Lucy Giroux
 

Social class distinction is very evident in Victorian England. This distinction is found not only in society, but also within the Anglican Church and its clergy. In Jane Eyre we are introduced to three Anglican ministers who represent different social classes. They are Jane Eyre’s father; the Reverend Brocklehurst, the administrator of Lowood Institution; and Reverend St. John Rivers, the curate of a small country parish at Morton and owner of Moor House. Comparing the way these clergyman are viewed by society establishes the adherence to the same social class structure within the church as is evident outside the church. Contrasting clergy from the same religious sect shows that class status was also reflected in some methods of practicing the Anglican faith.

The first clergyman introduced in the novel is Jane’s father. We learn of him as Jane does, through a third person. Jane hears a servant, Miss Abbott, discussing Jane’s lineage with another servant, Bessie. Jane hears Miss Abbott say about her father: "My father had been a poor clergyman, my mother had married him against the wishes of her friends, who considered the match beneath her; my grandfather Reed was so irritated at her disobedience he cut her off without a shilling" (37; ch. 3). Young girls, especially of the upper class, were supposed to follow their parent’s wishes in regards to whom they should marry. In choosing a clergyman from a lower social class, Mrs. Eyre sacrifices her social standing as well as her family’s care and support. The fact that Jane’s mother was banished for her marriage reflects the disdain felt by the upper class for marrying beneath their class.

Jane knows from her treatment by the Reeds that she is a poor relation. John Reed emphasizes this when he tells Jane "You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not live hear with gentleman’s children like us" (23; ch. 1). The fact that Jane’s father left her no inheritance was a reflection of his position as a clergyman. Indeed if her parents had lived she still would have been poor. In Alan Haig's The Victorian Church, we learn of the wages paid to the clergy. The text states that "The income earned by the clergy are so scanty as to likely to straiten a married man" (qtd. in Haig 11). The clergy were not wealthy unless they were from a wealthy family to start with and could supplement their wages.

Jane’s father was a clergyman who believed in being physically as well as spiritually connected to his congregation. He ministered to his congregation when they needed him the most. Jane learns of her father’s dedication when she learns that " after my mother and father were married a year, the latter caught typhus fever while visiting among the poor of a large manufacturing town where his curacy was situated, and where that disease was prevalent; that my mother took the infection from him, and both died within a month of each other" (37, ch.3). The manufacturing town where Mr. Eyre practiced was like many others of the time, a cesspool of disease. Improper sanitation practices combined with inadequate facilities to make these towns unhealthy places to live. This is why these parishes were given to the clergy from the lower classes. Haig states that the wealthy thought it "the right of the well connected to the pick of the church livings" (Haig 11). The clergy from the wealthy families thought their place in society allowed them to choose what parish they would minister to. It was Mr. Eyre's choice to expose himself to the diseases of his congregation. He followed the doctrine of his Christian beliefs, to help the poor and sick. This belief, in the end, cost him and his wife their lives.

Reverend Brocklehurst is a member of the upper class. The Lowood Institution that Jane attends was built in part by Brocklehurst’s family. Lowood was considered a charity school because the students paid a small stipend and the rest of the cost was absorbed by subscription of wealthy ladies and gentleman. Wealthy sons were then established as managers of these schools. This reaffirmed the belief that the wealthy saw it as "the right of the well connected to the pick of the Church livings" (Haig 11). This meant they were given the best parishes which also had the wealthiest congregations. They believed that was their right as the upper class to not have to minister to the members of the lower classes.

The upper classes also believed that church doctrine meant different things to different classes. We see Brocklehurst preaching to the mistress at Lowood that "my mission is to teach them [the students at Lowood] to clothe themselves with shame-facedness and sobriety, not with braided hair and costly apparel" (74; ch. 7). He berates the students for wearing their hair in topknots, feeling it is a sign of vanity. While the minister is berating the students, his wife and two daughters enter the room. They are described as being "splendidly attired in velvet, silk and furs… [F]rom under the graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses elaborately curled" (74; ch. 7). We see here a direct conflict in what the clergy preaches to his congregation (one class) and what he accepts for his family (another class). Although the students at Lowood attended the church where Brocklehurst was officiating, he didn’t treat them as his congregation. They were treated with the same disregard as they were at Lowood. The fact that it was too far for them to return to Lowood between the morning and afternoon service meant they had to be fed and it was "an allowance of cold meat and bread, in the same penurious proportion observed in our ordinary meals" (69-70; ch. 7). The Reverend Brocklehurst is a keen study in strict adhesion to class structure and status. He comes from a wealthy family and preaches very different standards to each group, his students at Lowood and his upper class congregation.

