The benevolent dark beauties are Bessie, the nursery maid in Jane's horrid childhood home, Reed Hall. Miss Maria Temple is the director and teacher of Lowood school, where is Jane is sent by her evil aunt, so that she can be out of the way.
On a symbolic level, Bessie and Miss Temple are one and the same: they are mother substitutes for Jane, and their physical description is identical. Black hair, black eyes and a pale skin, pretty. Miss Temple's name, Maria, goes back to the Virgin Mary, the maternal figure par excellence in western culture.
The third dark beauty is Bertha (Antoinette) Mason, Mr Rochester's first wife, the original Madwoman in the Attic. Bertha is Jane's dark double, or maybe a sort of dark mother for her.
Charlotte Bronte first wrote under a pseudonym, inspiring a whole national hunt for the real person behind the name. All the Brontes wrote under male pseudonyms. But this is the subject for another story, and another post!
Have a lovely Friday and see you again soon! xxx
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