“. . . for her complaint was consumption . . .” (89)

Consumption, also known as Tuberculosis or TB, is a bacterial disease that usually manifests itself in the lungs, as can be seen in the image, although in rare cases it affects the kidneys, spinal cord, or brain of an individual. At the time of Bronte’s writing, it was one of the leading causes of death in developed nations, which was party because it is a very drawn out illness. With Helen’s contraction of TB, she undoubtedly suffered in silence for a long time before drawing anyone else’s attention to her plight. This fits with the image of her created by Bronte: Helen is a martyr. She behaves as a “proper” lady should and never once complains about her condition or draws attention to herself until it is so advanced that she is just shy of death. The difference in her disease and that which attacks the rest of her schoolmates also serves as a mark that she probably does take very good care of herself, keeping clean, but no one – no matter how good or Christian or clean - can ever escape illness and death.

EDIT: Once Jane realizes this, it serves as an inspiration for her to not change who she is, despite social pressures. No matter how "right" the image that someone projects to the world may be, it will not save them from the same fate as everybody else: death. Jane realizes that she can go through life unhappy and die that way, or remain true to herself and eventually die knowing that she did what she thought was right for her - even if society may disagree with her judgment.

Source: CDC TB Basic TB Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 03 Jan. 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/basics/default.htm

Photo : Lungs of a TB Patient. Digital image. Top News. Web. 3 Jan. 2010. .