0:00:07 > 0:00:10"Reader, I married him."
0:00:10 > 0:00:15It's one of the most iconic lines in all of English literature.
0:00:15 > 0:00:21Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte's poor, orphaned, neglected heroine, has
0:00:21 > 0:00:27finally married the man she loves, Rochester, and on her own terms.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34As a teenager, and a debut novelist myself at 16,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37I was intrigued by Jane Eyre.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Like many millions of readers before me, I immersed myself in her
0:00:42 > 0:00:47world of loss and suffering, striving and redemption.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Charlotte Bronte's heroine got everything she wanted,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53and without compromising her principles.
0:00:54 > 0:00:55Or did she?
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Revisiting Bronte's classic novel now,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04my reaction couldn't be more different.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07I find the book so much more disturbing
0:01:07 > 0:01:10and darker than my teenage memory of it.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16'In this film, I want to go back to Charlotte Bronte's original
0:01:16 > 0:01:20'manuscript, examine early writing...'
0:01:21 > 0:01:23Oh, my God!
0:01:25 > 0:01:27'..and uncover personal correspondence which reveals
0:01:27 > 0:01:30'experiences that shape the book's narrative.'
0:01:30 > 0:01:33You can almost tell that the hand is clenched.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37'And I want to test out my ideas about the book
0:01:37 > 0:01:39'and its central character with experts.'
0:01:40 > 0:01:44Actually, Jane Eyre is revolutionary in her demands.
0:01:44 > 0:01:45Oh! I don't agree at all.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Well, I think you're right that Jane Eyre isn't just a love story.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54It's full of violence, frustration and repressed desire.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00As a protagonist, Jane Eyre is one of the great literary characters,
0:02:00 > 0:02:05but I want to know, how much of a heroine is she?
0:02:21 > 0:02:25"I am glad you are no relation of mine.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28"I will never call you aunt again so long as I live.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32"I will never come to see you when I'm grown up, and if anyone asks me
0:02:32 > 0:02:37"how I liked you and how you treated me, I will say the very thought
0:02:37 > 0:02:42"of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45"How dare you affirm that, Jane Eyre?
0:02:45 > 0:02:50"How dare I, Mrs Reed? How dare I? Because it is the truth."
0:02:52 > 0:02:54I love that.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Jane Eyre was only ten years old when she finally snapped
0:02:59 > 0:03:00and confronted Mrs Reed,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05the cruel aunt who turned a blind eye to Jane's bullying cousins.
0:03:05 > 0:03:11When I first read the novel, I loved this orphan girl who was angry,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15outspoken, and acutely aware of injustice.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17I admired her emotional independence
0:03:17 > 0:03:22and her total determination to make her own way in the world, even
0:03:22 > 0:03:24when she was sent away to a brutal boarding school.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34At 18, Jane Eyre becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40It's where the central love story of the novel begins -
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Jane's relationship with the master of the house.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51Her employer is the mercurial and tormented Edward Rochester.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Charlotte Bronte describes "his stern features,
0:03:54 > 0:03:58"his heavy brow, his considerable breadth of chest."
0:04:00 > 0:04:04This was my first copy of Jane Eyre from when I was a teenager,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07and to prove it to you... there you go,
0:04:07 > 0:04:12October 1996 with a vintage doodle from my teen years.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16And this is my teenage bedroom, where I read Jane Eyre
0:04:16 > 0:04:19for the first time, on that bed.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23And not only that but, looking through it now, I see that
0:04:23 > 0:04:28I clearly went through it highlighting all of the dirty bits!
0:04:29 > 0:04:34"You examine me, Miss Eyre, said he, Do you think me handsome?"
0:04:34 > 0:04:37But she goes, "No, sir."
0:04:39 > 0:04:43She refuses to compromise or demean herself even though it's
0:04:43 > 0:04:46quite obvious that she's attracted to him too.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50As a young reader, I was rooting for her all the way.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52I got just as wrapped up
0:04:52 > 0:04:56in the love story element of the novel as she did.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01When Charlotte Bronte wrote her great love story
0:05:01 > 0:05:05between Jane Eyre and Rochester, she wanted her writing to be judged
0:05:05 > 0:05:09on merit, and not with any reference to her gender,
0:05:09 > 0:05:14not least because she was writing frankly about female desire.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24'Bronte was 30 years old when Jane Eyre was published in 1847,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28'under the guise of an autobiography edited by Currer Bell -
0:05:28 > 0:05:31'a pseudonym adopted by Charlotte Bronte.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38'The book was an overnight sensation.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42'Today, the British Library has the only surviving manuscript.'
