Jane Eyre: Timothy Dalton as Rochester and Zelah Clarke as Jane

Jane and Rochester . . . a tale of forbidden love as compelling and chaotic as the rain swept moors . . .

Jane Eyre is considered one of the most famous works in English literature. And it is not hard to see why. The tale poignantly captures unrequited love, something that generations of people have identified with.

In the 1983 BBC version of Jane Eyre,Timothy Dalton plays the troubled Mr. Rochester. And he was born to play the role. He is both commanding while vulnerable. His very casting off of convention makes him a sympathetic character, to audiences that can relate only too well to those moments in life when convention is defied to realize a heartfelt desire. Rochester is a rogue who pushes the boundaries without a moment's hesitation . . .

Zelah Clarke portrays the principled Jane. Her demureness and resolve are the perfect contrast to Edward Fairfax Rochester's tortured persona and his emotional declarations of love.

Fate has seemingly brought these two people together and they are akin . . . but all is not as it seems . . .

Thornfield Hall is forbidding and sets the tone for the story, a tale filled with mystery and secrets.

Jane's quiet role of governess is side-railed with the appearance of the enigmatic Mr. Rochester, master of the manor. His dark, brooding personality transforms as the repartee between him and Jane takes on a life of its own.

Rochester's preference for Jane becomes obvious and he tries to shake her from her firm standing for morality and convention. He is determined to make her his own, even if he has to fly in the face of social norms and take a wildly unconventional route to accomplish his objectives.

As with all good love stories, the road to happiness is littered with obstacles.

In this British movie adaptation of Jane Eyre, morality, convention and societal rules are pitted against reason, compassion and mercy.

Jane

• "Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones."
• "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs."

• "Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last."

Rochester

• "Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre; remorse is the poison of life."

• " I might have been as good as you--wiser--almost as stainless. I envy you your peace of mind, your clean conscience, your unpolluted memory."

• "And this is what I wished to have. This young girl who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell . . ."

• "Is it better to drive a fellow-creature to despair than to transgress a mere human law, no man being injured by the breach?"

• Mr. Brocklehurst--hypocritical puritanism
• Helen Burns--Meekness and turning the other cheek, seeking the ultimate existence in heaven
• St. John Rivers--a detached and duty-bound form of devotion
• Jane--traditional morality tempered with compassion and forgiveness of human failings
• Rochester--a sinner but far more honest about human nature and the unrealistic demands of religious ideals without compassion to temper them

Jane Eyre is a masterpiece, mirroring duty and pleasure, agony and happiness--a movie well worth watching again and again.