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Adaptations of Jane Eyre

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Alice Brady as Jane Eyre in Woman and Wife (1918)

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

Film

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Irma Taylor as Jane and Charles Compton as John Reed in the Thanhouser Company's Jane Eyre (1910)
Mabel Ballin in Jane Eyre (1921), directed by Hugo Ballin
Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine in Jane Eyre (1943), directed by Robert Stevenson

Silent films

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Sound films

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Radio

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A 1949 adaptation for NBC University Theatre, starring Deborah Kerr
  • 1938: The Mercury Theatre on the Air, 18 September 1938, with Orson Welles and music by Bernard Herrmann; the acetate recording was irreparably damaged by its use in preparing the 1943 motion picture[18]: 91 
  • 1940: The Campbell Playhouse, 31 March 1940, with Orson Welles and Madeleine Carroll[19][20]
  • 1941: The Screen Guild Theater, 2 March 1941, with Brian Aherne and Bette Davis[21][22]
  • 1943: The Weird Circle, 26 December 1943, in a half-hour adaptation using almost none of the novel's original dialogue and with no cast credits[23]
  • 1944: The Philco Radio Hall of Fame, 13 February 1944, an "impression" by Joan Fontaine (20:40–32:20)[24][25]
  • 1944: The Lux Radio Theatre, 5 June 1944, with Orson Welles and Loretta Young[26]
  • 1944: Matinee Theater, 3 December 1944, with Victor Jory and Gertrude Warner[27][28]
  • 1946: The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air, 28 June 1946, adapted by Norman Corwin, with Orson Welles and Alice Frost[29]
  • 1948: The Lux Radio Theatre, 14 June 1948, with Ingrid Bergman and Robert Montgomery[26][30]
  • 1949: NBC University Theatre[31]
  • 1994: Jane Eyre, British radio, January 1994, with Sophie Thompson and Ciarán Hinds[32]
  • 1994 "BBC Radio Presents Jane Eyre" (Abridged) AudioBook (4 audiocassettes); ISBN 978-0-553-47397-1; Running Time: 240 minutes; Performance by Juliet Stevenson; Bantam Doubleday Dell; BBC Enterprises;[33]
  • 2009: Jane Eyre, British radio, August 2009[34]
  • 2016: Jane Eyre, BBC Radio 4 as ten 15-minute episodes, from 29 February 2016, with Amanda Hale and Tom Burke[35][36]

Television

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Theatre

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Charlotte Thompson in Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer's stage adaptation of Jane Eyre (1874)[56]

Works inspired by the novel

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Literature

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Sequels

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  • 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.[75]
  • 1997: Mrs. Rochester: A Sequel to Jane Eyre by Hilary Bailey[76]
  • 2003: Jane Eyre: The Graphic Novel. Script Adaptation: Amy Corzine; Artwork: John M. Burns; Lettering: Terry Wiley; Classical Comics Ltd.[77]

Re-workings

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  • 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.
  • 2002: Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn, a science-fiction novel based upon Jane Eyre[12]
  • 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.[78]
  • 2010 Sloane Hall by Libby Sternberg, a retelling set in 1929 Hollywood as films shifted from silent to sound.[79] ISBN 9781594149177
  • 2010: Jane by April Lindner. Set in the 20th century with Mr. Rochester as Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rockstar[80]
  • 2015: Re Jane: A Novel by Patricia Park pictures Jane as a half-Korean, half-American orphan in Flushing, Queens.[81]
  • 2016: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye; inspired by her reading of Jane Eyre, the titular protagonist tells her story, which follows a similar path to the original, but this Jane is a serial killer.[citation needed]
  • 2016: A manga adaptation by Crystal S. Chan was published by Manga Classics Inc., with artwork by Sunneko Lee.[82][83]
  • 2017: Jane by Aline Brosh McKenna and Ramon K. Perez; a graphic novel published by Boom! Studios, it is a contemporary reworking of the novel set in modern-day New York, with Jane being a nanny for a Westchester recluse and St. John being reimagined as her crossdressing fashion designer roommate Hector.[citation needed]
  • 2018: Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne. A young adult romantic mystery set in space.

