She repeatedly calls him her "master" and talks about "serving", demonstrating the unequal power balance in their relationship, also her dependence on him as her master. Jane's description of Rochester is not just a focus on his physical attributes, but she also talks about his "energy, decision, will", something which she respects about him. With Rochester being unattractive in Jane's eyes, and Jane describing herself as "plain", they appear to be equal in appearance, and her respect for his sense ("decision") shows that they are also equal on an intellectual level. However, Victorian society would have disapproved of a relationship between a wealthy man of standing in society and his governess. As a working woman, Jane would be expected to remain unmarried, or leave her job if she did decide to marry, and marry a man of a similar social status to herself, such as a clergyman like St John Rivers. One of Jane's problems with her relationship with Rochester is this inequality and this is one of the reasons she refuses to marry him.
Jane's search for independence from the men in her life is a continuing theme in the novel. Mr Brocklehurst, who "buys all our food and clothes", is domineering and attempts to make the girls at the Lowood school "humble" through the means of food deprivation, cutting off their hair, and allowing them no luxuries or comforts: "You are aware that my plan in bringing up these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and indulgence, but to render them hardy, patient, self-denying". Brocklehurst makes assumptions that females are automatically and intrinsically inclined to luxury and indulgence, and that they need to be "tamed", thinking that it is his religious duty to deny the girls of food and freedom, basically treating them like animals. By comparison, his own children wear "silk and fur".
