You probably did not expect to see both the words “Jane Eyre” and “GOAT” in the same sentence, considering the dichotomy between a title from classic literature and a phrase from modern slang.

However, the character Jane Eyre is the GOAT (greatest of all time), and every young woman should read the Charlotte Bronte novel before she goes off into the world. 

When considering Jane Eyre from a modern lens, there are definitely some plot points that can be controversial from today’s perspective. In my opinion, you can overlook these parts, because after all, the book is nearly two centuries old. So when there are moments like — spoilers ahead — Mr. Rochester having his mentally ill wife locked in his attic, we can all just move on from that.

The novel opens up with our soon-to-be favorite orphan — Jane Eyre — who is miserable, as she usually is. She’s a young girl, living with her aunt, in a situation not dissimilar to Harry Potter’s. 

While living at her aunt’s house, Jane gets in a physical altercation with her cousin — her first opp — because he takes her book. That’s honestly an understandable reaction. 

Then, Jane’s aunt decides to send her off to school, and the man who comes to take Jane tells her that if she doesn’t shape up, she will not get into heaven. Jane’s baddie response is basically, “Okay, then I just won’t die.” 

Jane spends the rest of her formative years at boarding school, where she does not get along with most of the girls, and some of the teachers mistreat her. However, Jane ignores her opps and locks in on her schoolwork. She works so hard that she is able to become a teacher.

When she is around nineteen years old, Jane feels it’s time to move on from her school, so she does. She advertises to be a governess, which —  from my understanding of the time period — is a bold move. Then, she goes to Thornfield and meets the character who adds romance to the story, Mr. Rochester.

Now, Mr. Rochester is way, way older than Jane — like two decades older — but again, we can all just move on from that. 

Over time, Jane and Mr. Rochester fall for each other, but Jane never lets her feelings get in the way of her judgement. When Mr. Rochester asks Jane if she thinks he is attractive, she straight up tells him that he is a four at best. When Mr. Rochester is in a situationship with another woman, Blanche Ingram, Jane does not let jealousy overcome her and remains nonchalant. Do you see a theme here? Jane knows how to disregard the opps. 

Also while at Thornfield, Jane saves the day multiple times. She could be a firefighter, the way she composedly puts out the flames that almost kill Mr. Rochester. Then, she stays up all night tending to this random man that — unbeknownst to her — Mr. Rochester’s crazy wife attacked. She does not ask any questions, which might have been a bad decision, but also shows the chillness of Jane Eyre.

Her other accomplishment at Thornfield was taking care of Adele, Mr. Rochester’s ward. Jane is a patient teacher, turning Adele into an intelligent pupil instead of a 19th-century iPad kid. 

Despite her happiness at Thornfield, nothing can last forever. Eventually, Mr. Rochester asks Jane to marry him, but then throws up a host of red flags. He wants to rush into the wedding because he is concealing the fact that he is already married to a mentally ill woman who lives upstairs. Now, that seems like a pretty good reason for Jane to drop her man, and drop him she does. 

Because of the whole illegal marriage debacle, Jane realizes that she needs to go off on her own. She goes out into the wilderness with nothing, except her own willpower. Her motivation is her trust in God, and following His path. This feeling does not really appeal to me, so I interpret Jane’s actions as following her own path, trusting herself, and not compromising her morals. She only does what is right to her, not conforming to that peer pressure.

After almost dying in the elements, a random family finds Jane, and they turn out to be her cousins. Despite coming within an inch of death, Jane pretty quickly goes back to work because the grind never stops. 

Jane then receives a surprise inheritance of 20,000 pounds, which is like millions of dollars today. If I was that rich, I would probably pay for a house — or for tuition at an expensive college — but Jane splits the money evenly four ways and gives three parts to her family like the generous queen she is. Some may call it luck that Jane stumbled across her family and inherited a fortune, but either way, it’s deserved.

Now, because Jane is such an icon, she makes quite a favorable impression on her cousin, St. John. St. John wants to be a missionary and travel far away, and he asks Jane to accompany him as his wife. Clocking him, Jane laughs in his face and says no, because she is not in love with him (also he’s her cousin so yikes). She was interested in going to a new land, but she is not about to throw away her values just for an opportunity. 

After Jane has a chance to become an independent woman, she begins to think about her past. Even though Mr. Rochester kind of crashed out when he was trying to illegally marry her, Jane does not hold a grudge — because you’ve got to let things go — and wants to see him again. However, she only goes back to him once she knows she can depend on herself. 

Lucky for both of them, a housefire resolves the whole crazy-wife-in-the-attic situation, and Jane and Mr. Rochester get married. In my opinion, Jane Eyre has one of the most satisfying endings to a novel that I have ever read. The literal action of just ending up married is not preferable to me, but for what the marriage means to Jane — and for the time period — the ending is perfect. Jane straight up tells the reader she is extremely happy, because she married her bestie, and all they do is yap all day long. My GOAT Jane definitely deserved her happily ever after.

As a side note, I also appreciate how the novel gave St. John his own version of a happy ending. He ended up becoming a missionary, working hard for what he cared about. He was on that grind, and even though he died young without a love story, he died at peace believing that he made his life worth something.

If I have not persuaded you that Jane Eyre is a girlboss, a diva, and the GOAT, that’s too bad. We should all aspire to be as self-assured and comfortable in our own minds as Jane Eyre.