Characters of the novel Jane EyreAs in most characters' sheet, here be spoilers, both marked and unmarked. Reader, beware!
Jane Eyre
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Averted. Jane is neither unaware of nor willing to tolerate Mr. Rochester's faults, although she does think she can change him.
Bookworm: Jane reads a lot. Even in her very first scene, she seeks refuge in the library with a book.
Cinderella Circumstances: She is a daughter of a rich gentry woman and a clergyman. However, her parents died. Her mother's brother kindly took her as his won daughter, but unfortunately he died as well. His wife treats her as the worst wicked stepmother there ever was.
Deadpan Snarker : "I had green eyes, reader, but for him they were newly dyed I suppose."
Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Twice: Once when she calls the old aunt out, and asks Mrs Reed if she thinks she could live without any kindness or sympathy. The other time is when she gets provoked by Mr Rochester into the "our spirits are equal, yadda yadda" speech.
I Just Want to Have Friends: As a child. She even tells Helen that she'd willingly get kicked by a horse if it would make Helen love her.
Mama Bear: Towards Adèle. She doesn't take it well when people mistreat her, but as a governess, she often cannot do a lot.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Subversion. Rochester sees Jane as this, but Jane strongly disagrees.
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: She's the Masculine Girl to Rochester's Feminine Boy, having much more moral strength, self-worth, and practicality, which are considered to be traditional masculine traits (especially during the Victorian Age).
They are also a Red Oni, Blue Oni pair, with practical, quietly strong Jane as the Blue Oni (with occasional moments of passion) and fiery, unpredictable Mr Rochester as the Red Oni.
May-December Romance: Jane is eighteen. Rochester is old enough to be her father.
Plain Jane: Arguably the Trope Namer, although it's hinted that she's more attractive than she gives herself credit for.
Spirited Young Lady: She's not afraid to talk and she acts quite freely. However, her lowly position as a governess makes her sometimes appear less lively than this archetype character typically does.
Unexpected Inheritance: She ends up inheriting a large fortune from her paternal uncle, whom she never met in person.
The Unfavorite: Her aunt absolutely despised her. The reason was that Jane was a favourite of her late husband who seemed to prefer little Jane over his own children. She also didn't approve of Jane's character who was not a traditionally cute child.
Deadpan Snarker: He snarks a lot at practically everybody. He's so deadpan that he manages to play a role of a gypsy woman, telling fortune to several female characters. Only one of them figures it out.
Gold Digger: Married Bertha for her money, and also for her renowned beauty.
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Céline is simply the only mistress Rochester names. He tells Jane there have been other women, but none of them were what he wanted in a long-tern relationship.
Manipulative Bastard: He plays many strange tricks on Jane to make her jealous and to keep her from finding out about Bertha.
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: He's the Feminine Boy to Jane's Masculine Girl, being motivated and controlled by his emotions while Jane has a more practical, down-to-earth approach to solving problems.
May-December Romance: With Jane. She's in her late teens and he's in his forties when they meet.
Tall, Dark and Snarky: He's described as very dark and nearly black. He compares himself to Hephaistos, a Greek god of fire and black-smithery. Jane agrees. He appears intimidating to nearly everybody. It's partly his defence mechanism because he suffered a lot, but it's easy to imagine him as a snarker even in his young age with his family.
Unexplained Recovery: Eventually recovers from the fire at Thornfield, which Bertha caused.
The Unfavorite: So Rochester claims. He had an older brother, who his father liked more. Certainly, his father did refuse to split the inheritance.
Break the Haughty: She a very proud and haughty rich woman at the beginning of the novel. Her son failed her, however, ruining their family. She's also very uncomfortable being humbled by Jane.
Doting Parent: To her own children. They do not thank her for it. Especially John.
Jerkass: She's mean and nasty to Jane, never showing her a shade of affection, yet believes herself to be her nice benefactress, wrthy of praise and admiration. What an effing bitch!
Karmic Death: She never did anything to redeem herself and never regretted the way she treated her poor orphaned niece. She died when her son was dead, her family in debts and her daughters barely caring for her. Sad fate, but she fully deserved it. And it was good riddance.
Kick the Dog: Concealing Jane's existence from her existing relatives.
Widow Woman: Her husband died. She's never shown missing him. She promised him she would take care of his niece, but regretted that he made her promised that.
