Traveling is a key concept within the text of Jane Eyre. At several different moments between chapters ten and twenty-three in the text, Jane refers to a desire to travel. Bronte is explicit in letting the reader know this as she writes, “Now I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek knowledge of life amidst its perils” (79). This ambition for Jane to travel could have been inspired by the technology of Bronte’s own time, with the popularity of the steamboat arising in the early-mid 19th century. The improvements that were being done to steam-powered ships at the time suddenly made the world much smaller as it became more accessible for people to travel greater distances. 

 Bronte even gives a direct reference to steamships when Adela recounts for Jane how she arrived in England. She says, “Sophie is my nurse; she came with me over the sea in a great ship with a chimney that smoked– how did it smoke” (93). First being published in 1947, Jane Eyre would have been nine years after the Great Western set sail for New York, being the first transatlantic passenger ship. Built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Great Western was the first of many boats to travel across the Atlantic, thus making steam-powered transportation much more popular (Vance). Later in 1943, four years before Jane Eyre was published, Brunel would create the first trans-Atlantic Luxury passenger boat known as Great Britain, in Bristol, England, which was also the largest ship built at the time (Johnson). Recounting Adela’s journey to England makes a lot of sense that she would have most likely come on a boat similar to Brunel’s Great Britain, given Mr. Rochester’s wealth and status. 

Due to steamboats, It isn’t far-fetched to believe that this form of transportation could have played a factor in Bronte’s decision to have Jane travel as far as she did.

Works Cited

Brontë Charlotte, and Deborah Lutz. Jane Eyre. W.W. Norton and Company, 2016.

Johnson, Ben. “SS Great Britain, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Steamship.” Historic UK, https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/SS-Great-Britain/.

Vance, James E. “‘The Atlantic Ferry.’” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/technology/ship/The-Atlantic-Ferry.

Image cited

Hill, Thomas. BRUNEL. SS Great Britain in 1953. September 28th, 2020.