the founder of the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge, which Brontë attended in 1824–25. Wilson edited The Children’s Friend, and his writing for children repeatedly addressed death, sin, obedience and punishment. This helps explain the warning pamphlet Brocklehurst gives Jane in Chapter 4 about the sudden death of a deceitful child. Brontë turns a recognisable kind of frightening moral instruction into part of her criticism of adult authority.

Hunger presented as spiritual nourishment

At Lowood, Brocklehurst’s power extends beyond words. As manager and treasurer, he controls purchases of food and clothing. The pupils’ hunger and inadequate protection from the cold therefore give his beliefs material consequences.

In Chapter 7, he rebukes Miss Temple for replacing inedible burnt porridge with bread and cheese. He claims that by feeding the children, “you little think how you starve their immortal souls!” The contrast between feeding bodies and starving souls reverses ordinary care: meeting a basic need becomes, in his argument, spiritually harmful.

“Immortal” gives his claim the weight of eternity, making a modest meal seem dangerous to salvation. His long speech draws on Christian suffering and self-denial to justify deprivation. Yet the narrative has already shown what hunger feels like to the children. Readers can compare his abstract moral claims with Jane’s bodily experience.

Miss Temple’s practical care offers a brief but important contrast. Brontë’s criticism is not simply that Christianity is cruel: compassionate religious conduct elsewhere in the novel exposes Brocklehurst’s misuse of it.

His family exposes the double standard

In Chapter 7, Brocklehurst orders the pupils’ hair to be cut and declares that they must dress “not with braided hair and costly apparel”. His biblical language makes control over their appearance sound like a divine obligation. His objection even to Julia Severn’s naturally curly hair reveals how unreasonable that control becomes.

Brontë then interrupts his speech with the entrance of his wife and daughters. Jane narrates that they are “splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs”. The list emphasises luxury through rich materials, while their elaborate curls contradict the restrictions imposed on the pupils.

The timing is crucial. This juxtaposition allows the family’s appearance to answer his sermon without an explicit argument. He condemns costly clothing for dependent girls while accepting it within his own household. This is hypocrisy: his actions contradict the standards he claims to uphold. The scene’s satirical force comes from how visibly and immediately he is exposed.

Public humiliation repeats private exclusion

After Jane accidentally breaks her slate in Chapter 7, Brocklehurst places her on a high stool and announces that she is a liar. His condemnation includes “worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma”. The comparison draws on a religious hierarchy in which he treats non-Christian worship as inferior, then places Jane below even that category. These are Brocklehurst’s prejudices, not an objective judgement of Jane or Hindu belief.

His repeated pauses and delayed declaration turn the accusation into a public performance. He tells pupils to avoid Jane and teachers to watch and punish her. This repeats Mrs Reed’s exclusion on a larger scale: the guardian separates Jane from her cousins; the clergyman attempts to separate her from an entire school.

His unquestioning praise of Mrs Reed as charitable also creates irony. Readers have witnessed the treatment he misrepresents as kindness. The two adults reinforce one another’s respectable public image while Jane bears the consequences.

Lowood’s reforms restrict Brocklehurst’s power

In Chapter 10, Jane explains that the typhus epidemic and its many deaths draw public attention to Lowood. An inquiry exposes the unhealthy site, inadequate food, foul water, poor clothing and unsuitable accommodation. The conditions Brocklehurst has defended as moral discipline become grounds for public indignation.

Wealthy benefactors fund a better building in a healthier location. New regulations improve diet and clothing, and a committee takes responsibility for the school’s funds. Brocklehurst remains treasurer because his wealth and family connections still give him influence, but other men now assist him, and his work as inspector is shared. His authority is restricted rather than removed altogether.

This is a change in Brocklehurst’s position, not a demonstrated change of heart. Lowood improves because his decisions are subject to oversight by people who combine discipline and economy with compassion and comfort. Structurally, the reform answers his earlier claim that deprivation benefits children: Jane goes on to gain an excellent education at the improved school, showing that care and learning can support one another. Brontë presents practical reform, rather than obedience to an unchecked authority, as the means of making the institution genuinely useful.

Mrs Reed’s confession explains her hatred

Jane returns to Gateshead in Chapter 21 after Mrs Reed suffers a stroke following John’s death. The return reverses their earlier positions: the once-powerful guardian is physically dependent, while Jane voluntarily comes to help her.

Mrs Reed admits, “I had a dislike to her mother always”. Her explanation reveals jealousy of her husband’s affection for his sister and then for the orphaned Jane. She hated Jane from infancy, before the child could have behaved rebelliously. This disclosure confirms that the hostility was not simply a response to Jane’s supposed faults.

