Editing Jane Eyre (section)

=== Gateshead Hall ===
[[File:P30b.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Young Jane argues with her guardian, Mrs Reed of Gateshead, illustration by [[F. H. Townsend]]]]
Jane Eyre, aged 10, lives at Gateshead Hall with her maternal uncle's family, the Reeds, as a result of her uncle's dying wish. Jane was [[orphan]]ed several years earlier when her parents died of [[typhus]]. Jane's uncle, Mr Reed, was the only one in the Reed family who was kind to Jane. Jane's aunt, Sarah Reed, dislikes her and treats her as a burden. Mrs Reed also discourages her three children from associating with Jane. As a result Jane becomes defensive against her cruel judgement. The nursemaid, Bessie, proves to be Jane's only ally in the household, even though Bessie occasionally scolds Jane harshly. Excluded from the family activities, Jane lives an unhappy childhood.
One day, as punishment for defending herself against the bullying of her 14-year-old cousin John, the Reeds' only son, Jane is locked in the ''red room'' in which her late uncle had died; there she faints from panic after she thinks she has seen his ghost. The red room is significant because it lays the grounds for the "ambiguous relationship between parents and children" which plays out in all of Jane's future relationships with male figures throughout the novel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE&#124;A141169742&v=2.1&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w|title=Jane Eyre in the red-room: Madeleine Wood explores the consequences of Jane's childhood trauma|last=Wood|first=Madeleine|access-date=7 December 2018}}</ref> She is subsequently attended to by the kindly [[apothecary]], Mr Lloyd, to whom Jane reveals how unhappy she is living at Gateshead Hall. He recommends to Mrs Reed that Jane should be sent to school, an idea Mrs Reed happily supports.

Mrs Reed then enlists the aid of the harsh Mr Brocklehurst, the director of Lowood Institution, a [[charity school]] for girls, to enroll Jane. Mrs Reed cautions Mr Brocklehurst that Jane has a "tendency to deceit", which he interprets as Jane being a liar. Before Jane leaves, however, she confronts Mrs Reed and declares that she'll never call her "aunt" again. Jane also tells Mrs Reed and her daughters, Georgiana and Eliza, that they are the ones who are deceitful, and that she will tell everyone at Lowood how cruelly the Reeds treated her. Mrs Reed is hurt badly by these words but has neither the courage nor the tenacity to show it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brontë|first1=Charlotte|title=Jane Eyre|url=https://archive.org/details/janeeyreautobiog02bron|date=16 October 1847|publisher=Smith, Elder & Co.|location=London, England|pages=[https://archive.org/details/janeeyreautobiog02bron/page/105 105]}}</ref>