Re-tellings

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  • 2006: The Translator by Leila Aboulela, a Sudanese British Muslim retelling.
  • 2007: Thornfield Hall: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story by Emma Tennant.
  • 2010: I am Jane Eyre by Teana Rowland. This version of Jane Eyre 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.
  • 2021: The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins.
  • 2023: Jane & Edward by Melodie Edwards. Retelling of Jane Eyre in modern times.[84]

Prequels

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  • 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

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  • 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.[85]
  • 2009: Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler. A novel about Charlotte Brontë writing the story.[86]
  • 2009: Jane Airhead by Kay Woodward. A novel about a present-day teenage girl obsessed with Jane Eyre.[87]

Re-tellings from another character's point of view

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  • 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.[citation needed]
  • 2000: Adèle: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story by Emma Tennant[citation needed]
  • 2006: The French Dancer's Bastard: The Story of Adèle From Jane Eyre by Emma Tennant. This is a slightly modified version of Tennant's 2000 novel.[citation needed]
  • 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.[88]
  • 2010: Rochester: A Novel Inspired by Jane Eyre by J.L. Niemann. Jane Eyre told from the first-person perspective of Edward Rochester.[citation needed]
  • 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.[citation needed]
  • 2011: Jane Eyre's Husband – The Life of Edward Rochester by Tara Bradley. Rochester's entire life.[citation needed]
  • 2017: Mr Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker – Edward Fairfax Rochester's life before he meets Jane, then essentially, Jane Eyre from his perspective.[citation needed]
  • 2022: Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste. Reimagines Rochester as am immortal villain and Bertha as a victim who becomes immortal.[89]
  • 2022: Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell. Tells Adele's story starting from before Rochester takes her to England through the novel and focuses on her time after Jane Eyre at school in London.[90]

Other influences

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Music

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  • 2019: Madwoman in the Attic, a song by Blackbriar and featured on their album Our Mortal Remains, is inspired by the novel.[94]

