Can't Bury These Tales

“And, ma’am,” he continued, “the laundress tells me some of the girls have two clean tuckers in the week: it is too much; the rules limit them to one.”

“Julia Severn, ma’am! And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly—here in an evangelical, charitable establishment—as to wear her hair one mass of curls?”

“Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature; I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl’s hair must be cut off entirely; I will send a barber to-morrow.”

“(T)hree other visitors, ladies, now entered the room. They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs. The two younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had grey beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled; the elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls.”
This passage is describing Mr. Brocklehurst's idea of what a girl should look like, and also describes his family members and the opposite appearance of what a girl should look like.

The passage starts with him saying that the girls should be limited to only one tucker, then continues with him criticizing a girl's naturally curly hair, and end with his family entering the room in expensive clothing.

The author uses irony in this passage to explain that Mr. Brocklehurst is a hypocrite. The irony is shown through the extremities between what Mr. Brocklehurst says and what his family represents. He wants to limit clothing down to one clean pair of clothes, yet his family is dressed so lavishly to the point of them looking like royalty. He says that the girl with curly hair - Julia Severn - should have her hair removed because she is too extravagant, yet his presumed wife has fake French curls in her hair.

These extremities represent the perceptions of social views at the time, and also shows how corrupt religion was during this time period.

Mr. Brocklehurst's lecture is a representation of the extremity that girls were expected to be at during the time. He expects the upmost modesty, which was something that was an expectation for women. As a figure of authority in the Church, Mr. Brocklehurst is expected to be modest as well as spiritual and adamant about being a close figure to God.

However, Mr. Brocklehurst has a family who dresses as if they are nobility, which tarnishes his supposed image inside the Church. As someone who is supposed to be modest, his family is incredibly corrupt in the sense that they do not dress like they are modest people.

These social outlooks contribute to the perception of religion in society at the time. The author shows it as corrupt and almost evil as they describe the situation in the passage. They reflect on Mr. Brocklehurst's character and how he is willing to make sure the rest of the world is modest, good, and faithful to God, but his family must dress as if they are deities.

The concept of irony in this passage shows the perception of religion at this time, which seemed to be a corrupt, almost evil part of society. This passage gave insight to what some people thought of religion in that time period.