Adaptations of Jane Eyre

Updated on Dec 20, 2024

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Jane Eyre, the 1847 novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë, has frequently been adapted for film, radio, television and theatre, and has inspired a number of rewritings and reinterpretations.

Silent films

1910: Jane Eyre, starring Irma Taylor (Jane), Marie Eline (Young Jane) and Frank Hall Crane (Rochester)

1914: Jane Eyre, starring Lisbeth Blackstone, Dallas Tyler, Harrish Ingraham and John Charles

1914: Jane Eyre, directed by Frank Hall Crane, starring Ethel Grandin (Jane) and Irving Cummings (Rochester)

1915: Jane Eyre, starring Louise Vale

1915: The Castle of Thornfield, produced in Italy

1918: Woman and Wife, adapted by Paul West, directed by Edward José, starring Alice Brady

1921: Jane Eyre, directed by Hugo Ballin, starring Norman Trevor and Mabel Ballin

1926: Orphan of Lowood, produced in Germany, directed by Curtis Bernhardt

Feature films

1934: Jane Eyre, starring Colin Clive and Virginia Bruce

1943: I Walked with a Zombie, a Val Lewton horror movie loosely based on Jane Eyre, starring Tom Conway and Frances Dee

1943: Jane Eyre, screenplay by John Houseman and Aldous Huxley, starring Orson Welles (Mr. Rochester), Joan Fontaine (Jane), Agnes Moorehead (Mrs. Reed), Margaret O'Brien (Adele), Peggy Ann Garner (Young Jane), and Elizabeth Taylor (Helen Burns)
Fontaine also starred in Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 film, Rebecca, based upon the Daphne du Maurier novel influenced by Jane Eyre.

1950: Jane Eyre (TV film) starring Charlton Heston

1952: Sangdil, a Hindi version also known as Jane Eyre, starring Madhubala

1956: The Orphan Girl, from Hong Kong

1963: El Secreto (English: "The Secret"), released in Mexico

1970: Jane Eyre, starring George C. Scott and Susannah York; released in theatres in Europe but direct-to-TV in the U.S. (also listed below)

1972: Shanti Nilayam, an Indian adaptation in Tamil directed by G.S. Mani, starring Kanchana

1972: Shanti Nilayam, an Indian adaptation in Telugu directed by C. Vaikuntarama Sastry, starring Anjali Devi

1978: El Ardiente Secreto (English: "Ardent Secret"), released in Mexico

1983-Jane Eyre. Directed by Julian Charles Becket Amyes

1996: Jane Eyre, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, starring William Hurt (Mr. Rochester), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Jane), Elle Macpherson (Blanche Ingram), Joan Plowright (Mrs. Fairfax), Anna Paquin (Young Jane), Fiona Shaw (Mrs. Reed) and Geraldine Chaplin (Miss Scatcherd)

1997: Jane Eyre, directed by Robert Young, starring Ciarán Hinds and Samantha Morton

2011: Jane Eyre, directed by Cary Fukunaga, starring Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre), Michael Fassbender (Rochester) and Judi Dench (Mrs. Fairfax)

Radio

1938: The Mercury Theatre on the Air, September 18, 1938, with Orson Welles and music by Bernard Herrmann; the acetate recording was irreparably damaged by its use in preparing the 1943 motion picture

1940: The Campbell Playhouse, March 31, 1940, with Orson Welles and Madeleine Carroll

1941: The Screen Guild Theater, March 2, 1941, with Brian Aherne and Bette Davis

1943: Extremely loose adaptation (primarily chapters 11–26) on The Weird Circle, premiering November 11, 1943

1944: The Philco Radio Hall of Fame, February 13, 1944, an "impression" by Joan Fontaine (20:40–32:20)

1944: The Lux Radio Theatre, June 5, 1944, with Orson Welles and Loretta Young

1944: Matinee Theater, December 3, 1944, with Victor Jory and Gertrude Warner

1946: The Mercury Summer Theatre on the Air, June 28, 1946, adapted by Norman Corwin, with Orson Welles and Alice Frost

1948: The Lux Radio Theatre, June 14, 1948, with Ingrid Bergman and Robert Montgomery

1949: NBC University Theatre

1994: Jane Eyre, British radio, January 1994, with Ciarán Hinds

2009: Jane Eyre, British radio, August 2009

2016: Jane Eyre, BBC Radio 4 as ten 15-minute episodes, from 29 February 2016

Television

1949: Studio One in Hollywood – Jane Eyre, December 12, 1949, with Charlton Heston and Mary Sinclair

