I had a dislike to her mother always; for she was my husband's only sister, and a great favourite with him: he opposed the family's disowning her when she made her low marriage; and when news came of her death, he wept like a simpleton.
Chapter 21 · Mrs Reed
Context
Mrs. Reed explains to Jane why she always hated her: Jane's mother was Mr. Reed's beloved sister, and Mrs. Reed resented her husband's attachment to his sister and later to Jane, especially after his sister made what the family considered a degrading marriage.
Analysis
Mrs. Reed's diction—'low marriage,' 'wept like a simpleton'—encodes class contempt as plain fact. The simile 'like a simpleton' dismisses her husband's grief as foolish and excessive, revealing that she considers emotional attachment across class lines not just unwise but stupid. Her narrative voice is resentful and self-justifying, and because Jane reports it without editorial comment, we are positioned to judge Mrs. Reed's coldness directly, seeing how class prejudice hardens into domestic cruelty.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Brontë uses free indirect discourse to expose how the upper classes rationalize cruelty—Mrs. Reed's explanation reveals that her abuse of Jane was rooted in jealousy and class anxiety, not any fault of Jane's, indicting the Reed family's moral bankruptcy.