Powerful vs. Powerless

Social class is a system put in place to distinguish between the powerful and powerless. By incorporating religion, the economy, and whatever else into the social classes one is allowing for a further division between the social classes to form. Mr. Brocklehurst is a prime example of a powerful member of society exerting his power simply because he can. Miss Temple represents the powerless and how she must put up with the rules and regulations placed upon her by Mr. Brocklehurst. The idea of social power and social inferiority helped to shape this chapter of Jane Eyre.

The breakfast represents discipline in true believers in Christianity. By believing that the superiors of your life will provide for you shows that one has a strong connection with their religion. This may or not be true but one can speculate that if these women don't eat and just hope that they will be taken care of then they will become malnourished and a burden upon the household they are serving due to their inability to work due to lack of nutrition. We as the audience know that it is unreasonable to assume that these women can survive off of bread and water but Mr. Brocklehurst thinks they can if they remain faithful to their religion of Christianity. 

For Mr.Brocklehurst, by practicing self-control one becomes closer to God and in turn, becomes better workers. His belief is that God is okay with him starving his housemaids because it is strengthening their relationship with God. He uses his power as master of the house to implement his rules and regulations. He claims to be very religious and wants his employees to be religious as well. His analogy regarding the ill-prepared breakfast was to amplify his superiority while also trying to maintain a sense of uniformity within his household. This interaction between himself and Miss Temple proves that he is self-conscious about his superiority but will do anything to maintain it.
 
Miss Temple is the teacher at the Lowood Institute and she is employed by Mr. Brocklehurst. She does not believe that it is smart to starve the women who are at the Lowood Institute, regardless of what God says. She does not want the women in the house to suffer even though they are the workers of the household. This shows that religion is not as important to her as it is to her employer Mr. Brocklehurst. Miss Temple does not use religion as a way to validate her decisions. She is seen as being inferior to Mr.Brocklehurst and endures his long speech regarding food to religion due to her status in the house.

The attitude of both Mr. Brocklehurst and Miss Temple displays the idea of social structure in the 19th century. The social structure of this century is mirrored at the Lowood Institute, through Mr.Brocklehurst who portrays the high class and Miss Temple who portrays the working class. This social structure at the Lowood Institute is strengthened through the idea that men are superior to women in both the workplace and in society. The author thus believes that men blame other things for their actions and believe that they are superior to women. However, this also shows that women at this time are very resilient and put up with a lot from men in order to find their place in society and thrive in that place. In conclusion, the author uses the characters of Mr.Brocklehurst and Miss Temple to mirror the social hierarchy of the 19th Century.