The Significance of Adele

Though she is not the focus of most discussion surrounding the characters of Jane Eyre, Adele Varens plays an important and interesting role in the novel.  The audience is introduced to her when Jane arrives at Thornfield, where we come to find she is a bright and cheerful little French girl.  The first function she serves is to be the reason Jane comes to Thornfield.  While this is what Adele usually takes the most credit for, she does much more for the story than simply acting as motivation to advance the story and for Jane to meet Rochester, although this contribution should not be understated, seeing as Jane ends up with Rochester at the end of the story.

Adele, in my opinion, is a reflection of Jane Eyre herself as a young girl.  They are similar in that they were both orphans, Jane's parents dead, and Adele abandoned by her mother and "disowned", as Jane put it, by Rochester, though it is never confirmed that he is her father.  They were also both very bright children and eager to learn and to advance themselves.  There are, however, some differences.  For instance; Adele, growing up at Thornfield, is in a very good environment while Jane grew up with a horrible aunt and abusive cousin.  I think that Jane uses Adele as a means to symbolically right the wrongs that occurred to her in her own childhood by passing on the education she received at Lowood, but in a fashion that is her own, and unlike some of the worse teachers at Lowood.  These parallels with Jane's own history, along with bringing Jane to Thornfield, make Adele a very significant character in Jane Eyre.