“Hints on the Modern Governess System”, an article published in Fraser’s Magazine in 1844, discusses the lifestyles of governesses of the time. The article describes education as the “work of life” which sustains “intellectual and moral growth” (568). The position of governess was a cost-effective alternative to formal education for many Victorian families; rather than send their children away to school, parents could instead hire a governess to come into their home and conduct lessons. It was a position known to women alone; education was the “holy vocation of a woman”, a trade in and of itself (568). Yet the article laments the difficulties of the life a governess. Although the job was a way for women, even those of lower classes, to emerge from the traditional domestic life and make a place for themselves in the workforce, it was no easy task. The pay was poor, and the children difficult; many young governesses were ill prepared for the “childish follies and perversities which need a mother’s instinctive love to make them tolerable” (571). Furthermore, a governess was expected to keep her reservations about the children she taught to herself. To vent her frustrations would be to betray the trust of the family she works for, as a governess was the “confidante of many family secrets” (572). Despite her involvement in family affairs, the governess was otherwise ostracized by the family from anything that wasn’t school-related, resulting in feelings of isolation and loneliness on her behalf.

Jane, the protagonist of Jane Eyre, takes up the role of governess for reasons not unlike those suggested in the Fraser’s Magazine article. After six years as a student of Lowood and two as a teacher, Jane yearns for “liberty” of the place she has spent the entirety of her adolescence (151). She becomes the governess at the Thornfield estate for a young girl named Adele. Although she takes a liking to Adele, Jane does indeed experience the loneliness known to governesses, which she calls a dreaded “stagnation” (185).

Yet Thornfield is a strange place; Mr. Rochester, Adele’s guardian, makes no claim to be her actual father, yet she lives with him at Thornfield because her own mother, Mr. Rochester’s ex-lover, abandoned her. Jane often hears a crazed laugh coming from the grounds of the estate, which are attributed to the seamstress, Grace. Jane later saves Mr. Rochester’s life from a fire in the middle of the night, which he is grateful for, and asks her not to speak of the incident to anyone. He tells Jane he knew she would “do [him] good in some way” the day he met her (244).Jane, though she takes up what is considered a lowly position in Victorian society, serves an important role at the Thornfield estate as something of a parental figure for Adele and an object of fascination for Mr. Rochester