Dependent

Brocklehurst’s praise of plainness at Lowood, alongside his daughter’s report of her own and her mother’s silk dresses, also introduces a contrast between the humility required of dependent children and his family’s privileges.

Brocklehurst’s account of his richly dressed wife and daughter visiting plainly dressed pupils also exposes a double standard. His demand for humility applies to dependent girls, not equally to his own family. The criticism concerns this harsh, hypocritical exercise of religious authority, rather than establishing that all religious belief is cruel.

Nevertheless, mutual dislike does not excuse their abuse of a powerless dependent.