Unit 1 exercise 2.1: notes on a character

The film: Jane Eyre (2011)

Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, based on the novel by Charlotte Bronte.

Jane is the central character. The film flashes back frequently to her childhood to show that she has two emotional ‘problems’: as a child that she was unloved by the aunt and cousin with whom she grew up and found more cruelty at boarding school, and as an adult that she is in love with her master, Mr Rochester, with whom she believes she cannot have requited love.

Jane’s story problem is a series of circumstances that deny her love: as a child she shows great strength of character, however, articulating to her aunt how she feels about being treated cruelly, just as she is sent away to school. As a governess she is forthright and honest with her master, showing that she is not intimidated by status or class, or indeed money. This is an independent woman ahead of her time.

Jane’s goal as a child is to find a friendship so that she doesn’t feel so alone. She finds this in her classmate, Helen, but then finds herself alone again when Helen dies of consumption. As an adult Jane has settled for a position as a governess but her life is still isolated until she meets her master, Mr Rochester. He then becomes her goal, but she conflicted – he is not, in her mind, attainable as a romantic goal, because of her lowly position, even though she is not personally impressed or daunted by position itself. The catalyst, therefore, is the fact that Rochester doesn’t care about position either and wants Jane as much as she wants him. It’s circumstance – Rochester’s deranged, hidden wife, that comes between them. But a further twist is introduced when Rochester tries to marry Jane, failing to tell her the truth. He believes they can be together anyway but this does not sit well with Jane’s clear moral values, so she leaves, broken-hearted. Once again Jane is alone, denied the emotional want she has carried all of her life.