Sophie is a maid at the Thornfield house in the 2011 film adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. The story follows the major character, Jane Eyre, on her journey through life which has many obstacles she must face such as her life with her cruel Aunt, her love for Rochester, the betrayal of Rochester, and essentially finding herself and where she fits into the world. Sophie is introduced to us when Jane arrives at the Thornfield house to be a governess for Adele, the young girl Rochester essentially adopted after her mother died. Sophie is the maid who takes care of Adele, as well as her friend as both only speak French and are the only two in Thornfield that do. Since they are the only two that speak French Sophie feels rather isolated and alone as she can not communicate with anyone else besides Adele. This causes Sophie to be very upset and as the audience, we are told she cries about it through the translation of Jane. She cries because she feels like an outsider unable to communicate and essentially make friends with anyone else because no one understands her due to the language barrier. Therefore, Sophie is rather sad throughout the film and this is demonstrated in her body language when she is seen in the film. Another aspect of Sophie is her attire, with being a maid she wears simple clothes, which ties into the idea since she is a maid she is often cast into the background and goes unnoticed by the people around her. This also ties to the idea of minor characters in a film, minor characters are also supposed to be in the background and essentially unnoticed, which Straws defines “Small Parts, Small Players” as “Reduced, much of the time, to fleeting moments or undeveloped functions within films, small players raise the question of social identity in its simplest form – stereotypification.” (Straws, ) Sophie is an underdeveloped character, we see her only a handful of times within the film and she is always off to the side or in the background, which is the same as a maid. Her social identity as a maid ties to the idea of stereotyping, as we assume she is the same as other maids as there is a type. However, she does exceed this expectation, as we learn she is sad which, provides more of an insight into her and her function within the film. Although Sophie is underdeveloped, she provides insight into Jane’s future, as Sophie and Jane are rather similar. Sophie as a character is the foreshadowing of Jane’s future in the Thornfield house and demonstrates Jane will end up the same as Sophie, isolated and essentially alone.
Works Cited
Fukunaga, Cary, director. Jane Eyre. Universal Pictures, 2011.
Will Straw. “Introduction”, Screen, Volume 52, Issue 1, 2011. 79. https://watermark.silverchair.com/hjq057.pdf
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