1952: Studio One in Hollywood – Jane Eyre, August 4, 1952, with Kevin McCarthy and Katharine Bard

Adaptations appeared on British and American television in 1956 and 1961

1956: Jane Eyre, a BBC series starring Stanley Baker and Daphne Slater

1957: Jane Eyre, an NBC Matinee Theatre production starring Patrick MacNee and Joan Elan

1963: Jane Eyre, a BBC series starring Richard Leech and Ann Bell

1970: Jane Eyre, starring George C. Scott and Susannah York; direct-to-TV in the U.S. but given theatrical release in Europe (also listed above)

1972: Jana Eyrová, produced by Czechoslovak television, starring Marta Vančurová (Jane) and Jan Kačer (Mr. Rochester)

1973: Jane Eyre, a BBC series starring Sorcha Cusack (Jane), Michael Jayston (Mr. Rochester), Juliet Waley (Young Jane) and Tina Heath (Helen Burns); much of the dialogue is taken directly from the original novel

1978: Telenovela – El Ardiente Secreto (English The impassioned secret), a 20-part serial novel broadcast in Mexico

1982: BBC Classics Presents: Jane Eyrehead, a parody by SCTV starring Andrea Martin (Jane Eyrehead), Joe Flaherty (Mr. Rochester), John Candy, Eugene Levy and Martin Short

1983: Jane Eyre, a BBC series starring Zelah Clarke (Jane), Timothy Dalton (Mr. Rochester), Sian Pattenden (Young Jane) and Colette Barker (Helen Burns)

1997: Jane Eyre, an A&E Network series starring Ciarán Hinds and Samantha Morton

2006: Jane Eyre, a BBC series starring Toby Stephens (Mr. Rochester), Ruth Wilson (Jane) and Georgie Henley (Young Jane)

Theatre

1994: A two-act ballet of Jane Eyre was created for the first time by the London Children's Ballet in 1994, with an original score by composer Julia Gomelskaya and choreography by Polyanna Buckingham.

1997: Jane Eyre, opera in three acts, Op. 134, was composed by John Joubert in 1987–1997 to a libretto by Kenneth Birkin after the novel.

1998: A musical version with music by Michael Malthaner, lyrics by Charles Corritore, and book by David Matthews, was written and produced in 1998. The World Premiere was in Toronto, Canada, with Marla Schaffel as Jane and Anthony Crivello as Rochester.

2000: A musical version with a book by John Caird and music and lyrics by Paul Gordon, with Marla Schaffel as Jane and James Stacy Barbour as Mr. Rochester, ran at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre December 10, 2000 – June 10, 2001.

2000: An opera based on the novel was written in 2000 by English composer Michael Berkeley, with a libretto by David Malouf. It was given its premiere by Music Theatre Wales at the Cheltenham Festival.

2007: The ballet Jane, based on the book, was created in 2007, a Bullard/Tye production with music by Max Reger. Its world premiere was scheduled at the Civic Auditorium, Kalamazoo, Michigan, June 29 and 30, performed by the Kalamazoo Ballet Company, Therese Bullard, Director.

2008: A musical production directed by Debby Race, book by Jana Smith and Wayne R. Scott, with a musical score by Jana Smith and Brad Roseborough, premiered in 2008 at the Lifehouse Theatre in Redlands, California

2009: A symphony (7th) by Michel Bosc premiered in Bandol (France), 11 October 2009.

2013: A one-act musical farce version of Jane Eyre was published by Lazy Bee Scripts in 2013 [2]

2013: The Autobiography of Jane Eyre, an ongoing modernized web series adaptation. It was created by Nessa Aref and Alysson Hall, produced by Nessa Aref and Erika Babins and stars Alysson Hall as Jane.

Sequels

The novelist Angela Carter was working on a sequel to Jane Eyre at the time of her death in 1992. This was to have been the story of Jane's stepdaughter Adèle Varens and her mother Céline. Only a synopsis survives.

1997: Mrs. Rochester: A Sequel to Jane Eyre by Hilary Bailey

2000: Jane Rochester by Kimberly A. Bennett, content explores the first years of the Rochesters' marriage with gothic and explicit content.

2003: Jane Eyre. The Graphic Novel. Script Adaptation: Amy Corzine; Artwork: John M. Burns; Lettering: Terry Wiley; Classical Comics Ltd.

2008: Jane Eyre's Daughter by Elizabeth Newark. A fully grown daughter of Jane Eyre must choose between two men.

2014: All Hallows At Eyre Hall by Luccia Gray. Volume One of the Eyre Hall Trilogy is a sequel to both Jane Eyre and its prequel Wide Sargasso Sea. Twenty-two years have passed since Jane became Mrs. Rochester, and Richard Mason has returned from Jamaica, revealing more of Edward Rochester's unspeakable secrets.