0:05:44 > 0:05:48I can't believe that we're sitting in front of an original
0:05:48 > 0:05:53manuscript of Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte herself.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58The handwriting is so precise, the whole thing seems immaculate
0:05:58 > 0:06:01and neat, as though this is all very thought through.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05She would hesitate to choose the right word, or the right
0:06:05 > 0:06:08expression, just to get it right.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11I'm just astonished that these
0:06:11 > 0:06:15pages do give off a kind of atmosphere, don't they?
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Yeah, they do, definitely.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19It's beautifully, beautifully neat,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22and this is the fair copy of the manuscript.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26We know that she would start out writing in pencil on lots
0:06:26 > 0:06:29of little sheets and then she would work from those
0:06:29 > 0:06:34and produce the fair copy, which is what the publishers were sent.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Bronte's manuscript shows how careful
0:06:38 > 0:06:41and considered she was with the writing of her novel.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47But intimate letters survive that reveal a far more emotionally
0:06:47 > 0:06:49unrestrained side to the author.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55One of the most significant periods in Charlotte Bronte's life
0:06:55 > 0:07:00was in the early 1840s, when she travelled to Brussels to
0:07:00 > 0:07:04study languages, and we know that she fell in love
0:07:04 > 0:07:05with Monsieur Heger.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09He was the married professor of literature who taught
0:07:09 > 0:07:10Charlotte Bronte.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Heger was the first man outside her family who'd actually recognised
0:07:15 > 0:07:21her genius and she responded to him in a very passionate way.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25It's a really formative period in her life.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28And before I cast my eyes upon this letter,
0:07:28 > 0:07:32I just have to know, was it reciprocated?
0:07:32 > 0:07:33No. No.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37From the first paragraph, it says it's been six months
0:07:37 > 0:07:41and she's going over the date of her last letter that she wrote him.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45They came to an agreement that she would only write one letter
0:07:45 > 0:07:49every six months, and when she kept that agreement,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and he still didn't respond, she would fire back with quite
0:07:53 > 0:07:56an angry, passionate sort of pent up letter.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Yeah. You can almost tell that the hand is clenched,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01the writing hand is absolutely clenched.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Well, I don't think I can puzzle out any more of the French,
0:08:05 > 0:08:06because it's so tiny.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08This is a translation of the letter.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13"I will tell you candidly that during this time of waiting I've tried to
0:08:13 > 0:08:16"forget you, and when one has suffered this kind of anxiety
0:08:16 > 0:08:22"for one or two years" - years! - "one is ready to do anything
0:08:22 > 0:08:24"to regain peace of mind."
0:08:24 > 0:08:27This is her first sort of crush, really.
0:08:27 > 0:08:28I think it's more than a crush.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32"When a dreary and prolonged silence seems to warn me
0:08:32 > 0:08:35"that my master is becoming estranged from me,
0:08:35 > 0:08:40"I lose my appetite and my sleep - I pine away."
0:08:40 > 0:08:43The thing that strikes me immediately is that she refers
0:08:43 > 0:08:47- to him as "my master", which is exactly what Jane Eyre...- Yes.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50..does to Edward Rochester. She calls him "my master" throughout.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54Heger played a huge part in the shaping of Rochester's character,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57and the relationship between Jane.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00But does he torment her deliberately in a way that...
0:09:00 > 0:09:02I think he did.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Yeah, he was aware of his power over his pupils,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08and particularly over Charlotte Bronte.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12How long did it take her to write Jane Eyre?
0:09:12 > 0:09:17It took her... From starting it to actually sending the fair copy
0:09:17 > 0:09:20to the publishers, it was 12 months.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23And it was not long after the Brussels period.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26We know the Thornfield section of the novel
0:09:26 > 0:09:28was completed in three weeks.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30So it seems like she was very confident.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32And that this was coming from very deep inside?
