Irony Becomes Her

Jane Eyre: On the screen

While sorting laundry and doing sundry other mindless tasks on a recent morning, I again watched one of the many movie adaptations of Jane Eyre. (I actually own four of these; I know of at least two others.) I've long liked this one because of the way Ciaran Hinds embodies Mr. Rochester as exactly the well-intentioned and passionate but hard-bitten and embittered man Bronte describes. Samantha Morton is also believable as the composedly impish Jane, Gemma Jones' Mrs. Fairfax is sweet and simple, and Blanche Ingram (Abigail Cruttenden) is deliciously superficial and conniving.

I noticed this time, though, how thoroughly the themes which to me make the novel worth its weight in gold had been sanitized from the screenplay. In emphasizing the love story between Jane and Mr. Rochester, it omits or guts the other events of her life which shape her identity, principles and behavior. Her interactions with Helen Burns, with her Aunt Reed, and especially with St. John Rivers, become mere incidentals to guide her into Mr. Rochester's arms.

In the end, Jane goes back to see Mr. Rochester not because of a desperation to know of his temporal and eternal destiny but because she caves to her need for the "true love" he can offer her which no one else, not even the caring and considerate St. John, can. Conveniently (in both versions, I admit, it is a little too convenient), Mr. Rochester is no longer a potential bigamist but a heroic if maimed widower when she arrives, paving the way for them to ride off together into the sunset.

The movie ends with something like, "I've found what true love is." The novel ends with St. John quoting the same words which help to close the Bible: "Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus."

As a final statement, I prefer the latter.

Labels: Jane Eyre

posted by Lynn @ 9:01 PM