Jane Eyre · Chapter
Chapter XXI explained
Jane returns to Gateshead to visit the dying Mrs.
What happens
Jane returns to Gateshead to visit the dying Mrs. Reed, who remains cold and resentful. Mrs. Reed confesses her hatred for Jane and reveals that she once told Jane's uncle, John Eyre, that Jane had died at Lowood. Jane observes the starkly different personalities of her cousins, Eliza and Georgiana, and reflects on how much she has changed since leaving Gateshead.
Themes in this chapter
Religion and Hypocrisy
Eliza's rigid piety and focus on the Rubric contrast with her coldness toward her dying mother, highlighting religious hypocrisy.
Social Class and Inequality
Mrs. Reed's disdain for Jane's mother's 'low marriage' and her view of Jane as a 'pauper brat' underscore class prejudices.
Self-Respect and Integrity
Jane maintains her dignity and composure despite Mrs. Reed's hostility, showing growth in self-respect.
Characters to notice
- Jane Eyre
Returns to Gateshead to see the dying Mrs. Reed, maintaining composure and reflecting on her past.
- Mrs. Reed
On her deathbed, still bitter and resentful toward Jane, confessing her hatred and the lie she told John Eyre.
- Eliza Reed
Appears ascetic and severe, devoted to rigid routines and religious practices, indifferent to her mother's illness.
- Georgiana Reed
Self-absorbed and frivolous, preoccupied with past social triumphs and future dissipations, neglecting her mother.
- Bessie Lee
Welcomes Jane warmly at the lodge, shares news of the family, and accompanies her to the hall.
Key passages
“I had once vowed that I would never call her aunt again: I thought it no sin to forget and break that vow now.”
Jane breaks her childhood vow not to call Mrs. Reed 'aunt,' feeling it is justified by the circumstances.
Shows Jane's moral flexibility and compassion in the face of death.
“I knew by her stony eye—opaque to tenderness, indissoluble to tears—that she was resolved to consider me bad to the last; because to believe me good would give her no generous pleasure: only a sense of mortification.”
Jane realizes Mrs. Reed will never change her opinion of her, as admitting Jane's goodness would only humiliate her.
Highlights Mrs. Reed's stubbornness and Jane's painful insight into human nature.
“I had a dislike to her mother always; for she was my husband's only sister, and a great favourite with him: he opposed the family's disowning her when she made her low marriage.”
Mrs. Reed admits she hated Jane's mother because Mr. Reed favored her and opposed the family's rejection of her after her low-status marriage.
Reveals the class-based resentment that fueled Mrs. Reed's cruelty.
“I still felt as a wanderer on the face of the earth; but I experienced firmer trust in myself and my own powers, and less withering dread of oppression.”
Though Jane still feels rootless, she now has greater self-confidence and less fear of being oppressed.
Shows Jane's emotional growth since leaving Gateshead as a child.