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Coming from very deep inside her, yeah.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48This passion for her teacher in Brussels clearly inspired
0:09:48 > 0:09:50the writing of Jane Eyre.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57But for Bronte's fictional love story,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01she would choose a much grander setting suited to the melodramatic
0:10:01 > 0:10:04reworking of her own emotional experiences.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11Bronte's novel is famously set against the epic backdrop
0:10:11 > 0:10:12of the Yorkshire moors.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16And this fortified manor house has been used as a film location
0:10:16 > 0:10:19for many dramatised versions of the book.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25In my imagination, and that of countless readers and film goers,
0:10:25 > 0:10:32this could be Edward Rochester's ancestral home, Thornfield Hall.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37It's the perfect stage for Charlotte Bronte's Gothic story
0:10:37 > 0:10:43of fairytale, horror and magical revelation.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49Part of the power of the book lies in the way Bronte combines
0:10:49 > 0:10:53these disparate genre styles with realistic storytelling.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00Re-reading the book now, the darkness seems much more
0:11:00 > 0:11:03oppressive, widespread and disturbing.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08Far from the heady romance I read as a teen, I now see the relationship
0:11:08 > 0:11:12between Rochester and Jane Eyre as an extremely abusive one,
0:11:12 > 0:11:17especially in the way he exploits his position of authority over her.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26Throughout the novel, Rochester refers to Jane as "little".
0:11:26 > 0:11:30And she submissively calls him "master".
0:11:31 > 0:11:36Ultimately, she's presented as accepting of his aggression
0:11:36 > 0:11:41and of her own dependence and emotional subordination.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43Bronte writes,
0:11:43 > 0:11:49"His presence in a room was more cheering than the brightest fire.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53"Yet I had not forgotten his faults - indeed,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57"I could not, for he brought them frequently before me."
0:11:59 > 0:12:03And there's nothing romantic about Rochester's marriage proposal
0:12:03 > 0:12:10to her. He says, "Jane, will you marry me?
0:12:12 > 0:12:17"You - poor and obscure, and small and plain as you are - I entreat
0:12:17 > 0:12:21"you to accept me as a husband".
0:12:22 > 0:12:26These are words that the self-effacing Jane has used
0:12:26 > 0:12:30to describe herself to Rochester before.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36And she replies to him, "Are you in earnest?
0:12:36 > 0:12:38"Do you truly love me?
0:12:38 > 0:12:42"Do you sincerely wish me to be your wife?"
0:12:46 > 0:12:50But then all her dreams come crashing down -
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Rochester's already married.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57He's been lying to her throughout and he's hidden his mad wife,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Bertha, in the attic.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Jane faces a stark choice - stay with Rochester
0:13:03 > 0:13:07and be his mistress or follow her convictions and her dignity,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11even if it means letting go of the man she loves.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23Jane flees Thornfield - she's by herself and she has nothing.
0:13:23 > 0:13:30Jane says, "I may be poor and plain and alone, but I care for myself."
0:13:31 > 0:13:34She's aware that if she becomes Rochester's mistress,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38she loses not only her respectability but her self-respect.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44'This is where I wished Jane had stayed strong
0:13:44 > 0:13:46'and seen the last of Rochester.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50'Although an unexpected inheritance brings her financial independence,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53'she chooses to return to him a year later.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58'But the novel is not so kind to her former master.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01'As his home is engulfed in flames,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04'he's crippled and robbed of his sight.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08'It's as though Bronte has given him his karmic punishment.'
0:14:10 > 0:14:13Rochester's blind and he's been maimed trying to save
0:14:13 > 0:14:17Bertha from the devastating fire she caused at Thornfield.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23Bertha dies, leaving Rochester free to finally marry Jane.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29'With fairytale neatness, it's all very convenient.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32'Not only is Bertha out of the way forever,
0:14:32 > 0:14:37'but Jane's fortunes have risen while Rochester's have fallen.'
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Many readers see an equality between Jane
0:14:41 > 0:14:44and Rochester by the end of the novel.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46But I'm afraid I don't accept that at all.
0:14:46 > 0:14:53She revels in serving this man and I think she exults at Bertha's demise.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59'I want to take Charlotte Bronte and her creation, Jane Eyre,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03'to task, and find out more about the heroine who has resonated
0:15:03 > 0:15:09'with so many readers, but has left me with so many doubts.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13'I've come to the lifelong home of the Brontes,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15'in Haworth, West Yorkshire.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19'It's where Charlotte lived with her literary sisters, Anne and Emily,
0:15:19 > 0:15:24'and where she completed Jane Eyre - her most successful novel.'
0:15:28 > 0:15:33One of the things I've always loved about Jane Eyre is her anger
0:15:33 > 0:15:37and she will answer back to anyone who mistreats her, and I feel almost
0:15:37 > 0:15:42that when she gets to Thornfield, she becomes curiously submissive.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46I am disturbed by the... I see you wincing in pain there!
