Do you think I am an automaton?—a machine without feelings? … Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you,—and full as much heart! … I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh;—it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; … and we stood at God’s feet, equal,—as we are.
Jane pushes back against the assumption that status determines worth. Her “automaton” image rebukes the idea that she should feel nothing simply because she is dependent. The repetition of “Do you think…?” dramatizes a woman claiming space in a conversation that usually silences her. By shifting from “custom” and “conventionalities” to “spirit,” she reframes love as a moral and spiritual meeting of equals. The line publicly asserts the private equality she has always believed in. It also warns Rochester that affection cannot erase injustice. She will accept love only on ethical, equal terms. This is Brontë’s clearest manifesto for the novel’s feminist core.