Jane Eyre: you, but better!

Jane Eyre, dark hair, nothing special about her looks. She is plain in every sense of the word. even her basic personality doesn't extend much beyond "dose not like authority, likes things to be fair, bold". But this lack of clear character allows her to function as a sort of placeholder for the reader, like an empty house to be filled with all the attributes that are unique to you. Jane is supposed to be someone very similar to yourself, or very similar to what you fancy yourself to be. even her plain looks function as a sort of anti-bad feeling buffer system. a person who could be described as below average looking can round themselves up to Jane's level (nothing special), and pat themselves of the back for being such a good person on the inside. A person who could be described as good looking can say "its whats on the inside that matters!" and pat themselves on the back while thinking deep down "I'm like Jane! but hot!".

This goes both ways (like a modern day Jane), with intelligence, and anti authority sentiment. Even someone who believes in and follows every stitch of social custom can say "Wow! If things were like that now, i would totally hold the same values as i do now! And i haven't conformed my entire life to society because of social pressure, its cause my internal values fit perfectly with society's!", and then pat themselves on the back as a potential moral hero.

This goes even for me. For example, when i read Jane Eyre, Jane is constantly identifying the weaknesses of those around them, and drafting escape contingency plans in case the Communist-Nazi-Terrorists swoop in. Except my plans are better, because I'm like Jane but Smarter and better looking and faster and stronger and stuff. And I'm a man.