0:15:46 > 0:15:51..as soon as she gets to Thornfield, because in sweeps Mr Rochester,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55and from then on I feel like she is sort of magnetised by him,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59and he begins to torment, tease, flirt with her,
0:15:59 > 0:16:04and I'm reading it thinking, where is that child that stood by herself?
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Well, I think first of all, this is an education novel.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12You know, it's a bildungsroman and so it is about a character
0:16:12 > 0:16:17changing and maturing, and I think that the whole thing is that
0:16:17 > 0:16:19she's not just going to give into her anger.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23When it comes to Mr Rochester, it's not just a love story,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27it's really about her asserting herself
0:16:27 > 0:16:30and refusing to submit to someone else's will.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33I mean, he might call her his little bird,
0:16:33 > 0:16:34but she resists him all the time.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36Oh, I don't agree at all.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Jane strikes me as this completely damaged, broken individual
0:16:40 > 0:16:43and I think that's what happens when you've grown up
0:16:43 > 0:16:48- and nobody has shown you even a shred of love...- Yes, yes.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51..and it's this that leads her into this very sadomasochistic
0:16:51 > 0:16:53relationship with Rochester.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56One of the first things she likes when she meets Rochester
0:16:56 > 0:16:59is he falls from the horse and she helps him up and she says,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03"I felt glad... I wasn't... My existence had become less passive,
0:17:03 > 0:17:05"I was doing something to help him."
0:17:05 > 0:17:07And that was her big gripe about 19th century lives for women.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12But you see, but, but that, to me, is the ultimate in female masochism,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14which is, "I love him because he needs me."
0:17:14 > 0:17:17That's - you've just said it right there.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21And at no point does Jane really judge Rochester.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24But she also says, "I won't be a slave in your harem,
0:17:24 > 0:17:26"I will be stirring up the slaves to liberty."
0:17:26 > 0:17:29I mean, this is a theme about her character
0:17:29 > 0:17:33striving for a kind of mental equality with a man.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36And it was so unusual that after about a year of people saying,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39"Isn't this a fantastic novel?" people starting saying, hmm,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42this is the sort of same kind of mind-set which created
0:17:42 > 0:17:47the 1848 revolution, Chartism, this sort of overturning of barriers.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51This is what creates revolution all over the world.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55And, yes, actually, Jane Eyre is revolutionary in her demands,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59and I think she maintains that despite being very,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01very attracted to Mr Rochester.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03This is a mould breaking heroine.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10'So, maybe I'm not giving Charlotte Bronte enough
0:18:10 > 0:18:12'credit for challenging convention
0:18:12 > 0:18:17'and pushing for female identity and passion to be taken seriously.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22'And there was a radicalism too in the style of the book.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25'The intimate first person
0:18:25 > 0:18:29'autobiographical voice was itself pioneering.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33'Its interior perspective would inspire later
0:18:33 > 0:18:36'generations of novelists.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41'But one aspect of Bronte's writing which still raises many
0:18:41 > 0:18:46'questions for me is her attitude to race.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49'As a child, she grew up during a time when slavery
0:18:49 > 0:18:52'in the British Empire was nearing its end.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58'I'm keen to know how the debate that raged around the trade
0:18:58 > 0:19:01'might have informed her literary imagination.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07'The British Library has some rare examples of Bronte's early
0:19:07 > 0:19:11'writing, which show how she first imagined life in the colonies.'
0:19:14 > 0:19:18So, this is the manuscript of The Foundling.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20It's one of Charlotte Bronte's juvenilia.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23But, but you're being so careful with it,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26- makes me think it's incredibly fragile.- It is.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31This is absolutely amazing.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35This tells me that Charlotte Bronte was really ambitious,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39- to be published out in the world with a proper book.- Yes, certainly.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42And you can tell that by the sheer exuberance of her signature.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46I mean, that's the biggest thing on this first page.
0:19:46 > 0:19:47Verdopolis.
0:19:47 > 0:19:53That was the name of this African colonial state where
0:19:53 > 0:19:54many of the stories were set.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56So it's incredibly politically charged.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Yeah, I mean, I think the way she presents a colony is very much
0:20:00 > 0:20:03in line with the way she would have read about the colonies.
