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When readers first meet John Reed he is a spiteful boy of fourteen. He is Jane’s abusive cousin and the heir to Gateshead Hall. John Reed is Jane’s primary tormentor for the first ten years of her life, but he is never held accountable for his actions because his mother, Jane’s aunt and benefactor, is blind to her beloved son’s many faults. John Reed’s crimes go well beyond standard childhood bullying. Over the course of the first few chapters, Jane informs the reader that he repeatedly strikes her, kills pigeons and their chicks, sets his dog loose on the sheep, destroys prized blooms in the conservatory, and shreds his mother’s silk gowns. Each of these examples characterize John Reed as a disturbed, cruel boy. Jane is keenly aware of his true nature, going so far as to compare him to murderers, slave-drivers, and Roman tyrants such as Nero and Caligula. John Reed never develops into a better person. As a young man he falls into a life of drinking, gambling, and debauchery, and he eventually commits suicide midway through the novel when his mother ceases to pay his debts for him.
John Reed’s actions directly lead to one of the most famous passages in Jane Eyre. In the novel’s opening chapter, John Reed cuts Jane’s head open on a wall. Mrs. Reed blames Jane for the altercation and locks her overnight in the Red Room. This is a crucial moment, as Jane’s experience in the Red Room becomes a recurring symbol of the struggles that Jane must overcome to find freedom, happiness, and a sense of belonging.
