Jane Eyre's Pandemic
A (fictional) perspective on a pandemic from one of the most beloved Brontë heroines.
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| Painting above: The Pilgrim Folk c. 1914 by Marie Spartali Spillman |
Yes, there will be some spoilers if you haven't read this book.
I'm currently re-reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and have just cleared the part where poor Helen dies and realized that our heroine Jane lives through a pandemic experience much like what we're going through now.
I am especially interested as Brontë's account of this particular pandemic (typhus) focuses on the experience of women and girls, and poor women and girls at that. As we know, girls and women, especially marginalized (i.e. poor, not white, differently abled) girls and women, are disproportionately affected by global health crises, be it typhus or COVID.
In Jane Eyre, our titular Jane is about ten years old and attending Lowood Institution when the pandemic strikes. Lowood is basically boarding school for poor or orphaned girls, supported by wealthier members of their rural community, but lorded over by the zealous and wildly ineffectual Mr. Brocklehurst. Jane is one of the lucky ones who escapes with her health, though not without experiencing the trauma of losing not only her best friend at school, but many of her unfortunate classmates.
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| Painting above: Farm Scene (date unknown) by Marie Spartali Spillman |
The Timing
"April advanced to May: a bright, serene May it was; days of blue sky, placid sunshine, and soft western or southern gales filled up its duration. And now vegetation matured with vigour; Lowood shook loose its tresses; it became all green, all flowery; its great elm, ash, and oak skeletons were restored to majestic life"
"That forest-dell, where Lowood lay, was a cradle of fog and fog-bred pestilence; which, quickening spring, crept into the Orphan Asylum, breathed typhus through its crowded school-room and dormitory, and, ere May arrived, transformed the seminary into an hospital."
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The Onslaught
"Semi-starvation and neglected colds had predisposed most of the pupils to receive infection:
forty-five of the eighty girls lay ill at one time."
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The Quarantine
"Classes were broken up, rules relaxed. The few who continued well were allowed almost unlimited license; because the medical attendant insisted on the necessity of frequent exercise to keep them in health: and had it been otherwise, no one had the leisure to watch or restrain them. Miss Temple's whole attention was absorbed by the patients: she lived in the sick-room; never quitting except to snatch a few hours' rest at night. The teachers were fully occupied with packing up and making other necessary preparations for the departure of those girls who were fortunate enough to have friends and relations able and willing to remove them from the seat of contagion. Many, already smitten, went home to die: some died at school, and were buried quietly and quickly; the nature of the malady forbidding delay."
"An odour of camphor and burnt vinegar warned me when I came near the fever room; and I passed its door quickly, fearful lest the nurse, who sat up all night should hear me."
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| Painting above: A Wreath of Roses c. 1880 by Marie Spartali Spillman |
The Aftermath
"When the typhus fever had fulfilled its mission of devastation at Lowood, it gradually disappeared from thence; but not till its virulence and the number of its victims had drawn public attention on the school. Inquiry was made into the origin of the scourge, and by degrees various facts came out which excited public indignation in a high degree. The unhealthy nature of the site; the quantity and quality of the children's food; the brackish, fetid water used in its preparation; the pupils' wretched clothing and accommodations: all these things were discovered; and the discovery produced a result mortifying to Mr. Brocklehurst, but beneficial to the institution"
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Community Response
"Several wealthy and benevolent individuals in the county subscribed largely for the erection of a more convenient building in a better situation; new regulations were made; improvements in diet and clothing introduced; the funds of the school were entrusted to the management of a committee. Mr. Brocklehurst, who, from his wealth and family connections, could not be overlooked, still retained the post of treasurer; but he was aided in the discharge of his duties by gentlemen of rather more enlarged and sympathising minds: his office of inspector, too, was shared by those who knew how to combine reason with strictness, comfort with economy, compassion with uprightness. The school, thus improved, became in time a truly useful and noble institution"
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