References

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  1. ↑ Q. David Bowers (1995). "Volume 2: Filmography - Jane Eyre". Thanhouser.org. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Jane Eyre". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Jane Eyre | Movie Synopsis Available, Read the Plot of the Film Online". VH1.com. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  4. ↑ "Woman and Wife". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "Jane Eyre". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "Jane Eyre". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "I Walked with a Zombie". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  8. ↑ "Jane Eyre". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  9. 1 2 Yardley, Jonathan (16 March 2004). "Du Maurier's 'Rebecca,' A Worthy 'Eyre' Apparent". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  10. ↑ Bhattacharjee, Rudradeep (15 June 2017). "Sajjad Hussain, the composer whose music has endured 'with a tenacity that defies reason'". Scroll.in.
  11. ↑ Kabatchnik, Amnon (2011). Blood on the Stage, 1950-1975: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection. Scarecrow Press. p. 256. ISBN 978-0810877832.
  12. 1 2 Lodge, Sara (2008). Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre (Readers' Guides to Essential Criticism). Red Globe Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0230518155.
  13. ↑ Teachman, Debra (2001). Understanding Jane Eyre : a student casebook to issues, sources, and historical documents. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press. pp. 186. ISBN 9786610708307. 1970: Jane Eyre, starring George C. Scott and Susannah York;.
  14. ↑ Dhananjayan, G. (2014). Pride of Tamil Cinema 1931-2013. Blue Ocean Publishers. pp. 208–209. ISBN 978-9384301057.
  15. ↑ Long Hoeveler, Diane (2016). A Companion to the Brontës. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 510. ISBN 978-1118404942.
  16. ↑ Kelleher, Terry (20 October 1997). "Jane Eyre". People Weekly. ISSN 0093-7673.
  17. ↑ Puig, Claudia (11 March 2011). "'Jane Eyre' is human, and originally divine". USA Today.
  18. ↑ Wood, Bret, Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1990 ISBN 0-313-26538-0
  19. ↑ "The Campbell Playhouse". RadioGOLDINdex. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  20. ↑ "The Campbell Playhouse: Jane Eyre". Orson Welles on the Air, 1938–1946. Indiana University Bloomington. 31 March 1940. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  21. ↑ "The Gulf Screen Guild Theatre". RadioGOLDINdex. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  22. ↑ "Screen Guild Theater Jane Eyre" – via Internet Archive.
  23. ↑ Old Time Radio Researchers (15 April 2020). The Weird Circle - Jane Eyre. Retrieved 30 April 2026 – via YouTube.
  24. ↑ "The Radio Hall of Fame". RadioGOLDINdex. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  25. ↑ The Philco Radio Hall of Fame — Jane Eyre at the Internet Archive
  26. 1 2 "The Lux Radio Theatre". RadioGOLDINdex. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  27. ↑ "The Matinee Theatre". RadioGOLDINdex. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  28. ↑ The Matinee Theatre — Jane Eyre at the Internet Archive
  29. ↑ "The Mercury Summer Theatre". RadioGOLDINdex. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  30. ↑ The Lux Radio Theatre — Jane Eyre at the Internet Archive
  31. ↑ "NBC University Theater". National Broadcasting Company. 3 April 1949.
  32. ↑ Ciarán Hinds' Audio Works
  33. ↑ source from physical Audiobook copy
  34. ↑ "Jane Eye by Charlotte Bronte, adapted by Michelene Wandor - BBC Radio 7, 24–27 August 009". Radio Drama Reviews Online. 2009. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  35. ↑ "Jane Eyre". 15 Minute Drama, Radio 4. BBC. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  36. ↑ "A new Jane Eyre in BBC Radio 4 (and more)". Bronte Blog. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  37. ↑ Roberts, Jerry (2009). Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors. The Scarecrow Press. p. 345. ISBN 978-0810861381.
  38. ↑ "TV Mirror 25th Feb 1956". Archives: Articles. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  39. ↑ Hawes, William (2001). Filmed Television Drama, 1952-1958. McFarland. p. 49. ISBN 978-0786411320.
  40. ↑ "Buongiorno Bertha: The 1957 Italian Mini Series". Eyre Buds. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  41. ↑ Dick, Kleiner (13 May 1961). "Differences on Opinion on TV". Morning Herald. Hagerstown, Maryland. p. 5.
  42. ↑ "Drama – Jane Eyre – The History of Jane Eyre On-Screen". BBC. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  43. ↑ "A Review of the 1971 Spanish Jane Eyre". Tumblr. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  44. ↑ Jane Eyre: Capítulo 1 | RTVE Play (in Spanish), 12 June 2023, retrieved 18 November 2023
  45. ↑ "Jana Eyrová – Česká televize". Česká televize. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  46. ↑ Teachman, Debra (2001). Understanding Jane Eyre: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Greenwood Press. pp. 202. ISBN 978-0313309397. Jane Eyre sorcha.
  47. ↑ Regis, Amber K.; Wynne, Deborah (2017). Charlotte Brontë: Legacies and Afterlives. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. p. 241. ISBN 9781784992460.
  48. ↑ "SCTV Guide – Episodes – Series 5 Cycle 4". Sctvguide.ca. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  49. ↑ Rubik, Margarete (2007). A Breath of Fresh Eyre: Intertextual and Intermedial Reworkings of Jane Eyre. Rodopi. p. 17. ISBN 978-9042022126.
