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Mr. Brocklehurst is the cruel, hypocritical master of the Lowood School where Jane lives for nine years. He prides himself on creating “hardy, patient, self-denying” young girls who can humbly serve society once they graduate. His methods, however, are abusive, and generate an oppressive atmosphere that prizes repression and passivity above all else. Mr. Brocklehurst (along with Mrs. Reed) is the first of many characters throughout the novel who will attempt to corral Jane’s spirit and bend her to their will. Fortunately, our young heroine is too strong-willed to be beaten into submission, and Mr. Brocklehurst’s treatment only produces rage and not the desired compliance.
His character is also significant because it introduces Jane Eyre’s thematic emphasis on religion and faith. Over the course of the novel, Jane encounters three models of religion—that of Mr. Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, and St. John Rivers—that she will ultimately reject as she forms her own ideas about faith and principle. Evangelism has turned Mr. Brocklehurst into a tyrant. He claims to be purging his students of pride, which he views as the ultimate sin, but his methods are unnecessarily cruel and oppressive. For example, he routinely allows the girls to go hungry so they will become used to suffering, and he orders the teachers to cut the hair of any girl with natural curls because he does not want to encourage vanity.
Mr. Brocklehurst is not just heartless—he is also a hypocrite. He is a devout Christian who believes that God created all people in His image, but he polices the bodies of these young girls by “correcting” their natural state. He preaches humility and hardiness, but he uses the money he earns from the school to fund his family’s lavish lifestyle. His daughters (who all have long curly hair) are dressed in the latest fashion, and one gets the sense that a meal is never missed in the Brocklehurst home. Mr. Brocklehurst’s fear-mongering, abusive, and hypocritical interpretation of religion highlights Brontë’s wariness of the Evangelical movement and sets Jane off on her quest to find a type of faith that suits her strong moral compass.
