"Jane Eyre" follows the emotions and experiences of its character, including her growth to adulthood, and her love for Mr. Rochester. The focus is on the gradual unfolding of Jane's moral and spiritual sensibility and all the events are coloured by a heightened intensity. The novel contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core. "Shirley" is a social novel and is set in Yorkshire in the period 1811–12, during the industrial depression resulting...