John Rivers (Jamie Bell) and his family, and by playing, as powerful flashbacks, her harsh childhood as an orphan as well as her time as agoverness at Thornfield.
The unreliable narrator of the novel, agoverness charged with caring for two children who may or may not see the ghosts she sees, invites the reader to flip-flop between thinking her a lone protector against unspeakable evil and a greater threat to the children than any spirit.