To the lower class, his students at Lowood, Brocklehurst preaches suffering for the Lord’s sake and self-denial. When he hears of the head mistress giving bread and cheese to replace burnt porridge he preaches to her about the benefits of suffering. He instructs the head mistress to remind the students of "the suffering of the Primitive Christians; the torment of martyrs; the exhortations of our blessed Lord himself, calling upon his disciples to take up their cross and follow him …to his divine consolations; if ye suffer hunger or thirst for my sake, happy are ye" (72; ch.7). He feels that what the girls are made to suffer will make them stronger. When the students at Lowood contract typhus it is due to the poor conditions in which they lived. Jane recalls that "Semi-starvation and neglected colds had predisposed most of the pupils to receive infection: forty-five out of eighty girls lay ill at one time" (85; ch. 9). Disease ran quickly through the students and many of them died from lack of proper care. Unlike Mr. Eyre, Mr. Brockelhurst doesn’t attend to the sick of his congregation. Jane recalls that "Mr. Brocklehurst and his family never came near Lowood now: the cross housekeeper was gone, driven away by infection" (86; ch. 9). He and his family strictly avoid Lowood once the infection is prevalent. He was of the doctrine that "the responsibility for suffering rested with the suffers" and thus "simply assumed that God was punishing a class of sinners" and "felt neither responsibility for suffering or a need to alleviate it" (Walsh 353). The followers of this doctrine felt no moral obligation to help others in need.

Mr. Brocklehurst believed as many of his social class did that they were entitled to special consideration because of their status in society. The Church of England reflected "a natural order of society in which the gentry took the lead" (Royle 31). The natural order meant that because of their social status the upper class did not have to follow the same rules as members of lower classes did. The Christian doctrine was interpreted to mean one thing for one class but something entirely different for another, with the upper class deciding for both groups.

The Reverend St. John Rivers is a blend of the two previously discussed clergyman. His social standing is of the upper class. We learn of his pedigree from Mr. Oliver, the wealthy father of the lovely Rosamond. According to Mr. Oliver, Rivers "was a very old name in the neighborhood, the ancestors of the house were wealthy; he considered that the representative of the house, if he liked, could make an alliance with the best" (362; ch. 32). Mr. Oliver believes that St. John is worthy of his daughter Rosamond. Jane observes that "Mr. Oliver evidently regarded the young clergyman’s good birth, old name, and sacred profession, as sufficient compensation for the want of fortune" (362; ch. 32). This acceptance of St. John as a husband to Rosamond is in contrast to the disinheritance of Jane's mother by the Reed family when she married Jane's father. One upper-class family sees the marriage as a step down in class and the other accepts it as a marriage of equals. This is true even though both men are of the same profession and neither one of them is wealthy. The difference is the class the clergyman comes from. It is a direct reflection of the priority given to social status over occupation.

St. John, while a member of the upper class, administers to his parish more like Reverend Eyre than Reverend Brockelhurst. His sister, Diane, tells Jane that St. John "is little at home and a large portion of his time appeared to be devoted to the sick and poor among the scattered population of his parish" (344; ch. 30). St. John is a member of the upper class by birth but works in a parish of lower class. This may be a reflection of his lower economic status. He is of the upper class by birth, but he has no wealth behind his status. The lack of a fortune behind him negates his entitlement to a wealthy parish.

Both Brocklehurst and St. John are administrators to charity schools as well as ministers to their parishes. It is seen as the responsibility of these two clergyman as members of the upper class to ensure that these schools offer the less fortunate some training. The means by which they do that is left up to the clergy. Education in parochial schools was one of the responsibilities of its clergy, but it was left to individual clergy to determine how best to fulfill this responsibility. The schools are similar in that they are both for the lower classes. This was one way that the upper class thought they were fulfilling their Christian duty. The main difference is Lowood is a boarding school for charity cases, while St. John runs a village school for the daughters of the farmers and poor of his parish. The establishment of the Lowood School fulfills two purposes. First, it is a charity school that allows benevolent ladies and gentleman to subscribe to help those less fortunate. Second, "parochial schools enabled the clergy to establish a close relationship with the next generations of churches " (Royle 24). This allowed the upper class to impose their ideas on the young minds of the lower class. The school that St. John offers Jane a position in is another type of charity school. He tells her that the school is "a village school. Your scholars will be only poor girls – cottager children – at the best, farmer’s daughters" (348; ch. 30). St. John knows as a governess Jane has been able to teach her student more accomplished lessons than "Knitting, sewing, reading, writing, cyphering" (348; ch. 30). In making this statement he shows his understanding of class distinction and what society expects of both groups.

The clergy of the Anglican Church of Victorian England directly represented the social class structure of society. Mr. Eyre was from a lower class family than Mrs. Eyre, and worked in a working class parish. In choosing to marry him, Mrs. Eyre sacrifices her standing in society and any contact, or economical support from her family. Mr. Eyre tends to his parish and practices what he preaches. Mr. Brockelhurst is from the upper class and preaches one set of standards to the students at Lowood and another for his family. He tends only to what he considers his duties and not true Christian doctrine of helping those less fortunate than himself. St. John Rivers is upper class by birth but is minister to a poor country parish. He practices Christian doctrine as well as preaching it. The difference between Mr. Eyre and St. John is that even though they both administer to the needs of their parishes, St. John still maintains his status and holds himself somewhat above his congregation. St. John sees himself only preparing the way to follow a more noble calling, that of a missionary. These three clergy reflect the social structure of Victorian England and of the Anglican Church. While they all belong to the same church, their ministries reflect their individual beliefs of Christianity and of the social class they belong to.

Haig, Alan. Victorian Clergy. London: CroomHelm, 1984.

Royle, Edward. Victorian Church in York. York: St Anthony’s, 1983.

Walsh, Cheryl. "The Incarnation and the Christian Socialist Conscience in the Victorian Church of England." Journal of British Studies 34 (1995) 351-74.