Gawthorpe Hall, Burley

Neatly hidden in the town of Burley is Gawthorpe Hall. The 14th century defense tower had a house built around it in the 1500s by the Shuttleworth family. The Elizabethan house saw interior renovations in the 1700s. In the 1800s, James Kay married the last inheritor of the Hall, Janet. Since he was not from nobility he joined his wife in name as well as in flesh and they were the Kay-Shuttleworths. Friend of the family Charlotte Bronte visited at this time as well. The house continued in the family's possession until 1970 when it was gifted to the National Trust. The estate has nice wooded grounds perfect for walking the dogs. We stopped there on a trip and enjoyed both the interior and exterior. Naturally, we enjoyed the exterior first.

Gawthorpe Hall

The car park is not very close to the hall. A short walk past the stables and other outlying buildings brings visitors to the house. The outlying buildings have changed over to a tea shop, a gift shop, and storage areas for the groundskeepers. A nice picnic lawn is also available for those who bring their own food.

Random staircase, probably used for mounting your horse back in the day

Stable courtyard

Walled off picnic area

The immediate vicinity of the house has finely cared for gardens and a small stream that was an object of fascination for J and L. We almost couldn't convince them to go inside the house!

A bridge!!

A river runs through it

We eventually coaxed them into the house, where photography is not allowed. I found that out after I took this shot in the entrance. I think I was still standing outside the door, so I suppose it doesn't count. I'm posting it anyway.

Arms and crest

The house is quite impressive. The downstairs is dominated by the dining room. It features a large table in the center with a small raised platform by a large bay window with another table. This is where the head of the house and honored guests would dine. The room also has a small balcony for musicians and other entertainers to perform. Going up the main staircase leads to the bedrooms, many of which now house the large collection of textiles, laces, embroideries, and outfits from various centuries. The collection was quite impressive, including full ladies' outfits from the Victorian era and the 1920s. Up further is an art gallery and an area for children to do crafts. This was distracting enough to allow one parent to go peruse items while the children colored.

After we were done touring the house, we went out to the back garden which features a small maze and a view of the River Calder.

Back of the house

View of the River Calder

The children enjoyed running through the maze. Even more when another family came outside and joined in the racing around the various paths. The day was a little cold and very overcast, but the rain held off and we had a pleasant visit to this fine home.

Movie Review: Jane Eyre (2011)

Jane Eyre (2011) directed by Cary Fukunaga

Today begins a short series of Bronte-related posts!

MPAA rating

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements including a nude image and brief violent content

ZPAA rating

12 and up--you'll have to judge for yourself how interested you child will be in the story

Gore level

1 out of 10--Some bloody wounds but pretty minimal. The novel has more.

Other offensive content

There's a painting of a naked lady that gets too much attention (Jane peruses it in detail for about 10 seconds); a little bit of violence and death but nothing really graphic.

How much fun

There are some laughs but mostly this is a drama about Jane's life, not a comedy.

Synopsis & Review

When it comes to adapting classic novels, many pitfalls abound. Fans naturally have their favorite parts and their own impressions of characters. The story is probably too big to be covered comprehensively. Related, films tell stories in different ways from written words so some alterations and abridgements are necessary.

This movie version of Jane Eyre is faithful to the book. It follows events mostly in the same order, though the movie begins with her flight from Thornfield Hall. The story before that is inter-cut with her arrival and life with the Rivers family. The settings are quite realistic, with the bleak moors and the dark buildings matching the novel's descriptions. The world of Jane Eyre is well-realized and atmospheric.

The plot is a mixture of too much being left in and too much being left out. All the major movements are in this movie: living as a child with her aunt, going to Lowood School, working as a governess at Thornfield Hall, interacting with Rochester, separating from Thornfield and Rochester under fantastic circumstances, living with the Rivers, etc. With only two hours of screen time, a lot of the details are left out of each of these. For instance, Blanche Ingram makes her appearance as a romantic rival for Rochester's affections. He seems to have genuine affection for her in the film but his ultimate choice of Jane has no inciting incident as it does in the book. The gypsy fortune-teller scene is not in the movie and nothing substitutes for the revelations of Blanche's superficiality and Jane's perceptivity. If the film makers had, for example, relegated the Lowood part of the story to a two-minute conversational recap at Thornfield they would have had more time to fully develop this part of the story. As a movie, I don't think it held the story together well enough.

The performances are generally good, though I thought Mia Wasikowska was a little too understated as Jane. Jane in the novel has a lot more passion and wit, though perhaps readers have more access to that since the narrative is told by her. In the movie, we are in a third-person narrative without access to her thoughts and feelings except for what the actress shows us. I thought the performance was a bit too reserved. The performance is serviceable but not great. Michael Fassbender is good as Rochester and Judi Dench as Mrs. Fairfax.

The movie ultimately feels like a Cliff's Notes version of the book with a couple of pages missing. The deleted scenes on the DVD fill in some of the holes but not all of them. The highlights of the book are in the film but what makes Jane Eyre a great story and her a great character doesn't come across. People who haven't read the book won't see what all the fuss is about; people who have (like me) will make a fuss about what isn't there.

Movie Trailer

Book Review: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

One of the challenges in reading a great work of literature is that it often has many imitators. The imitations may be flattering or unflattering; they may be complimentary or subversive; they may borrow just little bits or just about everything. In addition to spoiling surprises (thanks a lot, I Walked with a Zombie!) it is possible for the original source to look cliched or hackneyed after experiencing all those others. Did that torpedo this book for me?

Consider some various elements in the story: The first conversation between Jane and Helen Burns at Lowood School reads like the best of Dostoyevsky. The plot meanders from location to location across England like the best of Dickens. Jane has romantic entanglements with noblemen and churchmen (it's Church of England, after all) like the best of Austen. Ghosts, crazy people, and supernatural/horrific events pop up like the best of Val Lewton.

Jane Eyre does not suffer at all by comparison. The story of the orphaned girl growing up in an unloving home with an indifferent aunt and cousins, moving out to a harsh boarding school where she gets her education, and taking a job as a governess at the lonely estate of Mr. Rochester is compelling reading. Her character grows throughout the book in believable and engaging ways. There are many deep conversations about Christianity, duty, missionary work, matrimony, etc., that fit naturally into the story and arise from the people's lives.  I found the book fascinating and hard to put down. This is a great work of literature undiminished by other similar works.

Thanks to Julie and Scott at A Good Story is Hard to Find for getting me to read this wonderful novel.

I did read the book  on Kindle for Android, which means I didn't really have a book. Unfortunately there were no annotations or notes and quite a bit of dialogue is in French (with a small bit of German, too). I remember just barely enough to get through but it would have been nice to have translations available. I don't know if other e-versions have better support for language-challenged readers. It is something to consider if you haven't read Jane Eyre and don't know French. I think a reader could get by without it but it can be frustrating. Hopefully this Dover Thrift Edition that I've linked to is better.