Mrs Reed also reveals a letter from Jane’s paternal uncle, John Eyre, written three years earlier. He wanted Jane to come to Madeira, intended to adopt her and wished to leave her his property. Mrs Reed concealed this opportunity and replied that Jane had died of typhus at Lowood. The woman who accused Jane of deceit has herself committed a deliberate, damaging falsehood.

Her confession permits different readings. Her acknowledgement of wrongdoing suggests some recognition of guilt. However, fear of approaching death and her wish to ease her own mind also motivate her. She still blames Jane: “You were born, I think, to be my torment” in Chapter 21. “Born” makes Jane’s very existence the offence, while “my torment” keeps Mrs Reed’s suffering at the centre. Her admission is therefore a limited change, not a complete moral transformation.

Jane changes more than her guardian

Jane answers Mrs Reed in Chapter 21: “Love me, then, or hate me, as you will”. She continues by offering “full and free forgiveness”. The balanced alternatives of love and hate recognise that she cannot force Mrs Reed’s affection. The repeated initial sound in “full and free forgiveness” emphasises the completeness of what Jane offers without demanding a reward.

This revisits the angry confrontation of Chapter 4. Jane once vowed never to return or call Mrs Reed her aunt; now she does both. Helen Burns’s teaching about forgiveness helps Jane respond differently, but Jane does not deny that she was wronged. Her maturity lies in combining moral judgement with compassion.

Mrs Reed still withdraws from Jane’s touch and gives no sign of reconciliation before dying. Brontë avoids an easy ending in which confession repairs everything. Mrs Reed’s resistance instead makes her a foil for Jane: the guardian remains trapped in resentment, while Jane gains the freedom not to repeat it.

Turning evidence into an argument

For an essay about cruel authority, connect the characters through what they do, not merely through the fact that both are unkind. Mrs Reed makes belonging conditional; Brocklehurst makes deprivation a moral duty. Both label Jane as deceitful, yet their own conduct undermines their claims to virtue.

A short worked paragraph might read:

Brontë exposes Brocklehurst’s cruelty by revealing that his religious standards apply unequally. In Chapter 7, he insists that the pupils should dress “not with braided hair and costly apparel”, presenting their plain appearance as a spiritual obligation. However, Jane immediately describes his family as “splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs”. The list of luxurious fabrics directly contradicts his condemnation of expensive clothing. Structurally, their entrance interrupts his sermon, allowing their appearance to expose the hypocrisy of his words. Drawing on her experience of religious schooling at Cowan Bridge, Brontë challenges an authority that demands self-denial from vulnerable children while permitting privilege within its own household.

The paragraph moves from an interpretation to precise evidence, then explains language, the order of events and relevant context. Its focus remains on what Brontë’s choices reveal about the character.

Central argument

Mrs Reed and Brocklehurst disguise cruelty as correction. Their respectable authority allows prejudice to become punishment; Jane’s narrative exposes the gap between their claims and actions.

Mrs Reed: exclusion → deceit → limited confession

• Chapter 1: “exclude me from privileges” — affection becomes conditional; the fireside family group excludes Jane.
• Chapter 4: “a tendency to deceit” — an accusation that damages Jane’s prospects at Lowood.
• Chapter 21: “I had a dislike to her mother always” — jealousy precedes Jane’s behaviour.
• Hidden letter: John Eyre offered adoption and an inheritance; Mrs Reed falsely reported Jane’s death.
• Chapter 21: “You were born, I think, to be my torment” — confession still contains blame, not full repentance.

Brocklehurst: intimidation and hypocrisy

• Chapter 4: “a black pillar” — rigid, imposing, apparently inhuman.
• Chapter 4: “No sight so sad as that of a naughty child” — assumes guilt; Jane answers his question about hell with “A pit full of fire”.
• Chapter 7: “starve their immortal souls” — twists hunger into spiritual benefit.
• Chapter 7: “not with braided hair and costly apparel” versus “splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs” — hypocrisy exposed through juxtaposition and the timing of his family’s entrance.
• Chapter 7: “worse than many a little heathen” — prejudiced religious language intensifies public shaming.
• Chapter 10: the epidemic prompts an inquiry and reforms. Brocklehurst remains treasurer, but committee management and shared inspection restrict his power: institutional change, not demonstrated repentance.

Context: William Carus Wilson and Cowan Bridge; frightening instruction about death, sin and punishment.

Structure and development

• Mrs Reed’s accusation travels from Gateshead to Lowood.
• Jane’s retrospective first-person narrative answers adults who silence her.
• Lowood’s improved conditions challenge Brocklehurst’s defence of deprivation.
• Returning to Gateshead in Chapter 21 reverses the relationship of dependence.
• Jane’s “Love me, then, or hate me, as you will” shows forgiveness without requiring affection.
• Mrs Reed remains resentful: Jane’s development does not depend on her guardian changing.