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The novel is in three parts:
'''Part One''' takes place in Coulibri, a sugar plantation in [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]], and is narrated by Antoinette as a child. Formerly wealthy, since the abolition of slavery, the estate has become derelict and her family has been plunged into poverty. Antoinette's mother, Annette, must remarry to wealthy English gentleman Mr. Mason, who is hoping to exploit his new wife's situation. Angry at the returning prosperity of the [[planter class]], emancipated slaves living in Coulibri burn down Annette's house, killing Antoinette's mentally disabled younger brother, Pierre. As Annette had been struggling with her mental health up until this point, the grief of losing her son weakens her sanity. Mr. Mason sends her to live with a couple who torment her until she dies,. andWhen Antoinette doesvisits nother after the fire, Annette refuses to see or speak to her. againAntoinette visits her mother once more when she is older but is alarmed at the abuse she witnesses by the servants to her mother and goes away without speaking to her.
'''Part Two''' alternates between the points of view of Antoinette and her husband during their honeymoon excursion to her mother's summer estate Granbois, [[Dominica]]. Likely catalysts for Antoinette's downfall are the mutual suspicions that develop between the couple, and the machinations of Daniel, who claims he is Antoinette's illegitimate half-brother; he impugns Antoinette's reputation and mental state and demands money to keep quiet. Antoinette's old nurse Christophine openly distrusts Mr. Rochester. His apparent belief in the stories about Antoinette's family and past aggravate the situation; her husband is unfaithful and emotionally abusive. He begins to call her Bertha rather than her real name and flaunts hisan affairsaffair in front of her to cause her pain. Antoinette's increased sense of paranoia and the bitter disappointment of her failing marriage unbalance her already precarious mental and emotional state. She flees to the house of Christophine, the servant woman who raised her. Antoinette pleads with Christophine for an [[obeah]] potion to attempt to reignite her husband's love, which Christophine reluctantly gives her. Antoinette returns home but the love potion acts like a poison on her husband. Subsequently he refuseshardens Christophine'shis offerheart ofagainst helpreconciling forwith his wife and takesdecides to take her toaway from Granbois out of Englandspite.
'''Part Three''' is the shortest part of the novel; it is from the perspective of Antoinette, renamed by her husband as Bertha. Mr. Rochester's father and brother have died, so he has returned to England with Antoinette to claim his sizeable inheritance. She is largely confined to "the attic" of [[Thornfield Hall]], the mansion she calls the "Great House". The story traces her relationship with Grace Poole, the servant who is tasked with guarding her, as well as her disintegrating life with Mr. Rochester, as he hides her from the world. He makes empty promises to come to her more but seesnever less of herdoes. HeAntoinette venturesis awaythought tomad pursueby relationshipsthose withwho other women{{mdash}}and eventuallyinteract with the young governess. Antoinette is clearly madher and has little understanding of how much time she has been confined. She fixates on optionsdreams of freedom, includingwhen she remembers, and writes to her stepbrother Richard in Jamaica who, however, willsays he cannot not "interfere legally" with her husband,. soDesperate and enraged, she attacks him with a stolen knife bought in secret. She later forgets this encounter. Expressing her thoughts in [[Stream of consciousness writing|stream of consciousness]], Antoinette dreams of flames engulfing the house and her freedom from the life she has there, and believes it is her destiny to fulfill the vision. Waking from her dream she escapes her room, and sets theout candle in firehand.
==Themes==
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