Jane Eyre
“I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I have wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, great and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.” ~Charlotte Brontë
Film Clip: Trailer
Here is the most recent production of Jane Eyre starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender.
Fact or Fiction?
After a visit to Norton Conyers Hall in 1845, Charlotte Bronte, at the time a governess, was inspired - in more ways than one. A local farm owner named 'Eyre', derived the name of her heroine, Jane Eyre. The architecture of the Hall provided a vision for Rochester's estate, Thornfield Hall. But most importantly, the dark 18th century legend of a mad woman in the attic influenced the story of Bertha Mason.
Discovering another piece of literature...
Wide Sargasso Sea is a horrifying response to Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre. Jean Rhys gives her readers a very interesting perspective of the "mad woman in the attic." Before you make a final opinion of Antoinette 'Bertha' Mason, check out this summary!
Works Cited
Brock, C. E. "A card of Brock's illustrations of Jane Austen's Novel Pride and Prejudice." Wikimedia Commons, 1885, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Scenes_from_Pride_and_Prejudice.png
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Signet Classic, 1997.
Duyckinck, Evert A. "Portrait of Charlotte Bronte." Wikimedia Commons, 1873, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Charlotte_Bronte_coloured_drawing.png
"Pride and Prejudice." December 7, 2007, https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2012/2093445334_7074dfdbdf.jpg
Sparham, Laurie. "Still of Mia Wasikowska." June 24, 2012, https://www.flickr.com/photos/mirror_of_erised/9592933261