Introductory Remarks to Section III

Jane Eyre's recapitulation of the benefits that an English school bestowed on young Adèle is revealing for three reasons: it postulates that foreign birth is a misfortune only partially remediable by being educated in England; it suggests that docility is a high-ranking moral virtue, comparable to a good temper and high principles; and it implies that the character-building properties of a young woman's education are more important than any academic attainments or occupational skills it may impart. The last two views were prevalent among early-nineteenth-century commentators on education, and the first was, as Chapter 1 showed, shared by many.

Soundness and Englishness form the basis of the patent assumption of superiority which underlies Jane's words on the education of Adèle Varens. By the early nineteenth century, the phrase ‘a sound English education’ had acquired connotations beyond the literal meaning of the words: it summed up the essence of the knowledge-orientated part of the female curriculum. Whatever the scope of the tuition, under whatever circumstances it was offered and whatever the qualifications and ambitions of the instructor, ‘a sound English education’ was one part of what a girl was sure to encounter in the schoolroom.