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Brocklehurst Jane Eyre

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The Presentation of Mr. Brocklehurst in Bronte's Jane Eyre Chapter seven sees Jane slightly more experienced to the ways of Lowood School. She has come to accept the poor conditions laid down by Mr. Brocklehurst, however has not yet learnt to ignore them and Bronte describes Jane suffering a lot in this chapter. This lack of food and appalling living conditions are down to the head of the school, Mr. Brocklehurst. This man uses his apparent strong beliefs in Christianity as an excuse to provide the children of Lowood with the absolute bare minimum. Brocklehurst claims his “mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh”, presenting the idea that perhaps Brocklehurst is simply a man that has a immensely firm grasp of his …show more content…

     Shortly after, Brocklehurst gives a short lecture to Miss. Temple ("Madam allow me an instant...starve their immortal souls!") proclaiming the righteousness behind his puritanist doctrine he forces upon the girls. He speaks to Miss. Temple in a civil tone, however he maintains a superior, self-obsessed tone throughout. His beliefs are directly spoonfed to the reader here, he simply reels them off and this is where the reader's initial interpretation of Brocklehurst simply being an immensely cruel man with no empathy whatsoever is replaced with a view of him being a religious fanatic. He is not portrayed as hypocritical at this stage, simply quite obsessive towards his beliefs. It is possible to interpret him as a decent human being here, as it appears he genuinely believes that unless the girls live a life following a set of standards like what he is putting across here they will without go to hell. The girls had recently been prepared extra food after their breakfast was spoilt. He states that a "judiscious instructor" would take this oppurtunity to refer to the "suffering of primitive christians" and the "torments of martyrs", suggesting that he genuinely believes he is creating faithful martyrs out of the girls by treating them like this. He quotes from the Bible "If ye suffer hunger...happy are ye", apparently valuing this quote and doing everything he can

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