Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel, Jane Eyre, has been reproduced into many types of entertainment over the course of the last century. Each reproduction depicts the characters, settings, and events in a unique manner. Most notable of these differences is how the work deals with Bertha, the crazed wife of Mr. Rochester who stands between Jane and happiness. Two recreations that depict different ways of developing suspense around Bertha are the 1944 black and white film directed by Robert Stevenson and the 2011 film directed by Cary Fukunaga. Due to the first person narration of the novel, Brontë utilized the motif of the supernatural and dramatic revelations to build suspense around Bertha’s reveal. Stevenson’s 1944 production of Jane Eyre as a …show more content…
Each director uses a different method to retain the attention of their audience. Fukunaga develops suspense throughout Jane’s time at Thornfield, staying true to the course of events depicted through Jane’s first person narrative within the novel. The scenes follow Jane very closely, often filming at an angle that appears to be straight from Jane’s own eyes when dealing with action. Most importantly of all within Fukunaga’s interpretation of Jane Eyre is the sound effects. The demonic giggle heard by Jane leading up to the fire in Mr. Rochester’s bed, the creaking of the floorboards in the attic, and the knock from the other side of the wall in the attic all startle Jane and allude to a supernatural force at play rather than a mere human being. All the while, the audience has no one to attribute the horrific actions taking place to. Rochester attributes the fire in his room to being an accident and gives no sound reasoning to the sudden wound on Mr. Mason’s neck within the 2011 film. These decisions, both in sound and in script, further the sense of suspense built when Jane discovers the identity of the culprit following her interrupted