Critics have read Jane Eyre as a plea for gender equality and independent femininity, but have not contextualized Jane as a detective who, through her curiosity, succeeds in questioning the patriarchal authority of Mr Rochester and fashioning herself as a woman whose rationalizing of life at Thornfield puts into perspective man's supposed prerogative to control truth. Jane not only traces male criminality, but her curiosity leads her to realize her own selfhood. Her growing individuality is articulated through a public, expressive and inquisitive self that to Victorian middle-class notions of propriety appeared transgressive and 'criminal. Her ideas of individuality are in clear contrast with those of traditional servant figures such as Mrs Fairfax who, through her silence, endorses her master's crime. Constructing Jane as a detective, Charlotte Bronte succeeded in creating a version of the female self that was revolutionary and attempted to overcome her state of dependence through curiosity and inquir