Patrick Marcoux

When Jane Eyre resided at Gateshead Hall, under the care of her aunt, Mrs. Reed, she yearned for a change. The treatment that she received at Gateshead Hall was cruel, unjust, and most importantly, lacked nurture. Jane wanted to escape Gateshead Hall and enter into a school. The school that was imposed upon Jane was Lowood Institution. Through her eight year stay at Lowood, Jane learned how to control her frustrations and how to submit to authority. After leaving Lowood Institution and taking the occupation as governess at Thornfield Hall, Jane realized that her experiences at Gateshead Hall and Lowood Institution had deeply rooted themselves into her personality. After departing Thornfield Hall, Jane wandered about as a vagabond. Arriving at Whitcross, Jane was starving, cold, and in need of help. It is St. John Rivers who aids in helping Jane back to health. Through her experiences at Gateshead Hall, Lowood Institution, and Whitcross, Jane Eyre becomes the recipient of the positive and negative aspects of the New Poor Law depicted by Charlotte Bronte in nineteenth-century England.

Under the care of Mrs. Reed, Jane's aunt, Jane is treated as though she is a "wicked and abandoned child" (60; ch. 4). Her "father had been a poor clergyman" (58; ch. 3) and both her parents died from typhus fever. She was given to her motherí's sister-in-law in "promise of Mrs. Reed that she would rear and maintain her as one of her own children" (48; ch. 2). Jane is treated just the opposite. She entered into Gateshead Hall, the residence of the Reeds, in hopes of being brought up a civil and well-nurtured child. Instead, Jane is treated as a subservient child who is abused not only by Mrs. Reed, but also by her children.

John Reed, Mrs. Reed's son, "was a schoolboy of fourteen years old" (41; ch. 1). He constantly reminds Jane that she is inferior to him. In one instance, finding that Jane had borrowed one of John's books, he physically and mentally torments her:

You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mamma says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not live here with gentleman's children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mamma's expense. Now, I'll teach you to rummage my book-shelves. (43; ch. 1)

After yelling at Jane, John Reed threw the book at her and caused her head to bleed. The entire outcome of this incident was blamed on Jane; not because she borrowed a book, but because she was considered "less than a servant" and a wicked child by everyone who resided at Gateshead Hall, including the servants (44; ch. 2). It was hard for Jane, who at the time was ten years old, to understand why she was treated so harshly. She questioned herself as to why she deserved such ill-treatment: "Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, and forever condemned?" (46; ch. 2). The only answer she could come up was that she "was a discord in Gateshead Hall" and that she "had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children" (47; ch. 2). Jane did not even consider the Reeds as part of her family. "I am unhappy--very unhappy . . . For one thing, I have no father or mother, brothers or sisters" (56; ch. 3). Jane longed for a "complete change . . . an entrance into a new life . . . I should indeed like to go to school" (57; ch. 3). With the help of Mr. Loyd, the Reed's family physician, he encouraged Mrs. Reed to let Jane enter a school.

The school that was picked out for Jane, which was recommended to Mrs. Reed, was Lowood Institution. Jane asked, "Who could want me?" (63; ch. 4). The answer to her question came to Gateshead looking like "a black pillar" (63; ch. 4). This black pillar was a man by the name of Mr. Brocklehurst. Mr. Brocklehurst, the Master at Lowood, decided to accept Jane into his institution, and relieve Mrs. Reed of the responsibility of Jane who was "becoming too irksome" (67; ch. 4) for her to handle. Upon arriving at Lowood, Jane befriends Helen Burns. It is through Helen Burns that she realizes what type of school she was attending. When Jane asks Helen, "Why do they call it an institution?" Helen responds: "Because it is partly a charity-school . . . and we are charity-children" (82; ch. 5). Jane, trying to fathom Helen's response, wants to know who was providing the charity for her. Helen says: "Different benevolent-minded ladies and gentlemen in this neighbourhood and in London" (82; ch. 5). It is through Helen and Jane's dialogue that we begin to see how the New Poor Law had an influence on Charlotte Bronte's depiction of charity-schools. The same laws that applied to the New Poor Law also applied to Lowood. The fact that Mr. Brocklehurst was a clergyman and the Master at Lowood, shows what type of occupation ran the charity-schools.

Just as The Times reported cases of mistreating and abusing children under the New Poor Law, Charlotte Bronte depicts the atmosphere and treatment of Jane as a recipient of the harshnesses at Lowood. When explaining what she ate at Lowood, Jane described one of her meals as looking like "strange shreds of rusty meat" (84; ch. 5). In addition to the appearance of the food came the problem of how much she was allowed to eat. In explaining her meal, Jane said, "how small my portion seemed! I wish it had been doubled" (85; ch. 6). Besides the meals being little and unappealing, the sleeping conditions at Lowood were miserable. After waking up one morning, Jane discovered that "a keen northeast wind had crept through the crevices of her bedroom windows, made her shiver in her bed, and turned the water pitchers to ice" (85; ch. 6).

Although Jane received a formal education at Lowood, she still "desired liberty" (117; ch. 10). After searching for a job, Jane realized she was once "an outcast, a beggar, and a vagrant" (387; ch. 31). She becomes grateful for the charity and job as a teacher that Mr. St. John Rivers bestowed upon her.

The charity that Mr. Rivers showed towards Jane exemplified the kind of philanthropy that Charlotte Bronte depicted as being genuine; on the other hand, the kinds of treatment that Jane received at Gateshead Hall and Lowood Institution were the types of charity that were governed by the New Poor Law administrators. In Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre, she clearly illustrated how she viewed charity and philanthropy under the ruling of the New Poor Law.