Independence

Independence is the central moral and practical goal of Jane Eyre's life, achieved through inheritance, self-employment, and principled refusal of subordination. It is the condition that allows her to marry Rochester as an equal.

Definition and Development

Independence for Jane Eyre means financial self-sufficiency, moral autonomy, and freedom from the control of others. As a child at Gateshead, she is acutely aware of her dependence: she has no money, no parents, and is reminded by the servants that she is "less than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep" . This dependence is the foundation of her powerlessness. Her first act of defiance is to declare, "I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you" , asserting moral independence even while physically and economically dependent. The narrative repeatedly frames independence as a prerequisite for genuine love and respect. Jane tells Rochester, "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will" , and later, when she has inherited money, she declares, "I am an independent woman now" .

The Struggle for Self-Sufficiency

Jane's path to independence is marked by deliberate choices to earn her own living. After leaving Lowood, she advertises for a position and becomes a governess at Thornfield, a role that provides her with a salary of thirty pounds per annum . When she flees Thornfield to preserve her moral integrity, she endures near-starvation and homelessness rather than become Rochester's mistress. She accepts a humble position as a village schoolmistress at Morton, earning thirty pounds a year and living in a small cottage . This period of poverty and hard work is a deliberate test of her principles: she reflects that it is better to be "a village-schoolmistress, free and honest, in a breezy mountain nook in the healthy heart of England" than to be "a slave in a fool's paradise at Marseilles" .

The Achievement of Economic Independence

Jane's economic independence is secured when she inherits twenty thousand pounds from her uncle, John Eyre . Crucially, she does not hoard this wealth but insists on dividing it equally among herself and her newly discovered cousins, St. John, Diana, and Mary Rivers, giving each five thousand pounds. This act of justice demonstrates that her independence is not merely about personal enrichment but about moral principle and familial solidarity. With this inheritance, she becomes her own mistress, able to choose her life and her partner without financial constraint.

Independence as the Foundation of Marriage

Jane's independence is the condition that makes her marriage to Rochester possible as a union of equals. When she returns to him at Ferndean, he is blind and crippled, and she is financially independent. She tells him, "I am an independent woman now" , and offers to be his neighbor, nurse, and housekeeper, not his dependent. The marriage that concludes the novel is a quiet wedding with only the parson and clerk present , a deliberate contrast to the grand, interrupted ceremony at Thornfield. Jane's final state is one of complete, reciprocal union: "I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest—blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine" . This happiness is built on the foundation of her hard-won independence, which allows her to love without sacrificing her self.