The novel Jane Eyre can be proved similar to many classic stories. The one that relates the most to this story however is the fairy tale of Cinderella. Charlotte Bronte has given the character of Jane Eyre a more complicated, but very similar, version of Cinderella's life. Jane is orphaned as a baby left in the care of her aunt and cousins, who would rather not have her while Cinderella is orphaned as a child and left in the care of her stepmother and stepsisters. Jane's search for love, family and independence is much more extensive than Cinderella's. Jane looks for a way of supporting herself and in turn finds love and family through Rochester. Cinderella takes a step towards being independent by going to the ball at the palace against her stepmother's wishes. During the ball she meets the prince and they fall in love. These two characters lead very parallel lives.
When Jane was just a baby, both of her parents died. Her mother's brother took her in at this time. Not long after, he too passed away. On his deathbed, he made his wife promise to raise and love Jane as one of her own children. Jane's aunt does keep her and raises her until she is 10 years old. During this time, her cousin, John, abuses physically and verbally. If Jane fights back at all she is punished because she is supposed to treat the ill-mannered teenage boy like her master. Mrs. Reed does not care at all for Jane but dotes continually on her own children and is convinced that they are always right. Likewise, Cinderella's mother dies while she is an infant. Her father soon remarries, but shortly after he too passes away. Cinderella is left in the care of her stepmother and two stepsisters. It is said that she is put to work as a servant to earn her keep in what was her father's house. Like John, Eliza, and Georgiana Reed, Cinderella's stepsisters could not do anything wrong in their mother's eyes, so Cinderella was blamed for everything just as Jane was.
