How do we read the interpretation of class in small details in Jane Eyre? 3 women, 3 classes, 3 morals

 “Blanche was straight and tall as poplars and molded like a Dian (Italian Goddess). She had the noblest bust, the sloping shoulders, the graceful neck, the dark eyes and black ringlets were all there:- but her face? Her face was like her mother’s; a youthful unfurrowed likeness: the same low brow, the same high features, the same pride. She laughed continually; her laugh was satirical, and so was the habitual expression of her arched and haughty lip. She was a puppet.”

 In Bronte’s novel, an aristocratic order that locates value in wealth finds its expression in Blanche Ingram: beautiful, elegant, theatrical, and disdainful of all outside her sphere, she incarnates aristocratic luxury and display in her very body.

 “A figure ran backwards and forwards. What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight tell: it groveled seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some wild animal: but it was covered with clothing, and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face…the clothed hyena rose up on its two hind legs. The maniac parted its hair and I recognized that purple face and bloated features…She was a big woman, in stature almost equaling her husband…She spent her time trying to drag me to the bedroom.

 Yet in the novel poor women, like their male counterparts, also frequently embody a failure a failure of middle-class discipline that reinforces stark boundaries. As male violence or drunkenness exiles a character from bourgeois (middle class) standing, so too does it illicit female sexuality.

 She was a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one cannot care for such a little toad like that…Little darling!- with her curls and her blue eyes, and a such a sweet color as she has; just as if she were painted! She was famous for her plainness and she naturally conformed to nature.

 In Jane, by contrast- ‘poor, disconnected and plain’ ­– Blanche’s ornamental being is countered by an ideal of inner worth, of moral character located in earnestness, independence, and self-discipline.