Within Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, Bronte details both Jane's physical and emotional journey as she matures throughout the novel. One of the most notable places where the reader gets exposed to Jane's emotional spectrum is early on in the text when she is sent to the red-room as punishment. It is in the red-room Jane is isolated and afraid; Bronte writes, "My heartbeat thick, my head grew hot; a sound filled my ears, which I deemed the rushing of wings: something seemed near me; I was oppressed, suffocated: endurance broke me down– I uttered a wild involuntary cry," (Bronte 18). Here Bronte is drawing the reader as close as possible to feel Jane's fear, as the reader receives the internal monologue of Jane as she reflects upon her experience in the red-room. Later in the text, the color red itself becomes symbolic of Jane and her inner self. It could also be argued that Jane's experience in the red room kicks starts the journey for the rest of the novel. With such a significance placed on this moment (Bronte herself gives the scene its chapter), it is of interest how other adaptations of Jane Eyre handle the red-room incident. In the 2006 film series, Jane Eyre director Susanna White gives a more unsettling portrayal of Jane's experience in the red-room than Bronte. Within the film, White uses Belton House as a representation for Gateshead. While in Bronte's novel, the red-room is located in Gateshead, White chose to shoot the red-room scene in Sudbury Hall about sixty miles away from Belton House. This clear change in locations shows White's importance on the scene as both a plot device and the color red as it was the only shot done at Sudbury Hall.

Sudbury Hall was first built in 1513 and predates Belton house by about one-hundred and seventy years (The History of the Sudbury Estate). However, massive renovations were carried out in 1660 by George Vernon to make it larger and modernize the manor. Yet, Vernon still retained the old-fashion exterior, which took advantage of the lattice effect, which means that the dark and light bricks were laid to form a diamond pattern. However, after Vernon’s death, very few changes have been made to the house, leaving it reflective of the 17th century (The Builder of Sudbury Hall). Between 1839 and 1842, the Vernon Family leased the house to Queen Adelaide, wife to King William IV, the last Hanoverian King of Great Britain. During Queen Adelaide's time there, she stayed in the Queen's Room, decorated with red silk walls giving the room a deep red appearance (The Builder of Sudbury Hall). It was also the room where the red-room scene was filmed for Jane Eyre (Mr. M). Given the age of the house, its old-fashioned exterior, and the fact it had a "red-room," all while being relatively close to the sight of Belton house made it a prime location for the red-room scene as it allowed for White to give a real-life representation of the red-room.

In addition to giving real-life representation when looking at the actual cinematography of the scene, White makes several choices to show the level of fear Jane is feeling and emphasize the color red (a running theme throughout the film). Despite the room already being red, White decides to use a red light to wash the rest of the colors out of the room, essentially making the audience look through a red lens to view the scene. Since the "red-room" scene is the event that sets up the rest of the narrative and red is a color that represents Jane, it can be viewed as the birthplace of Jane in the scene that once she leaves the red-room, she is never the same girl that entered.

Ultimately White’s decision to move location to Sudbury hall instead of Belton house in order to film the 30-second red-room scene was not only artistically motivated but shows deep respect and appreciation for Bronte’s original vision when writing Jane Eyre as it allowed White to retain the rich symbolism and give the real-life representation of what Bronte envisioned.

Work cited

“The Builder of Sudbury Hall.” National Trust, National Trust, 3 June 2015, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/the-builder-of-sudbury-hall. 

“The History of the Sudbury Estate: The Home of Sudbury Hall and the Courtyard.” The History of The Sudbury Estate | The Home Of Sudbury Hall and The Courtyard, https://sudburyestate.com/sudbury-estate-history.html. 

John@photosuite. “Sudbury Hall-001.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 26 Aug. 2014, https://www.flickr.com/photos/119792575@N07/15046306615/. 

Mr. M “Sudbury Hall.” Mr M of Telford, 13 June 2018, https://mistermoftelford.wordpress.com/2018/06/13/sudbury-hall/. 

“Period Rooms - Picture of Sudbury Hall.” Tripadvisor, https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g1847739-d877922-i39...