Mrs. Fairfax Quotes

I climbed the three staircases, raised the trap-door of the attic, and having reached the leads, looked out afar over sequestered field and hill, and along dim sky-line – that then I longed for a power of vision which might overpass that limit; which might reach the busy world, towns, regions full of life I had heard of but never seen: that I desired more of practical experience than I possessed; more of intercourse with my kind, of acquaintance with variety of character, than was here within my reach. I valued what was good in Mrs. Fairfax, and what was good in Adele; but I believed in the existence of other and more vivid kinds of goodness, and what I believed in I wished to behold. Who blames me? Many, no doubt; and I shall be called discontented. I could not help it: the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 12. Jane climbs to the highest point in Thornfield Hall, still feeling the restlessness that drove her to leave her teaching job Lowood School for the position of governess and tutor to Adele. Jane very much values her new life in Thornfield and the goodness of housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax and young pupil Adele. But she is fascinated by the great wide world out there and desires more for herself. She aches for something beyond and above her role of governess, which her social class and gender have condemned her to. Jane continues to struggle towards her goal of complete freedom and independence as a woman.