John Reed
The Bully: He bullies Jane nearly constantly. Nice way to go, jerk, beating up a younger girl!
Driven to Suicide: His wild life and immense card debts drive him to shoot himself.
Fat Bastard: When he's adult, several characters describe him as fat. He was never shown to be kind to anybody.
Handsome Devil: When meeting up with an older Jane, Bessie describes his grown-up self as this. He's handsome and tall, if big, but treats everyone like shit and makes Mrs. Reed suffer with his horrible behavior.
Jerkass: He takes after his mother in being nasty. He seems to enjoy torturing young Jane. When he's ault, he was jerk to his mother as well, constantly asking her for money.
Karmic Death: Was there a reader who yould shed a tear for him? He was a jerk to everbody and treated people like crap. No wonder it bit him in the butt.
Spoiled Brat: Had Mr Reed been bringing up her children better, he might have turned differently. But his mother never denined him anything, thiinking he was a genius and a perfect boy.
Ungrateful Bastard: Never had any love for the mother that gave him anything he wanted.
The Hedonist: Jane observes she likes enjoying herself. She used to be quite gentle and sublime as a girl, but turned out a rather fat, yet still very handsome woman.
She Is All Grown Up: She becomes quite a beauty and manages to marry well from it.
Spoiled Brat: Her mother indulged her children quite unreasonably.
Eliza Reed
Creature Of Habit: Jane observes she has her day planned out meticulously and never steers from it.
The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With Georgiana. Bessie says they argued a lot especially when Georgiana nearly run off with a Lord, but Eliza spoilt it because she didn't wish her sister would be thus elevated.
Heel Face Turn: In how she treats Jane after growing up. They aren't friends, but she does admit they are equals, and says good-bye sincerely.
The Spock: Jane thinks she's all sense and no heart.
Bessie Lee
Brutal Honesty: She's able to tell Jane in her face that she's no beauty and that she never was very pretty. She's not unkind, though.
Maid: She works as a maid in Mrs Reed's household.
Only Sane Woman: She's the only one reasonable in Gateshead. Pity she's a servant and has no influence.
Happily Married: She's happily married and has several children when she and Jane reunite after eight years.
Parental Substitute: She's a much better mother figure for Jane than Mrs.Reed, and Jane always remembered her fondly after leaving the Reed home.
Team Mom: The nanny at the Reed's home, and among the few that treated Jane more or less well. Though ideally she would have been more actively kind and more affectionate towards Jane.
Holier Than Thou: Shown especially in the scene when he forces a girl to cut her naturally curly hair when his own wife and daughters wear fake curls.
Hypocrite: In how he provides for his family, as opposed to how he provides for the girls at Lowood. Bites him in the ass badly later.
Jerkass: He's a mean one. He treats the orphaned girls and their teachers like they're worthless. He's evil and stupid, and he doesn't even know it.
Sinister Minister: As a clergyman of rich, honourable and influential family, he has quite a strong position, but he has a sick, twisted mind. For instance, he scares Jane with his idea of hell and horrible religious teachings.
Maria Temple
Cool Big Sis: She becomes one to Jane when Jane grows up and becomes a teacher at Lowood.
Cool Teacher: She's very intelligent and treats her girls wonderfully.
Nice Girl: She's wonderful to Jane and Helen, treating them like her equals (an adult woman to little girls in Regency England, no less) or like an affectionate friend.
Reasonable Authority Figure: The headmistress of a practically Spartan school, Miss Temple is nevertheless kind to the girls and insists that they be given decent food, and enough food at that, despite Mr. Brocklehurst's idea of an adequate budget.
Helen Burns
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Jane climbs to her bed and they fall asleep together. Helen never wakes up. Jane only remember that somebody lifted her up and took away.
Ill Girl: She suffers from consumption, poor lamb.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She was the sweetest, cutest girl imaginable and her spirit was noble and dignified (almost scary for a child). Such girls are not made for this evil world. She would suffer too much.
Mrs. Alice Fairfax
Apron Matron: She's a housekeeper at Thornfield and she has mother-like vibes about most most characters. She might not be the most perceptive or the brightest woman on Earth, but she is kind and caring.
Cool Old Lady: She's all right. She has some kind of motherly affection for Jane and Adele. Other servants at Thornfield seem a fairly happy lot, so it's clear she treats them fine.
