Capturing a Classic: The 1944 Film Adaptation of Jane Eyre

In the twentieth-century, motion pictures replaced the written word as the primary form of entertainment for the majority of citizens living in the United States and abroad. Motion pictures, like novels, require stories and plots to make the film interesting and rewarding to the audience. In an effort to tell the best story possible, film companies and directors have adapted novels into full-length feature films. Success in adapting novels to the screen has varied, however, as a tale plucked from a novel and placed into a film is not an easy transition. Turning printed words on a page into visual images on the screen is a demanding task, and not all directors are capable of capturing the tone and mood of a novel while keeping true to the original text. A director who understands the themes and artistic intent of a text can more effectively relay those themes onto the screen, and a fine example of a novel that has been well-adapted into a film is Charlotte Brontë's classic Jane Eyre and the 1944 adaptation directed by Robert Stevenson. Though the character of Jane is overly delicate and passive, the 1944 adaptation of Jane Eyre finds success in keeping very close to its source text, as it retains key elements such as the Gothic mood of the novel, the menacing characterization of Mr. Rochester, and the apprehension Jane expresses as a woman struggling to find her place in a patriarchal Victorian society.