Jane Eyre Plot (AMC)

John discovers Jane reading and bullies her. He calls her names and throws a book at her. Jane calls him a 'wicked and cruel boy'.

Aunt Reed commands Bessie and Miss Abbot to 'take her away to the red-room'. Jane is locked in and is scared. She cries out and when Bessie and Miss Abbot enter she passes out.

Mr. Lloyd speaks with Jane about her life at Gateshead, and he suggests to Jane’s aunt that the girl be sent away to school, where she might find happiness. Jane is cautiously excited at the possibility of leaving Gateshead.

Jane is finally told she may attend the girls’ school Lowood, and she is introduced to Mr. Brocklehurst, the stern-faced man who runs the school. Jane’s aunt warns Mr. Brocklehurst that she is a liar, a piece of information that Mr. Brocklehurst says he intends to share with Jane’s teachers upon her arrival. When Mr. Brocklehurst leaves, Jane is so hurt by her aunt’s accusation that she cannot stop herself from defending herself to her aunt. Mrs. Reed, for once, seems to concede defeat. 

Jane travels to Lowood School and is introduced to the other girls, including Helen Burns, and her teachers, Miss Temple and Miss Scratcherd. 

Jane quickly learns that life at the school is harsh. The girls are underfed, overworked, and forced to sit still during seemingly endless sermons. Jane however enjoys having found a friend in the meek Helen Burns.

Mr Brocklehurst visits the school and, as punishment for dropping her slate, he orders Jane to stand on a stool while he tells the school that she is a liar. He forbids the other students to speak to her for the rest of the day.

Jane tells Miss Temple that she is not a liar, and tells her the story of her tormented childhood at Gateshead. Miss Temple writes to Mr. Lloyd requesting confirmation of Jane’s account of events. Miss Temple invites Jane and Helen to tea. When Mr. Lloyd’s letter confirms Jane’s story, Miss Temple publicly declares Jane to be innocent. 

Helen Burns falls sick with consumption and eventually dies in Jane's arms as they sleep. She is buried in an unmarked grave but later a grey marble headstone, with the words 'Resurgam', Latin for 'I shall rise again,' is added, reflecting her Christian belief in the afterlife.

The typhus outbreak highglights the poor conditions at Lowood and, under new management, the conditions improve. Jane works hard to get a good education and eventually becomes a teacher at the school herself. When Miss Temple gets married and leaves, Jane decides to look for work elsewhere.

Jane accepts a position at Thornfield as a governess. Arriving late at night she is welcomed by friendly housekeeper, Mrs Fairfax, who Jane initially mistakes for the owner. The following morning she meets Adele and finds out more about Mr Rochester. She asks Mrs Fairfax about a curious and loud laugh she can hear, which Mrs Fairfax blames on the servants Leah and Grace Poole.

Jane likes living at Thornfield and teaching Adele, but is restless, so spends her spare time exporing the house and walking in the grounds. One evening she is passed by a man on horseback, who falls off and needs her help getting back up, due to his hurt ankle. When she returns to Thornfield and sees the stranger's dog sitting quite at home on the rug, she realises that the dark and mysterious man is, in fact, Mr Rochester.

Mr Rochester invites both Adele and Jane to have tea with him. He comes across as 'changeful and abrupt', but he is charmed by Jane's drawings and shows an interest in her thoughts. Mrs Fairfax later reveals that Rochester was a family outcast and only inherited Thornfield after the untimely death of his elder brother.

After dinner one night, Rochester sends for Jane and Adele and insists Jane sit and talks to him, whilst Adele plays with the presents he has bought her. He asks Jane is she 'think me handsome?' and is amused when she replies 'No, sir'.

Rochester explains his relationship with Celine. He reveals that, even though Adele is not his daughter, when Celine abandoned her he bought her to England to care for her. Later that night, whilst lying in bed, Jane hears more unusual noises and she goes to investigate. She discovers smoke coming out from underneath Mr Rochester's door and dashes into his room to save him from a fire that has broken out on his bed curtains. 

After a short period of absence, Mr Rochester returns to Thornfield with a group of elegant houseguests, including the beautiful and majestic Blanche Ingram. However, Blanche and her mother are disdainful and cruel towards Jane.

The guests stay for a several days and it becomes clear that Rochester and Blanche are well matched, although they are not in love. One day a man called Mr Mason arrives, revealing that he is from the West Indies, where Mr Rochester used to live. Then a gypsy woman visits to tell the guest's fortunes. It is clear that whatever Blanche Ingram heard made her 'sourly expressive of disappointment'.

Jane visits with the gypsy woman and she reveals that she has told Blanche that Mr Rochester is not as rich as Blanche thinks. Eventually, it becomes clear that the gypsy is really Mr Rochester in disguise.

Jane is awoken by a scream and rushes into the hallway to find Mr Rochester ushering everyone back to bed. He asks Jane to accompany him to the third floor, where she finds Mr Mason has been injured. Jane, sworn to silence, attends to his wounds, whilst Mr Rochester goes to fetch the surgeon.

