Jane Eyre (Adaptation) recap

Orphaned Jane Eyre is abused at Gateshead and sent to the harsh Lowood School, where friendship and education help her become a teacher. Seeking a wider life, she becomes governess at Thornfield Hall and falls in love with its owner, Edward Rochester. Their planned marriage is stopped by the revelation that Rochester already has a living wife, Bertha Mason, confined at Thornfield because of severe mental illness. Jane refuses to become his mistress and flees. Destitute, she is rescued by the Rivers siblings, discovers they are her cousins, and inherits a fortune that she shares with them. St John Rivers asks her to marry him and join his missionary work, but she refuses a union without love. Jane returns to find Thornfield burned, Bertha dead, and Rochester blinded and maimed. Independent and still loving him, Jane reunites with Rochester and marries him; he later regains enough sight to see their child.

Jane Eyre is an orphan living at Gateshead with her aunt, Mrs Reed, and cousins who resent her presence. After John Reed attacks her and Jane resists, she is locked in the room where her uncle died and becomes terrified and ill. Jane finally tells Mrs Reed that her cruelty has destroyed any claim to affection. Mrs Reed sends her to Lowood, a charity school run by the severe clergyman Mr Brocklehurst, having first described Jane to him as deceitful. At Lowood, poor food, cold rooms, and strict discipline replace the comforts of Gateshead, but Jane begins to find companionship and the possibility of education.

At Lowood, Jane befriends Helen Burns, whose patience and faith differ sharply from Jane's anger at injustice. Mr Brocklehurst publicly humiliates Jane as a liar, but Miss Temple hears her story, verifies it, and restores her reputation. Disease spreads through the badly managed school, exposing its neglect and forcing reforms. Helen, already ill with tuberculosis, dies with Jane beside her. Jane remains at the improved school for years, first as a pupil and then as a teacher. When Miss Temple leaves, Jane realizes how narrow her own life has become and advertises for a new post. She is hired as governess to Adèle Varens at Thornfield Hall, where the housekeeper Mrs Fairfax receives her kindly.

Jane begins teaching Adèle and meets Thornfield's owner, Edward Rochester, after encountering him on the road. Rochester is abrupt and searching in conversation but values Jane's honesty. Strange laughter and disturbances in the house are attributed to the servant Grace Poole. One night Jane wakes to find Rochester's bed curtains burning and saves him; he makes her keep the incident private. Jane's attachment to him deepens, although she assumes the difference in wealth and status rules out any future between them. When Rochester hosts a fashionable party, the beautiful Blanche Ingram appears to be his intended bride. Jane watches their apparent courtship and tries to master her jealousy.

A visitor named Richard Mason arrives from the West Indies and is secretly attacked during the night. Jane helps Rochester tend him without being told who caused his wounds. Jane later returns to Gateshead, where the dying Mrs Reed admits that she concealed a letter from Jane's uncle John Eyre, who had wished to adopt her. Back at Thornfield, Rochester leads Jane to believe she must leave because he will marry Blanche, then reveals that he loves Jane and asks her to marry him instead. Jane accepts. Uneasy signs accompany the engagement, including damage to Jane's wedding veil, but Rochester continues to dismiss her fears and presses toward the ceremony.

Jane and Rochester's wedding is interrupted by the declaration that Rochester is already married. His wife, Bertha Mason, is alive and confined at Thornfield under Grace Poole's care; she caused the fire and attacked her brother Richard. Rochester explains the disastrous marriage arranged in his youth and asks Jane to live with him abroad despite the legal barrier. Jane still loves him but refuses to sacrifice her principles or independence, and she leaves secretly. After exhausting her money, she collapses near Moor House and is rescued by the siblings St John, Diana, and Mary Rivers. Jane recovers, takes work as a village schoolteacher, and begins building a modest life apart from Rochester.

St John discovers Jane's identity and tells her that her uncle John Eyre has died, leaving her a large fortune. She also learns that the Rivers siblings are her cousins. Delighted to have family, Jane divides the inheritance equally among the four of them. St John plans missionary work in India and trains Jane to assist him. He asks her to marry him, not from romantic love but because he considers her disciplined enough to be a missionary's wife. Jane offers to go as his colleague but refuses the marriage. Under the force of his will she nearly yields, then seems to hear Rochester calling her name from a great distance. She decides to learn what has happened to him.

Jane returns to Thornfield and finds it a burned ruin. Bertha set the house on fire and died after jumping from the roof; Rochester saved the servants but was blinded and lost a hand. He now lives in isolation at Ferndean. Jane goes to him with independent means and assures him that she has chosen to return. With Bertha dead and Jane no longer economically dependent on Rochester, they marry and establish a companionate life. Rochester later recovers sight in one eye and sees their first child. Diana and Mary Rivers find happy marriages, while St John remains in India, wholly committed to missionary work even as his health fails. Jane's long effort to unite love, conscience, family, and freedom ends with a marriage she can enter as an equal moral agent.

After rejecting St John Rivers's proposal of a loveless missionary marriage, Jane returns to seek Rochester. Thornfield has burned down; Bertha Mason set the fire and died after jumping from the roof, while Rochester was injured trying to save the household and lost his sight and one hand. Jane finds him living in seclusion at Ferndean. Now financially independent and able to meet him freely, she assures him that she has returned by choice. They marry. Rochester gradually recovers sight in one eye and is able to see their first child. Diana and Mary Rivers also marry, while St John continues his missionary work in India and appears to be approaching death with the same absolute commitment that governed his life. Jane closes as Rochester's partner rather than his employee or dependent, with the legal obstacle removed and the imbalance between them greatly reduced.