Jane Eyre 11.

“ . . .a careless shepherd if I had left a lamb. . . so near a wolf’s den . . . “ (Brontë 219)

At this point in the novel Rochester has left Jane alone with a bleeding patient in dire need of assistance. She is frightened to the extent where she is almost incoherent. She is incapable of bandaging his wound and fears greatly that he will die before the return of Rochester and the surgeon. Brontë compares Jane to a lamb because before a lamb matures into a sheep it is entirely dependent on either it’s mother or it’s shepherd. In this case Jane’s shepherd is none other than Rochester and him leaving her alone could have dire consequences due to the fact that she is so dependent on him.