Chapter summaries 1-15

Chapter 1 

The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë begins when Jane is ten, living at Gateshead Hall after being taken in by her aunt, Mrs Reed. Jane is reading in the window seat and has drawn the curtains around her for privacy. Mrs Reed’s fourteen-year-old son, John, discovers Jane’s hiding place with the help of his sister, Eliza. John, who usually bullies Jane, tells Jane that she is not allowed to read the books they own, insults her, and attacks her. He throws the book at her hard enough to make her fall and cut her head, and when Jane calls John wicked, he attacks her again, and she fights back. Mrs Reed arrives to break them up and punishes Jane by sending her to the red room. 

Chapter 2

Jane is taken to the red room by Bessie, the children’s nurse, and Miss Abbot, Mrs Reed’s maid. They tell Jane that she should be grateful to Mrs Reed for taking her in and that she should behave because otherwise she would be sent away. They lock her in and leave. 

Jane wonders why she must always suffer and is never liked by anyone at Gateshead. She thinks that if her uncle Reed was still alive, he would have treated her nicely. She remembers that Mr Reed died in the red room nine years before and gets scared thinking she sees his ghost. Her scream makes Mrs Reed punish her with another hour alone in the red room, as she believes Jane is playing a trick to escape her punishment. Locked in the red room again, Jane faints from fear. 

Chapter 3

Jane wakes up in the nursery. Bessie watches over her and tries to be nice to her to lift her spirits. In the following days, however, Jane continues to feel weak and depressed. Mr Lloyd, the apothecary, is called, and Jane tells him she is unhappy at Gateshead. Mr Lloyd asks if she would like to live with other relatives, but Jane says she knows of none. He asks Jane if she would like to go to school instead, and she says she would, so Mr Lloyd agrees to talk to Mrs Reed. 

Chapter 4

Months pass and Mrs Reed does not send Jane to school. Instead, she ignores her and makes Jane eat alone and sleep in a closet. One day in January, a man called Mr Brocklehurst arrives at Gateshead to meet Jane. Mrs Reed reveals that she wants Brocklehurst to take Jane to Lowood school, where teachers could discipline her, as Jane is a disobedient and deceitful child. Brocklehurst says he will let the school know to expect Jane. After he leaves, Jane angrily confronts her aunt and tells her she dislikes her and will tell everyone she ever meets how cruelly Mrs Reed treated her. 

Chapter 5

Jane leaves Gateshead and travels alone to Lowood. She is greeted by two women, one of whom is a teacher, Miss Miller. Jane is taken to eat supper with all the other girls at Lowood and then to the bedroom to sleep.

The next day, Jane and the stude...