Playing Jane Eyre at the Victoria Theatre in 1848

Abstract

When W.S. Williams informed Charlotte Brontë that an adaptation of Jane Eyre was being staged at the Victoria Theatre in London — the run commenced on 31 January 1848 — the preparation of the second edition of Jane Eyre was well under way and she was anxiously contemplating the ‘new works’ (Letters 2:9) which might consolidate her reputation. In a letter to G.H. Lewes on 12 January 1848, she confided, somewhat self-deprecatingly: ‘my stock of materials is not abundant but very slender, and besides neither my experience, my acquirements, nor my powers are sufficiently varied to justify my ever becoming a frequent writer’ (Letters 2:9–10). His admonition of the melodramatic elements in Jane Eyre had drawn a defensive response in November 1847: ‘startling incident’ and ‘thrilling excitement’ had been demanded by publishers catering to the circulating libraries when she tried to market her first book (Letters 1:559). Now she explains to him why an intention to abjure melodrama in her next book might not be realizable:KeywordsClass LineMinor TheatreMaster FrameRefined SensibilityBridal VeilThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.