Analysis of Jane Eyre - Essay Example

I felt that the casting done in the movies was excellent. Particularly in the 2006 version, I felt the characters exactly matched the characters described by the author in the book. Toby Stephens was portrayed as a very rich and passionate individual with an unkempt appearance and who seems to have a mystery to himself. He just does not seem the person he has played in films like dying another day, so I would say that he acted really well. Ruth Wilson as Jane Eyre was also very sensible and composed just like the book describes the character as a woman of intellect. The best part was that Ruth Wilson’s eyes actually have a very deep feel to them as if she is scanning a person’s character with her look. In the 1996 version of the film, I personally felt that William Hurt looked like a sweet lover with nothing going beyond that face which I felt Toby Stephens was able to convey; Charlotte Gainsbourg does not look as unconventional a heroine as does Ruth Wilson.

Chapters 23-28 in the book are part of the time when Jane is in Thornfield. The first time Jane Eyre sees Bertha is when Bertha comes into her room one night and tears apart her wedding gown. Bertha was Mr. Rochester’s first wife who had lost control of her senses, which was a disease that ran in her family. I really liked the connection of the red cloth that hung from the window of the room where Bertha was locked. I felt that the fact that red is a color of danger and passion was made evident by that red cloth. I believe that Bertha’s tearing up of Jane’s wedding gown signifies the fact that no matter how insane Bertha might have become, she did know that Mr. Rochester was her husband and she could not see him getting married to someone else. One thing that puzzled me was why Bertha did not harm Jane when she had managed to enter her room. If one thinks about the differences Bertha and Jane had, well there are infinitely many. However, thinking about areas of commonality between Jane and Bertha is quite challenging. I would say that the fact that Bertha used to come across as a woman of great propriety, even though superficially was a part of her character that matched with Jane, though it was genuine in Jane and fake in Bertha.

I feel we cannot make an absolute statement that Bertha was mad, because she did have feelings about those around her. She knew Rochester was her husband and that he was developing an interest in Jane. She used to see them stroll from her window so I feel that she knew a lot more than mad people do, however she was not sane from any angle. I do believe in what Mr. Rochester says about her in his narration of the story. One important thing that existed in the book was the relation to nature, for example, the chestnut tree got struck by lightning the day Mr. Rochester confessed his love for Jane, that connection to nature was not established so well in the films. If I were to compare Jane Eyre with the previous two books we read I feel that Jane Eyre throws considerable light into the way of living in the 19th century, how women were treated, how the post of a governess was a mark of respect. As in the previous two books, the women felt that they were not loved by their partners in the true sense of the word, in Jane Eyre that was felt by Mr. Rochester in his relationship with Bertha as well as the dancing girl before her.