Writing under the alias of “Currer Bell”, Charolotte Bronte was able to write a successful fictional novel at a time when women were still seen as second class citizens and fiction novels were not widely accepted. Currer’s preface encouraged people to accept the novel as itself as well as the rise of women’s positions as a major theme in the novel. No doubt, Rochester’s treatment of Jane as an equal was fairly unheard of. As a woman, Bronte would not have been able to write such words and been so persuasive .

Another large,and also generally rejected theme of the book was the ability to change position and social class within a society. For example, Jane's inheritance of a large fortune after being impoverished and her eventual marriage to Rochester was in comprehensible to many. Bell’s preface tried to open the eyes of the her critics by telling them that just because an idea was new it was not necessarily “evil”.