In Chapter 23, Mr. Rochester informs Jane that he is to be married in a month and that she is to leave Thornfield Hall to seek employment elsewhere. “I have already, through my future mother-in-law, heard of a place that I think will suit: it is to undertake the education of the five daughters of Mrs. Dionysius O'Gall of Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland” (Brontë ch. 23). 19^th Century Ireland was wrought with political misfortunes and famine, but in the earliest years of the century, the country became aligned with England “following the Act of Union with Britain in 1801” (Oxley 275). This is significant because trade that had stimulated the Irish economy during The Napoleonic wars and afforded Ireland “protection from English imports,” harmed the pre-famine country when the wars ended in 1815 (Oxley 275). The economic impact on Connaught, Ireland was felt heavily by landowners and textile workers who grew poorer and more reluctant of investments and innovation (Oxley 275). It is also significant to note that literacy levels, labor productivity, and income levels plummeted, leaving many citizens impoverished (Oxley 275).

Thinking of the context in which Connaught, Ireland is mentioned in Jane Eyre, it is significant that Brontë selected this as Jane’s next destination. As mentioned in the text, Bitternut Lodge is separated by the ocean and some “two hundred miles or so” from Thornfield Hall (Brontë ch. 23). Travel at the time was not easily accessible and if Jane were to travel to Bitternut Lodge in Connaught, she would likely never see Mr. Rochester again. The distance between them is not only symbolic, being that another person Jane has “loved” wants to send her away, but so is the place in which she is to reside. Connaught was obviously in a devastating position economically, which parallels Jane’s financial situation, allowing space for the reader to infer that she will forever be poor and lowly.

Oxley, Deborah. “Living Standards of Women in Prefamine Ireland.” Social Science History, vol. 28, no. 2, 2004, pp. 271–95. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40267843. Accessed 14 Jun. 2022.