"_You_," I said, "a favourite with Mr. Rochester? _You_ gifted with the power of pleasing him? _You_ of importance to him in any way? Go! your folly sickens me. And you have derived pleasure from occasional tokens of preference—equivocal tokens shown by a gentleman of family and a man of the world to a dependent and a novice. How dared you? Poor stupid dupe!"
Chapter 16 · Jane Eyre
Context
Jane harshly addresses herself in an internal monologue, chastising her own foolishness for imagining that Mr. Rochester could have romantic feelings for her, a mere governess. She reminds herself of the class divide between them.
Analysis
The repeated italicized "You" turns self-address into self-assault, as if Jane is prosecuting herself in court—she becomes both accuser and defendant. Her piling up of insults ("folly," "stupid dupe") and rhetorical questions ("How dared you?") mimics the harsh, moralizing voice of authority figures from her past (like Mr. Brocklehurst), showing how thoroughly she has internalized social judgment. The phrase "equivocal tokens" is key: Jane herself names Rochester's gestures as ambiguous, yet she blames herself, not him, for misreading them—an act of self-punishment that reveals how class hierarchy shapes even private thought.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Jane's internal voice is colonized by class ideology—she polices her own desires using the same language society uses to keep governesses 'in their place,' revealing how Victorian social structures are reproduced through internalized shame.