Gothicism in Jane Eyre

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“In my recollection the spasm of agony which clutched my heart when Mrs. Reed spurned my wild supplication for pardon, and locked me a second time in the dark and haunted chamber.” (Bell). In the film Jane Eyre, Jane is portrayed as a very blunt and innocent girl who grows up to be a very honest governess at Thornfield Manor. Jane falls in love with her employer Mr. Rochester, master of Thornfield Manor. Jane’s tragic and unforgettable past as a kid to adulthood is expressed in the gothic romance film Jane Eyre, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. In the Gothic film Jane Eyre, Zeffirelli creates a dark mysterious gothic mood by revealing the darkness from Jane’s past as she is the protagonist as a victim and its effect on her adulthood by bringing out her solitary feelings, as well as placing emphasis on Mr. Rochester as the Byronic hero to reveal his flaws and the use of very ominous remote settings to describe the loneliness and isolation with detailed characteristics.
In the film, the viewer can see how the darkness in Jane’s past affects Jane’s future and how it creates a strong mystifying mood. Jane’s life was full of loneliness and solitude, after the death of her parents at an early age. In Jane’s childhood, she is left in the care of her cruel, aunt Mrs. Reed, who mistreated her. In her adulthood she is troubled by the Byronic Mr. Rochester. This can be seen when Jane is abused and put into “the blood red bed chamber” (Robinson). The purpose of putting Jane into the chamber is to torment her with the color of blood, and the presence of her dead uncle. The effect of the “Red Room” is to show little Jane’s breakdown as she experiences the dreadful misery and to increase the feeling of her being tortured which leads to a very ...

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...c. 1847. Texts.crossref- it.info. 06 Oct. 2013 .
Charlotte, Brontë. Jane Eyre. Columbus: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print.
Gainsbourg, Charlotte, perf. Jane Eyre. By Charlotte Brontë. Dir.Franco Zeffirelli, 1996.
Youtube. Web.
2 Oct. 2013
Hurt, William, perf. Jane Eyre. By Charlotte Brontë. Dir.Franco Zeffirelli, 1996. Youtube. Web.
2 Oct. 2013
Plowright, Joan, perf. Jane Eyre. By Charlotte Brontë. Dir.Franco Zeffirelli, 1996. Youtube.
Web.2 Oct. 2013
Robinson, Tasha. "Jane Eyre." AV Club Live. 10 Mar. 2011. A.V. Club. 06 Oct. 2013

Root, Amanda, perf. Jane Eyre. By Charlotte Brontë. Dir.Franco Zeffirelli, 1996. Youtube. Web.
2 Oct. 2013
Woodthorpe, Pete, perf. Jane Eyre. By Charlotte Brontë. Dir.Franco Zeffirelli, 1996. Youtube.
Web. 2 Oct. 2013

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