  50. ↑ Wootton, Sarah (2007). Rubik, Margarete (ed.). A Breath of Fresh Eyre: Intertextual and Intermedial Reworkings of Jane Eyre. Rodopi. p. 234. ISBN 978-9042022126.
  51. ↑ PitiBangkok (2 January 2025). "รักเดียวของเจนจิรา ละครคลาสสิค หนึ่งในตำนานละครช่อง 3". Dek-D (in Thai). Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  52. ↑ Tepa Lupack, Barbara (1999). Nineteenth-century Women at the Movies: Adapting Classic Women's Fiction to Film. Popular Press 1. p. 203. ISBN 978-0879728052.
  53. ↑ Billen, Andrew (31 July 2013). "Ruth Wilson: from Jane Eyre to The Lone Ranger". The Times. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  54. ↑ Qi, S. (2014). The Brontë Sisters in Other Wor(l)ds. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 2. ISBN 978-1137405142.
  55. ↑ "The period adaptations keep coming – Aimee Lou Wood to star in Jane Eyre". Happy Mag. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
  56. ↑ Stoneman, Patsy (2007). Jane Eyre on Stage, 1848-1898: An Illustrated Edition of Eight Plays With Contextual Notes. Ashgate Publishing. p. 144. ISBN 9780754603481.
  57. ↑ Stoneman, Patsy (2007). Jane Eyre on Stage, 1848-1898: An Illustrated Edition of Eight Plays With Contextual Notes. Ashgate Publishing. p. 70. ISBN 9780754603481.
  58. ↑ Stoneman, Patsy (2007). Jane Eyre on Stage, 1848–1898: An Illustrated Edition of Eight Plays With Contextual Notes. WorldCat. OCLC 74568222.
  59. ↑ Clarence, Reginald (1970) [1909]. The Stage Cyclopaedia. New York: Burt Franklin. p. 361. ISBN 08337-05814.
  60. ↑ "Grimeborn Opera: Jane Eyre". Arcola Theatre. Retrieved 22 November 2025.
  61. ↑ "Charles Corritore". Erie Playhouse. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  62. ↑ Hoffman, Wayne (20 January 2001). "On stage: Jane Eyre". Billboard. Vol. 113, no. 3. p. 24.
  63. ↑ Greenfield, Edward (14 February 2003). "Michael Berkeley: Jane Eyre". The Guardian.
  64. ↑ "Online Performance Donations | Oddsocks". www.oddsocks.co.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  65. ↑ Lifehouse Theatre presents Jane Eyre - accessed 10 May 2008
  66. ↑ "jane-eyre". Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  67. ↑ "Jane Eyre". YouTube. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  68. ↑ "Jane Eyre". Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  69. ↑ Ward, Rachel (June 2016). "Jane Eyre by Northern Ballet". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  70. ↑ "Harry Potter, Yerma and Donmar's all-female Shakespeare vie for South Bank Awards". Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  71. ↑ "Northern Ballet announces spring 2018 season". Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  72. ↑ North, James H. (January 2020). "KARCHIN: Jane eyre". Fanfare. 43: 293–294.
  73. ↑ "Jane Eyre". Elizabeth Williamson. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  74. ↑ "Jane Eyre". Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  75. ↑ Susannah Clapp (29 January 2006). "Theatre: Nights at the Circus | Stage | The Observer". London: Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  76. ↑ Drew, Bernard A. (8 March 2010). Literary Afterlife: The Posthumous Continuations of 325 Authors' Fictional Characters. McFarland. p. 270. ISBN 978-0-7864-5721-2.
  77. ↑ Flax, Shoshana (Spring 2011). "Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre: The Graphic Novel". The Horn Book Guide. 22 (1): 92.
  78. ↑ Anderson, Jennifer (12 March 2010). "Bronte, Charlotte & Sherri Browning Erwin. Jane Slayre: The Literary Classic with a Blood-Sucking Twist". Xpress Reviews. Library Journals, LLC.
  79. ↑ Jensen, Karen (October 2010). "Sternberg, Libby. Sloane Hall: A Novel". Voice of Youth Advocates. 33 (4): 359.
  80. ↑ Lynn Isaac, Megan (Spring 2011). "Lindner, April: Jane". The Horn Book Guide. 22 (1): 104.
  81. ↑ Hong, Terry (13 May 2015). "'Re Jane' cleverly recasts Jane Eyre as a Korean American from Queens". The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Publishing Society.
  82. ↑ Manga Classics: Jane Eyre (2016) Manga Classics Inc. ISBN 978-1927925652
  83. ↑ Iipinski, Andrea (1 June 2017). "The manga in the middle". School Library Journal. 63 (6): 50 – via Gale Academic Onefile.
  84. ↑ "Melodie Edwards". Melodie Edwards. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  85. ↑ "The Eyre affair: A novel. (Fiction)". Publishers Weekly. 249 (9): 41. 4 March 2002.
  86. ↑ "Becoming Jane Eyre". Publishers Weekly. 256 (41). PWxyz, LLC: 28. 12 October 2009.
  87. ↑ Sims, Janet (Spring 2010). "Woodward, Kay: Jane Airhead". School Librarian. 58 (1): 41.
  88. ↑ Amber K., Regis; Wynne, Deborah (2017). Charlotte Brontë : Legacies and Afterlives. Interventions: Rethinking the Nineteenth Century. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. p. 284. ISBN 9781784992460.
  89. ↑ "Reluctant Immortals". www.gwendolynkiste.com. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  90. ↑ "Reader, I Murdered Him". Betsy Cornwell. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  91. ↑ "Presence of Orson Welles in Robert Stevenson's Jane Eyre (1944)". Literature Film Quarterly. January 2003. Archived from the original on 24 January 2007. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  92. ↑ "Presence of Orson Welles in Robert Stevenson's Jane Eyre (1944)". Literature Film Quarterly. January 2003. Archived from the original on 24 January 2007.
  93. ↑ "Echoes in Gothic Romance: Stylistic Similarities Between Jane Eyre and Rebecca". Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  94. ↑ "Metal Maven Musings: Zora Cock of Blackfriar". Metal Maven. Rebecca Tess Creative. 3 January 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
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