Re-workings

1938: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier was partially inspired by Jane Eyre.

1958: Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart makes implicit and explicit reference to Jane Eyre. The novel is a gothic romance set in a remote French château in the 1950s. The heroine, Linda, is, like Jane, an orphan who takes on the role of governess, this time to a young boy. She compares her situation to that of Jane Eyre on several occasions. Motifs from Eyre also appear in Stewart's The Ivy Tree (1961) but without explicit references to the novel.

2002: Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn, a science-fiction novel based upon Jane Eyre.

2010: Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin. In the same vein as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, this has Jane Eyre battling vampires while also working through the events of the original story.

2010 Sloane Hall by Libby Sternberg, a retelling set in 1929 Hollywood as films shifted from silent to sound.

2010: Jane by April Lindner. Set in the 20th century with Mr. Rochester as Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rockstar.

2010: "Chocolate Roses" by Joan Sowards. modern LDS novel.

2012: "The Flight of Gemma Hardy" by Margot Livesey.

2012: "Jane Eyre Laid Bare", which is credited to Eve Sinclair and Charlotte Brontë. An erotic mashup work.

2012: "Jane Eyrotica" by Charlotte Brontë and Karena Rose. An erotic mashup work.

2015: "Re Jane" by Patricia Park, pictures Jane as a half-Korean, half-American orphan in Flushing, Queens.

2015: "Unearthly Things" by George Mann; a comic book story published by Titan Comics and based upon the science fiction TV series Doctor Who, in which the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald share an adventure with Brontë, and their relationship inspires the author to base the characters of Jane and Rochester on them.

Re-tellings

2007: Thornfield Hall: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story by Emma Tennant. This is another version of Jane Eyre.

2010: I am Jane Eyre by Teana Rowland. This is a version of Jane Eyre which delves into some of the unexplained aspects of the novel.

2015: Jane Eyre My Private Autobiography by W.J. Harrison.

This version of Jane Eyre works in some novel twists that fit into the original plot, such as Jane’s pursuit of Rochester and St. John’s homosexuality.

Prequels

1966: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. The character Bertha Mason serves as the main protagonist for this novel which acts as a prequel to Jane Eyre. It describes the meeting and marriage of Antoinette Cosway (later renamed Bertha by Mr. Rochester) and Mr. Rochester. In its reshaping of events related to Jane Eyre, the novel suggests that Bertha's madness is not congenital, but rather the result of terrible childhood experiences and Mr. Rochester's unloving treatment of her. Wide Sargasso Sea has been adapted into film twice.

Spin-offs

2001: The novel The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde revolves around the plot of Jane Eyre. It portrays the book as originally largely free of literary contrivance: Jane and Mr. Rochester's first meeting is a simple conversation without the dramatic horse accident, and Jane does not hear his voice calling for her and ends up starting a new life in India. The protagonist's efforts mostly accidentally change it to the real version.

2009: Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler. A novel about Charlotte Brontë writing the story.

2009: Jane Airhead by Kay Woodward. A novel about a present-day teenage girl obsessed with Jane Eyre.

2012: A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont. The first novel in a series about a girl named Emma who is transported into the stories of her favorite books. In this installment, Emma finds herself in the role of Jane Eyre, the book she is currently reading. Once there, she must choose whether to follow the plot of Jane's story or return to her own.

Re-tellings from another character's point of view

1966: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Bertha's story beginning with her origins in the Caribbean, where she was forced to marry Rochester, and ending with her entrapment and suicide in Rochester's English home.

2000: Adele: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story by Emma Tennant

2006: The French Dancer's Bastard: The Story of Adele From Jane Eyre by Emma Tennant. This is a slightly modified version of Tennant's 2000 novel.

2009: Adele, Grace, and Celine: The Other Women of Jane Eyre by Claire Moise. This both retells the story from the point of view of three other women and explains their fate after the main events of the story.

2010: Rochester: A Novel Inspired by Jane Eyre by J.L. Niemann. Jane Eyre told from the first person-perspective of Edward Rochester.

2011: Jane Eyre's Rival: The Real Mrs Rochester by Clair Holland. Told from the perspective of Bertha Antoinetta Mason, Mr Rochester's first wife, by Lisa Mason, Antoinetta's modern day descendant.

2011: Jane Eyre's Husband - The Life of Edward Rochester by Tara Bradley. Rochester's entire life.

References

Adaptations of Jane Eyre Wikipedia

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