I was wondering many things about this movie and the book. Why did Mr. Brockleherst believe Mrs. Reed when she said that Jane was a liar. Why did the Reed family hate Jane? Mrs. Reed made a promise to her husband to love and take care of Jane like she was her own child?
Eldarwen
Always forgive your enimies- nothing annoys them so much.
From what I recall in reading the book, Mr. Reed loved Jane, as she was the daughter of his sister Jane, whom he also loved very much. Except for Mr. Reed, Jane's mother was disowned by her family after marrying a parson. The Reeds must've been upper-class, and obviously considered the clergy beneath them.
When Jane's parents died, Mr. Reed took baby Jane in, planning to raise her as his own. On his deathbed, Mr. Reed made Mrs. Reed promise to raise Jane as her own, which Mrs. R. did. But, as everyone knows, Mrs. Reed and the Reed children hated Jane and treated her terribly. Later in the book, Mrs. Reed admitted her dislike of Jane's mother and that she would preferred putting little Jane out to nurse, rather than raise her. When Mrs. Reed got the letter from Jane's uncle in Madeira, she told him Jane had died in the sickness at Lowood School, rather than see Jane adopted by this uncle and live a comfortable life. It is to Jane's credit that she forgave her aunt.
With Mr. Brockleherst, wasn't he also in the ministry, but on a higher level? Being one of the "upper-crust," so to speak and in charge of the school, he no doubt would've believed whatever Mrs. Reed told him, without bothering to get to know Jane. But as we all know, Jane was publicly cleared at school of that liar charge. Mr. Brockleherst, got his, so to speak, after the sickness that killed several of the students and the poor conditions there were discovered.
Just my thoughts.
All good and true points. Of course a big reason as to why Mr Brocklehurst believed Mrs Reed, not Jane was that Jane was merely a child, and Mrs Reed was a rich woman in good standing. She was also a woman who, from Mr Brocklehurst's point of view, had graciously taken in her dead husband's niece out of the goodness of her heart, given her a home, and was now sending her to get an education. When Jane then protests that she is not a liar and shows contempt for Mrs Reed, then of course (again from Mr B's perspective) she is an ungrateful little liar who needs to be taken away and taught some manners. It is only because we know the reasons for Jane's um... 'dislike' of her aunt (the bad treatment, neglect, exclusion, the Red Room incident etc.)that we have sympathy for her. Had we been told the story from Mr B's perspective instead, we may have had a very different impression of Jane from the start.
Jane was not exactly cleared of being a liar as far as I remember - on her first day there she was forced to stand on a stool for ages with everyone looking at her while Mr B told everyone exactly how awful and evil he believed her to be, thanks to darling old Mrs Reed. People later came to realise that she was not a bad person eventually, but I don't remember Mr B taking back what he said/ clearing her name.
As you said, SweetiesMum, it is most definitely to Jane's credit that she was able to forgive her aunt. I don't know if I would have been able to do so if in her shoes.
As for the marriage of Mrs Eyre, née Reed, the marriage was definitely considered below her. the Reeds were of good community standing, and not without wealth, if you look at the description of the house, extensive library etc. For the daughter of such a family to marry a man with the comparatively low social standing as a clergyman, and a poor one at that, would have caused a fair bit of scandal, and the ensuing disownership of this disappointment of a daughter would have been expected. For Mr Reed not only to refuse to abandon his sister, but then to take in her orphaned child shows a great deal of love on his part, a love which then passed on to Jane. Had Mr Reed lived longer, Jane's story would have been very different.
Jane WAS cleared of all charges in the book after Miss Temple wrote to a servant at Mrs. Reed's house and received a similar account as Jane's, so she announced publicly to all the girls and teachers, (but not Mr. Brocklehurst), that Jane had been falsely accused. It didn't play out this way in the movie, and the whole stool scene came a little later in the book, but not on her first day.
Ima go home and bite my pillow!