In Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel Jane Eyre, Edward Fairfax Rochester hires Jane to be the governess for his young ward Adèle. Mr. Rochester is often away from his home of Thornfield Hall, but during his visits, he and Jane grow close. While Rochester can generally be thought of as a Byronic hero in that he’s aloof and has a mysterious past, but he isn’t violent or cruel. He’s impetuous and makes poor choices that he and those around him suffer for.
His worst mistake is marrying Bertha Antoinetta Mason, possibly under false pretenses, and then trying to keep her existence secret locking her in the attic of his home. His next mistake is trying to commit bigamy by marrying Jane while Bertha is still alive, in the attic. He’s punished for these crimes when he’s crippled and blinded for several years in the deadly fire Bertha causes that destroys Thornfield Hall, although Jane does return and marry him. Onscreen, Rochester’s character is sometimes simplified as Jane’s romantic interest with an unfortunate secret.
Dominican-British author Jean Rhys wrote a 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea reimagining the story of Rochester’s first wife through her own eyes. In this book, Antoinette is a Creole woman whose marriage to Rochester is arranged by her white stepfather. The couple are somewhat happy at first but Rochester soon becomes unfaithful and abusive. This story has been filmed a couple of times too.
Colin Clive in Jane Eyre (1934)
Orson Welles in Jane Eyre (1943)
Charlton Heston in Jane Eyre (1949)
Kevin McCarthy in Jane Eyre (1952)
Stanley Baker in Jane Eyre (1956)
Patrick MacNee in Jane Eyre (1957)
Zachary Scott in Jane Eyre (1961)
Richard Leech in Jane Eyre (1963)
George C. Scott in Jane Eyre (1970)
Michael Jayston in Jane Eyre (1973)
Joe Flaherty in “Jane Eyrehead,” season 2, episode 6, SCTV Network (1982)
Timothy Dalton in Jane Eyre (1983)
Nathaniel Parker in Wide Sargasso Sea (1993)
William Hurt in Jane Eyre (1996)
Ciarán Hinds in Jane Eyre (1997)
Toby Stephens in Jane Eyre (2006)
Rafe Spall in Wide Sargasso Sea (2006)
Michael Fassbender in Jane Eyre (2011)
Who’s your favorite Mr. Rochester?
After seeing how many times it has been filmed, I finally get the running gag in the “Phineas and Ferb” episode ‘A Hard Day’s Knight’ that “a new version of ‘Jane Eyre’ is in the offing.”
Toby Stephens is the standout Rochester. Dalton was too matinee idol. Scott’s Rochester was too old, but so was York’s Jane.
Yeah, it’s that version for me as well.
And Ruth Wilson is my favourite take on Jane too.
couldn’t agree more. Both of them were perfect.
Toby Stephens has something that just works, especially with period pieces like this.
& I’ve never got on with Ciarán Hinds, his .. everything just… doesn’t work with me…
I’m no fan of Mr. Rochester. Jane can do better!
Ciarán Hinds. Good actor, broods well, and is rugged, but not movie-star handsome. (He’s never called handsome in the book; Jane even tells him to his face that he isn’t.)
I’ve always sympathized with Bertha, I think we’re supposed to, as Jane says the poor lady can’t help being mad. Rochester is definitely in the wrong and shown to be in regards to Jane and I can’t help but wonder how much his ill concealed distaste contributed to Bertha’s drinking problem and unfaithfulness.
Ciaran Hinds was the first Rochester I saw, then Welles, William Hurt, and Toby Stephens/Michael Fassbender (only because I can’t remember which was the last man I saw in the role). Choosing one, I would go with Toby. He did the brooding well, as well as playing the brevity and love with Jane nicely. I used to have a soft spot for Heathcliff, but I grew up and realized Rochester was better all around.
Timothy Dalton is my all time favorite; I’d seen the Orson Wells version, as well as others that came out after the 1983 version. I think that this particular version was most faithful to the book and I loved Dalton’s layered performance. I got the sense of a young man who entered the marriage to please his family, and as would be typical in the 19th century, had no idea how to deal with mental illness. I interpreted his womanizing and constant traveling as a reaction to a situation he wanted to blot out of his mind. The dialog and Dalton’s acting made me believe that Rochester was genuinely in search of redemption, even if he used underhanded tactics to try and achieve that aim. He believed Jane’s piety and innocence could somehow cleanse him of his past. Literary convention saved Jane; if she’d given into his demands that she cohabit with him, despite the discovery of his prior marriage, Victorian mores would have demanded that she die as well as Bertha – it’s always the fallen woman who has to die or at least suffer a near fatal crisis of illness. As it was, the Victorians would have considered Bertha’s unfortunate end just; Rochester’s description of her as unchaste and disgusting, rather than a victim of her mental illness, made the leap off the roof acceptable. It’s a tricky role, the actor having to walk a tightrope that balances the entitlement and arrogance of the landed gentry with the human soul that yearns for a type of absolution. I think Dalton pulled it off splendidly. Zelah Clark was also wonderful as Jane, an average looking woman (instead of striking like Ruth Wilson or other actresses who have been cast in the role), and she was the physical embodiment of the “plain, Quakerish governess.” I have to say that I love the costumes. You don’t often see the late 1820s seen here before the transition to giant Gigot sleeves. I also love that Dalton was given the rich man’s trend of wearing two waistcoats at once. There was a good contrast between the expensive dresses worn by the Reeds and Ingrams, and the simpler clothes worn by Jane, the other working women, and her Rivers cousins.
I love, Love, LOVE Michael Fassbender as Rochester! And his version of the movie is exquisite overall!
Toby Stephens is my favorite Rochester! I also love that that version includes a fair amount of the Rivers storyline – it was a year of Jane’s life but most versions shorten it too much. I find St. John so fascinating.