Stepford Smiler: Mrs. Fairfax is always pleasant, despite the implications that she knows, and disapproves, of her master's behavior. Even when she talks to Jane about the marriage proposal, it is in the spirit of a friendly warning and nothing more, despite her alarm.
Adèle Varens
Deliberately Cute Child: She's adorable and she knows it. She likes pretty dresses and pretty flowers.
Missing Mom: Her mother abandoned her and never cared for her after that.
Morality Pet: To Rochester. The man has serious issues, but his treatment of Adele shows him in his best life. He gave her a good home even though she's most likely not his biological daughter. He's sometimes a little mean to her, but he's never abusive. All in all, what Rochester does for the little girl is admirable.
Parental Abandonment: She believes her mother has died, but Rochester seems to imply that her mother just dumped her and ran off.
Spoiled Sweet: She's a spoilt child which is a thing Jane doesn't like, but she's not beyond the point of possible improvement.
Blanche Ingram
Child Hater: She has no patience for Adèle and is making plans to pack her off to boarding school almost immediately after setting foot in Rochester's home.
Gold Digger: She's from a good family, but had virtually no dowry. She wants to marry Rochester for his money, big fancy house and vast property.
Identical Stranger: Turns out she looks just like Rochester's wife, Bertha Mason.
Jerkass: She's quite cruel to people, especially to Jane and little Adele. She also stealthily insulted one sweet lady of her social standing, abusing her slightly superior knowledge.
Rich Bitch: She's a beautiful woman from a rich family background, even though she specifically has no money of her own. And boy, is she a bitch! She gleefully spoke about how horrible all governesses are, perfectly awere of the fact that Jane is in the room and can hear it as well.
Pyro Maniac: She seems to like fire a lot. She nearly burned Mr Rochester in his bed once, and she's responsible for the fire revealed at the end of the book.
Big Brother Instinct: Saves his sister's honour by stopping the wedding of Rochester to Jane, which would have been illegal as Bertha is still alive.
Chick Magnet: Rochester's female guests take quite a shine to him.
Extreme Doormat: He behaves very submissively to Mr Rochester. Said gentleman doesn't take it too well, but at least he appreciates that he's capable of feeling.
Minor Injury Overreaction: To be fair, it was probably quite a painful wound, but he was ready to give up and die after Bertha attacks him.
Uncanny Valley: In-Universe, Jane describes him as being right out of it:
"...I like his physiognomy even less than before: it struck me as being, at the same time, unsettled and inanimate. His eye wandered, and had no meaning in its wandering: this gave him an odd look, such as I never remembered to have seen. For a handsome and not unamiable-looking man, he repelled me exceedingly..."
The Fundamentalist: St. John is just as hardcore religious as Brocklehurst, only he is entirely sincere about it. He believes he must be a missionary and that to do less is to ignore God's plans for him. He goes so far as to accuse Jane of refusing God by refusing to marry him.
The Missionary: His ultimate career choice. He sees it as his noble calling.
Pretty Boy: Jane describes him very handsome. He's compared to a God from classical mythology.
Promotion to Parent: His sister a little youger and they all take care of each other.
Diana and Mary Rivers
Cool Big Sis: Both become loving (adoptive) siblings to Jane.
Long Lost Relative: They take Jane under their wing, not knowing they are in fact her paternal cousins.
Nice Girls: They are extremely nice to Jane, a stanger who knocks on their house, half starved to death and ill. They nurse her to health and offer her their home.
Rosamond Oliver
Beauty Equals Goodness: Jane describes her as extremely beautiful with nearly every feature perfect. She's a bit vain, but amiable.
Daddy's Girl: Her father loves her more than anything.
Spoiled Sweet: She's a spoilt girl who knew nothing but indulgence, but she's never jerkish or proud.
Mr. John Eyre
Bus Crash: Jane, as well as the readers, never get to meet him. He dies and leaves his fortune to Jane.
The Ghost: He's spoken of quite a lot, but he never appears himself.
Long Lost Relative: He's Jane's paternal uncle. He wanted to take care of Jane at one point, but Mrs Reed lied to him that Jane had died. God knows how he found out later that Jane survived after all.
Self-Made Man: He's a businessman who represented a wine-selling company. He has made quite a fortune.
