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Jane Eyre

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What a singularly deep impression her injustice seems to have made on your heart... Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. [emphasis added] 

I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you--especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly. [emphasis added] 

Feeling . . . clamoured wildly. “Oh, comply!” it said. “. . . soothe him; save him; love him; tell him you love him and will be his. Who in the world cares for you? or who will be injured by what you do?” Still indomitable was the reply: “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation . . . They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. [emphasis added]

I had the pleasure of enjoying Jane Eyre this weekend.  It was a feast of language.  The book was adapted beautifully, much of the language untouched; the composition of characters, dress, and scenery was impeccable. 

The dress below was instructive to me.  Jane, in this scene, is to reunite with the seemingly betrothed Rochester.  The “instruction,” to me, in the composition is found in its layering of texture, color, and form.  The bonnet is both stiff and intricate.  The dress, though fit and constructed, is laced with a softer sensibility.  Her gloves provide a sheer quality, which, though intricate, is much less formalized.  The shawl is then layered to add movement, whim, and print.  I also can’t help but savor the carriage door, adding a shade of azure (fun way to said “teal”), with the damask print and purple touch.  Delightful.

Go see the movie.  I can assure you the viewing audience will be 99% women; however, any lover of the English language will be contented with the show. 

Jane Eyre. Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga. Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. Focus Features. 2011.