Jane learns that her cousin John has commited suicide and the her Aunt is gravely ill. Jane returns to Gateshead where she is reunited with Bessie and her cousins Georgiana and Eliza. Mrs Reed admits to Jane that she hated her for being her uncle's favourite and that she had secretly kept a letter from Jane's other uncle, John Eyre, that declared that he wished to adopt Jane. Aunt Reed dies.

Jane stays for a month at Gateshead to finalise the funeral arrangements. Once Georgiana goes to live with an uncle and Eliza joins a convent, Jane returns to Thornfield. She meets Mr Rochester on her way back and declares 'I am strangely glad to get back again to you; and wherever you are is my home—my only home.'

Jane and Rochester walk in the gardens and he confides that he will marry Blanche Ingram and that she should look for a position elsewhere, he suggests a post in Ireland. Sitting against the chestnut tree he tells her he feels as though they are connected by a 'cord of communion.' Jane is disraught and confesses her love for Rochester, and to her surprise, he asks her to be his wife. That night there is a storm and a bolt of lightning splits the chestnut tree in half.

Mrs Fairfax does not really approve of the engagement but helps Jane to prepare for the wedding. When Rochester suggests that he will dress her in jewels, Jane feel uncomfortable about her lowly status and writes to her Uncle John Eyre in Maderia. Jane feels that if she were an heir, she might be on a more equal footing with Mr Rochester.

Jane tells Rochester about two disturbing dreams she had experienced and how she awoke to find a savage woman in her room ripping up her wedding veil. Rochester dismisses it as a dream and blames Grace Poole for the damage.

Jane and Rochester walk to the church to be married but the service is stopped when a stranger declares 'the existence of an impediment' and reveals that Mr Rochester is already married to Mr Mason's sister, a Creole woman called Bertha. Mr Rochester admits that it is true and that she is living in the attic at Thornfield. Jane meets Bertha, who attacks Mr Rochester and is clearly mad. Jane is overcome with grief and locks herself away in her bedroom.

Rochester begs Jane to forgive him and explains how he married Bertha before he knew of her madness. He offers to take her to France to live as husband and wife but Jane cannot agree to be his mistress. Awaking from a dream, she realises that she must leave Thornfield and the temptation to be with the man she loves.

Jane ends up penniless and forced to sleep in the wild and beg for food. She finally comes across Moor House. She watches the women through the window before gaining the courage to knock on the door and beg for help. She is initially turned away and collapses on the doorstep, praying to God for salvation. St John, hearing her prayer, carries her into the house. 

When Jane is well again, she joins the Rivers family for dinner and reveals that her name is not Jane Elliot and tells some of her story. Mary and Diana explain that they are also governesses and have only returned home after the death of their father some weeks previously.

St John has found a position for Jane, running a charity school for girls in the town of Morton. It becomes clear that St John is hoping to become a missionary and will leave soon for India. Jane moves into a cottage owned by Rosamund Oliver, with whom St John appears to be in love.

Jane becomes an established and well-liked teacher at the school. She agrees to draw a portrait of Rosamund who is a regular visitor to the school. Jane suggests to St John that he ought to marry Rosamund. Whilst he admits that he loves her, he dismisses the idea as she would be unsuitable as the wife of a missionary.

St John arrives at Jane's cottage and tells her the story of a governess from Thornfield who went missing and reveals that she has inherited £20,000. Jane reveals her true identity, knowing that St John has already guessed, and then he tells her that they are, in fact, cousins. Jane is overjoyed to have finally found her family and decides to split her inheritance with her cousins.

Jane spends Christmas with her newfound family at Moor House. St John is cold and distant and he reveals that Rosamund is engaged to be married to a Mr Granby. He encourages Jane to learn Hindustani and eventually he proposes to Jane.

St John continues to try and persuade Jane to marry him and she starts to come round to the idea. However, just as she is about to agree, she hears a voice which she believes to be Rochester's calling to her. Jane thinks that something bad has happened to him and St John's spell over her is broken.

Jane travels to Thornfield, reflecting upon her change in circumstances from a poor, friendless orphan to a wealthy, young lady with friends and family. She is shocked to find Thornfield in ashes and retires to the local inn, where she discovers that, some months previously, Bertha had set fire to the house and flung herself from the roof. Rochester suffered a lost eye and a hand in the fire and lived now in a house in the forest called Ferndean. 

Jane goes to Ferndean and sees Rochester again. He is blind and, on hearing her voice, he initially thinks she is a ghost or a dream, until he grabs her hand. Jane tells him her story and how she couldn't marry St John because she didn't love him. He asks her again to marry him and, now that he is free from Bertha, she agrees.

Jane married Mr Rochester and explains that she is writing this account after ten years of happy marriage as equals. She reveals that Mary and Diana both got married and St John  went to India. Adele grew up to be a pleasant and mild-mannered young lady. After two years Rochester regains some sight and finally sees his baby boy, their first child, for the first time. The novel ends with a quote from a letter from St John predicting his death and begging Lord Jesus to come for him quickly.