0:20:03 > 0:20:04I'll just turn the page,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07because I think you get a better sense then of it.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10Oh, my God! Are those real...
0:20:10 > 0:20:12That really is really tiny writing.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15..letters. It's so small, it's sort of like ants marching
0:20:15 > 0:20:19- across the page. And yet each letter is perfect.- Yes. Oh, yes!
0:20:19 > 0:20:24I find it completely fascinating that this teenager, really,
0:20:24 > 0:20:26is writing at a time
0:20:26 > 0:20:31when in the outer world there is a huge amount of social change
0:20:31 > 0:20:34happening around the abolition of slavery and this seems to
0:20:34 > 0:20:38have filtered through to the young Charlotte Bronte in this story.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Yeah, I think what you will see here, if we just turn the page,
0:20:42 > 0:20:47is that you have a description of this, of Verdopolis, of this...
0:20:47 > 0:20:48This colonial state.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51..this colonial city, which she describes here as
0:20:51 > 0:20:55"that splendid city with such graceful haughtiness."
0:20:55 > 0:20:58So, she's really taking on the role of the coloniser?
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Yes, I think she definitely portrays this world
0:21:02 > 0:21:04probably in a way that she would have read about it
0:21:04 > 0:21:07in the Victorian period in which she grew up.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Do you think there's much of a social conscious in this?
0:21:10 > 0:21:13I'm feeling that she's rather on the side of the colonials
0:21:13 > 0:21:15who were going over to civilise the heathens.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17In The Foundling, in particular,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21there isn't a huge amount from the perspective of the native residents
0:21:21 > 0:21:25of Verdopolis, but I think she certainly has an awareness of them.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28So, there's that kind of involvement with colonial life.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32But I don't think it's always clear exactly what her view is.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39While a clear view on colonialism
0:21:39 > 0:21:43and race may be absent from the writing of the young Bronte,
0:21:43 > 0:21:48in my mind, the view revealed by the adult Bronte is much clearer.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59When I re-read Jane Eyre, one of the most marked differences
0:21:59 > 0:22:02was in my reaction to the treatment of Bertha,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Rochester's infamous mad wife in the attic.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10As a young reader, I didn't see her as anything other than
0:22:10 > 0:22:14an obstacle to the happy conclusion of Jane's love story.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17The thought of Bertha locked up
0:22:17 > 0:22:22didn't excite any sympathy in me or, frankly, in Jane herself.
0:22:22 > 0:22:28Nor did I question that Rochester may have used Bertha for her money.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Bertha came from a wealthy family,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and Rochester met her in the West Indies.
0:22:40 > 0:22:46Bertha is Creole, we're not sure if she's black or mixed race,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48but she's described as dark skinned,
0:22:48 > 0:22:53something which has negative connotations throughout the novel.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58When Jane first lays eyes on her, her description is vivid
0:22:58 > 0:22:59and extremely telling.
0:23:01 > 0:23:02She says that Bertha is,
0:23:02 > 0:23:08"Fearful and ghastly with a discoloured face, a savage face.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10"The lips were swelled and dark.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14"Black eyebrows widely raised over the bloodshot eyes."
0:23:17 > 0:23:21The way Bronte kills Bertha off couldn't be more violent.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25She has her jumping to her death from the fire that she
0:23:25 > 0:23:27herself caused at Thornfield.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Years before her demise at Thornfield,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45it's likely that Bertha and Rochester's journey from Jamaica
0:23:45 > 0:23:49would have ended here in Liverpool a city
0:23:49 > 0:23:53with a long and contentious history of trading with the colonies.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Something I realised when I was re-reading Jane Eyre is
0:23:57 > 0:23:59I didn't read it as a love story this time.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01To me, it was about race and foreignness,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04particularly in the depiction of Bertha Mason,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07the first wife who's been locked up in the attic.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Well, I think you're right that Jane Eyre isn't just a love story.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12I mean, I think it is a love story,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14but like, like all of Bronte's
0:24:14 > 0:24:19novels, it's full of violence and frustration and repressed desire.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23But it's true that the novel's attitudes to Bertha
0:24:23 > 0:24:25I think are very ambivalent.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27Do you think that the novel
0:24:27 > 0:24:29is coming down on the side of colonialism?
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Oh, yes, we know that Charlotte herself was a deeply
0:24:32 > 0:24:34conservative woman, she was a Tory.
