In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Jane encounters two men of considerable power that profoundly change her life. One man, Edmund Rochester, is the love of her life, however, he is in an unfortunate marriage with a savage woman. The second man, St. John Rivers, will not be able to fulfill Jane's emotional needs and desires like Rochester can. Jane's relationships with Rochester and St. John become evident by the settings in which they interact with each other. Through her comparisons and contrasts of characters and settings, Charlotte Bronte is able to guide the reader through the turbulent chapters of the novel that ultimately decide the fate of the title character, Jane Eyre.
             Charlotte Bronte uses settings to represent relationships and to interconnect events throughout the novel. Thornfield is the primary setting because it is in the middle of the plot and it attributes "structural unity" to the novel (Napierkowski 172). Thornfield is the ideal home for Jane in that every other place she has ever or will ever reside in is subject to comparison to the mansion. Moor House is Thornfield's "antithesis" because Moor House is a place where Jane is cared for, whereas in Thornfield, she is one of the caretakers of Adele (Craik 10). The teacher's cottage that the Oliver family provides for Jane is also much different from Thornfield in that it offers "the bare necessities of life; physical, mental, and emotional" (Craik 10-1). Jane lived alone, with the exception of an occasional visitor, and had the simplest furnishings possible. In Thornfield, Jane had all of life's luxuries at her fingertips; fine furnishings, agreeably nice companions, entertainment, and the love of her life were contained within the walls of the mansion. Thornfield also differs from the Lowood Institution; in Thornfield, "freedom and happiness" are "in its gardens and landscap...