Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte's Inspirations for Thornfield Hall

Charlotte Bronte was inspired by numerous genuine-life English nation homes Even though producing Thornfield Hall, the home of Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre. The residence itself plays an crucial function in the novel, becoming the place of many essential scenes, such as these with Bertha Mason, Mr Rochester's mad wife. This post explores some of the real places which could were Thornfield's originals. The excerpts are from the Oxford World's Classics 2000 edition of the novel.

1 of the buildings which inspired Charlotte was the home of her lifelong buddy and correspondent Ellen Nussey. The two ladies initial met Though they had been pupils at Roe Head College. Charlotte was deeply impressed by Nussey's home, the 'Rydings' in Yorkshire, with its battlements, rookery and thorn-trees. The descriptions Jane provides of Thornfield quickly right after her arrival at the property bear some resemblance to Nussey's home: "Battlements round the best gave it a picturesque appear. Its grey front stood out nicely from the background of a rookery" (p.99). Jane also suspects the name of Thornfield is derived from "an array of mighty thorn trees" (p.99) situated nearby.

At Roe Head, Charlotte heard of a governess who married a gentleman who was subsequently discovered to be currently married, but to a mad wife. In The Life of Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell asserts that this is exactly where the 'mad lady in the attic' concept originated. Nonetheless two nation homes, Hathersage's North Lees Hall and Norton Conyers near Ripon, may possibly also have offered Charlotte with inspiration.

North Lees Hall is a sixteenth-century manor-home and was the home of Mary Eyre and the Eyre household - exactly where Jane's surname derives - Whilst Charlotte visited in 1845. When there Charlotte heard of Agnes Ashurst, the very first mistress of the home, who went mad and was mentioned to were confined in a padded area on the second floor. Some time later she died in a fire. North Lees Hall also housed an Apostles Cabinet, reminiscent of that noticed by Jane While she is tending to Mr Mason soon after Bertha has attacked him. Jane describes the cabinet's front as becoming divided "into twelve panels, bore in grim design and style, the heads of the twelve apostles" (p.210).

The other doable candidate, Norton Conyers, Charlotte visited in 1839. Here she also heard of a mad lady who was mentioned to were confined to the attic in the preceding century. As opposed to the mad lady at North Lees Hall, this lady's name remains a mystery. In Jane Eyre, Mr Rochester is described as using a practical stairwell near his area to straight access the upper floors of Thornfield exactly where his mad wife is confined. This bears an intriguing similarity with a secret staircase uncovered at Norton Conyers in 2004. The staircase leads straight from the landing outdoors the Peacock Space (a probable inspiration for Mr Rochester's chambers) to a lonely garret and is described as becoming so narrow it can only permit A single particular person at a time. It had previously been hidden behind paneling erected in the 1880s.

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