0:24:34 > 0:24:35Her father was a Tory.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Her father was an Anglo-Irish Anglican parson who was
0:24:39 > 0:24:40a Conservative.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44So, I'm quite sure that in terms of her own politics, that would be
0:24:44 > 0:24:47true, that she would not be critical of colonialism at all,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51but novels are delicate and ambiguous and slippery things.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55And what novelists themselves believe may not always be identical
0:24:55 > 0:24:59with what they show and what they dramatise.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02So, I think that, yeah, she would have, she would have,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04she would have approved of colonialism,
0:25:04 > 0:25:08but themes of subjugation - not least the subjugation of women -
0:25:08 > 0:25:11themes of victimisation, exploitation,
0:25:11 > 0:25:13are rife throughout the novel.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17She does, of course, show the image of an exploited woman in Bertha.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Even if she doesn't see her that way, we can see her that way,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23which gives us a very different view of the situation.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26I'm very interested in the idea of Charlotte Bronte's conservatism
0:25:26 > 0:25:29because, throughout the novel, she's going on about how
0:25:29 > 0:25:32she demands equality, she wants to be seen as a person.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36And yet, all her politics, all her ferocity, actually fail
0:25:36 > 0:25:39when it comes to talking about international matters and slavery
0:25:39 > 0:25:43and colonialism, even though she is acutely aware of women's suffering.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Well, I'm not sure one would, that it would be reasonable
0:25:46 > 0:25:51to expect a 19th century governess like Jane, you know,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54or even Charlotte, to be aware of that wider world.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58But she sure is aware of the politics on her own doorstep.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Bertha does in a way represent a lot of guilt
0:26:01 > 0:26:05and a lot of exploitation and a lot of frustration and desire which
0:26:05 > 0:26:09are there in English society as a whole, and Bertha's the monstrous
0:26:09 > 0:26:12incarnation of all this, which in one sense is repellent,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15because that society doesn't want to acknowledge its roots
0:26:15 > 0:26:17in colonial exploitation.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22On the other hand, there's something about the exotic,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24the dark the unknown, the adventurous...
0:26:24 > 0:26:26As ever! Oh, these, well, these are classic notions...
0:26:26 > 0:26:29- ..which of course is very effective. - These are classic notions.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Absolutely. If you're saying that Bertha is a hideous stereotype,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35for sure, I mean, no argument.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37I don't think you're necessarily misreading Bertha.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39I do think you're rather concentrating too much on her,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42cos she's one element in a very complex novel,
0:26:42 > 0:26:46and I don't think the novel can be reduced to its pretty odious
0:26:46 > 0:26:50treatment of Bertha, yes, because there's something in that
0:26:50 > 0:26:54kind of madness, in that kind of female madness in particular, which
0:26:54 > 0:26:58calls very deeply to Charlotte, I think, and to, and to Jane.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04'When I started out,
0:27:04 > 0:27:09'I was really questioning how much of a heroine Jane Eyre is.'
0:27:09 > 0:27:12I'm now not just beginning to mellow towards her,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15I have to admit, I actively admire her.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Bronte gave voice to a female desire and sexuality
0:27:21 > 0:27:26in a ground-breaking and influential literary form, conveying Jane Eyre's
0:27:26 > 0:27:31experiences through a captivating and original, personal perspective.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38I must admit, though, I am still horrified by the depiction
0:27:38 > 0:27:43and treatment of the character of Bertha, but maybe that's me
0:27:43 > 0:27:49judging Charlotte Bronte by my 21st-century politicised values.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54'While I realise that Bronte was reflecting
0:27:54 > 0:27:56'some of the prejudices of her time,
0:27:56 > 0:28:02'the novel still allows for multiple nuanced readings, and at its heart
0:28:02 > 0:28:07'is a radical plea for women to have greater equality with men.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13'It's been so rewarding exploring this novel and its ambiguities,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16'teasing out what it is that keeps pulling me back.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20'And the answer is the same now as when I first read
0:28:20 > 0:28:24'the book as a teenager - the complex character of Jane Eyre.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28'The moral dilemmas of her world
0:28:28 > 0:28:32'are so convincingly brought to life that her story continues
0:28:32 > 0:28:38'to both inspire and provoke, nearly two centuries after it was written.'
0:28:41 > 0:28:44To dig deeper into Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre,
0:28:44 > 0:28:46and the other books in this series,
0:28:46 > 0:28:53a free app from the Open University is available to download. Go to:
0:28:55 > 0:28:58..and follow the links to the Open University.