Mr. Brocklehurst – Jane Eyre (2011)

Mr. Brocklehurst is a cruel and vindictive man seen in Jane Eyre (2011). As the supervisor of Lowood School, he enjoys making the girls quiver in fear. Mr. Brocklehurst gains power through the punishments doled out on the young girls. Brocklehurst wants the children of Lowood to be modest, and he ensures this through structured food rations. This rationing shows how hypocritical the character is. Brocklehurst himself heavily enjoys fine dining and never deprives himself of anything. His characterization never really grows. As an audience member, one continues to hate Brocklehurst. There is never a well-round character arch, and his views do not change. Even though the character of Mr. Brocklehurst is minor, he is a driving force for Jane. He refers to her as “a careless girl” (Bronte 75); however, this only drives Jane’s determination. Jane’s naiveness and spirit contradict Mr. Brocklehurst’s cruelty exquisitely. It is common for Mr. Brocklehurst to destroy uniqueness in the girls. It could be said that Charlotte Bronte uses Mr. Brocklehurst’s hypercritical attitude to suggest that this character uses religion as a hypocritical stance and often leads him to be unfair and wrong rather than a good person. This is shown in chapter VII when he condemns a girl for having red, curly hair and forces her to cut it off. Mr. Brocklehurst requires impossible perfection. As seen in the “Small Parts, Small Players” dossier of Screen, “Holding the same facial or bodily posture to reveal different emotions that are only recognizable when placed in contrast with other images (91). This is highly apparent to the character of Mr. Brocklehurst; his rough and immense physicality establishes his dominance and instills fear in the other characters and the audience. Mr. Brocklehurst is a solid minor character who helps establish main characters such as Jane. Still, he also acts as a great antagonist to many other minors and main characters throughout the story providing challenges and trials to overcome.

Works Cited

Ernest Mathijs, Referential acting and the ensemble cast, Screen, Volume 52, Issue 1, Spring 2011, Pages 89–96, https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjq063

Fukunaga, Cary Joji, director. Jane Eyre. Universal Pictures, 2011.