Jane Eyre s01e04 Episode Script

Episode 4

Why did you never tell me I had an uncle who was alive? Because I hated you too much.
Jane, I offer you my hand, my heart and all my possessions Please, I beg you will marry me.
Say it quickly.
The marriage cannot go on.
I declare the existence of an impediment.
Edward Fairfax Rochester of Thornfield Hall was married to Bertha Antoinetta Mason on the 18th day of March 1825.
Puta! SHE SCREAMS WIND WHISTLES Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth Wait! Helen, wait for me! She must have been on the moors for days, weeks even.
Poor creature.
She looks so pale.
St John found her just in time.
Who do you think she is? Where did she come from? Jane! Jane! SHE PANTS I'm sorry to be such trouble.
You cannot remember your name? Or your family? Why don't we try to help? We can tell you what we know Oh, yes! We think you must have wandered on the moors for many days.
Maybe weeks.
We do not know where you travelled from.
With no money or support.
You are a mystery We've made up our own story.
We think you are a young, well-bred woman who has run away from home because of family disapproval.
Some romance.
Diana! Not now! All right, then.
We will not speculate yet.
But this is not the hand of a working woman.
So you are a well-bred lady.
A governess? A teacher of some kind? You speak French.
Extremely well.
You know geography.
Or you have travelled widely.
You talked of foreign places as if you had felt their heat, smelt their smells.
I have not travelled beyond England.
How can you be sure if you can't remember anything? Hannah has washed your dress.
See here? So "JEL School.
" Is that any help? It might not have been her dress.
DIANA LAUGHS I-I do not know what this means.
But I know that I am honest.
Diana! It seems she does not remember yet.
But surely we have conscience enough not to play games with her identity.
DISTANT CHATTER AND LAUGHTER Good Lord, miss! You look like a ghost.
Here, sit down Though I think you're so faded you might melt away with the heat.
Careful! I love the fire I think I must have been very cold at one time in my life.
The misses will be angry with me if I don't get you back to bed.
I have spent long enough in bed.
I must try to repay everyone's kindness.
Do the young ladies live here alone? Since their father died.
Mr St John lives in his parish over at Morton.
I don't know how long they'll last here.
They haven't a penny between them.
The girls will have to go for governesses soon.
You have book learning, I suppose? So you could earn your own living, if you chose.
I have done and I will.
Just as soon as I can advertise.
Advertise! Well, you are a surprising little thing! And how long have you been looking after the family? 30 year.
I saw all the children born.
Young St John came out of the womb already a clergyman! I'm glad you are up and about MissJaneElliot I believe, in the absence of knowledge, my sisters have christened you? They think it suitable.
But is it your name? No matter.
Jane Elliot it is.
My sisters would like to keep you, like a stray off the moor.
Do you intend to live off their charity? For they have very little to spare.
Course not.
I wish to be put to work.
I will do anything honest.
But surely the cuckoos are too fat to fly thousands of miles They go somewhere.
Maybe to the corners of Europe.
You are full of information.
Not only do you know all about European birds, but South American birds, Patagonian lizards Someone must have taught you.
I've seen one like this in the West Indies but never here.
See there? Have you had an unpleasant memory? No, it was notnot unpleasant.
Good evening! Good evening.
This must be the mysterious Miss Elliot.
I'm Rosamond Oliver.
I live with my father at Vale Hill.
Good evening, Mr Rivers.
And good evening, Carlo.
Would I forget you? Your dog is quicker to recognise his friends than you are, sir.
A lovely evening, Miss Oliver.
But a little late for you to be out alone.
Papa says you never come to see us now.
You are quite a stranger.
He is alone tonight and not very well.
Won't you come back with me? It is not a reasonable hour to intrude.
Reasonable hour?! But I declare it is! It is just the hour when Papa most needs company.
And you would not be intruding because I have invited you.
Do come.
Poor Rosamond! Honestly, St John He is as inexorable as death! She adores him.
And he adores her! Is there some obstacle? Her family? No, her father adores him too! He doesn't mind that St John is not wealthy? No.
It's St John.
He's perverse! He will not allow himself to have her.
Ohif only I were so in love We should embrace it.
It is a crime against God to deny yourself love.
It should be the 11th Commandment.
That these two persons present now come to be joined Therefore if any man can show any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace Miss Elliot! Are you feeling unwell? I am quite well, thank you.
The church is well attended? And we are lucky in our benefactor.
Mr Oliver.
You met his daughter, Miss Rosamond.
He owns a needle factory in the valley.
He's very generous.
Mr Oliver, in fact, was the inspiration for the employment I have found for you, if, of course, you should wish to take it.
When I first arrived in Morton, there was no school.
The children of the poor had no hope of progress.
I have established one for boys.
Now it is the turn of the girls.
There is a cottage available, simply furnished.
The mistress's salary will be £30 a year.
Will you take the job? I could organise the studies as I wished? No beatings and enough food for dinner? As long as you taught God's word.
Then I accept.
With all my heart.
You understand that this will be a village school, poor girls to whom you will teach knitting, sewing, reading, writing, and maybe arithmetic, at the very most.
What will you do with your accomplishments? Save them until they are wanted.
I do not think you will stay here long.
I am not ambitious.
No, but you are impassioned.
Excuse the word.
I mean that, for you, human affections and sympathies have the most powerful hold.
'You cannot hate me, Jane.
'I didn't mean to deceive you.
'Unlike you 'I cannot live alone, without the warmth of human companionship.
'I roamed the world '.
.
then returning one night to this cold, dark place' .
.
I saw this .
.
this magical thing.
You were in my path.
Do you remember? And since that moment .
.
I have never wanted to leave the place that you were Though you left, I remained .
.
waiting for my little bird to return.
We are one, you and I.
We have to be together.
We are like those twins so intertwined in their senses and feelings that they can cry out to one another across continents, so close are their thoughts.
Say that you don't love me.
I dare you.
You cannot.
I will not.
I will love you until I die.
And yet you will leave me? You mean to go your way and for me to go mine? Yes, sir.
"Sir" again? Not Edward? By tomorrow, Mary, and I will be blown to the ends of the Earth.
Derbyshire and Nottingham are not so very far away.
We've teach fat little boys lessons they do not want to learn! And we'll never see our cottage again! She fears she will never see St John again.
Why not? Because he's so pig-headed.
He WILL be a missionary.
He will go to a really hot place and that will be the end of him.
It is his chosen path.
He thinks it's the only way to serve God.
But why can't he serve God here? You know that's never been enough.
He needs to make a grand gesture.
Jane You must keep him here.
Look after him and don't let him out of your sight.
I don't think I could ever change St John's mind against anything he'd decided on.
Don't forget, Jane.
We're relying on you.
Now, this is Morton.
Can anyone point out where we are? Ow! Alice? Alice! The clock.
The time? It's home time.
The bell? Still getting used to the clock.
Never mind.
You're coming along.
I am determined to make scholars of them all.
Hello, Miss Elliot.
I am so glad you decided to stay in Morton to be mistress ofour endeavour.
I have brought you a pretty pair of doves.
The dovecote has been empty for some years.
You might conduct nature classes.
Diana said you were an expert on birds.
She exaggerates.
And do you like your house? Have I furnished it nicely? Very much, thank you.
St John! Miss Elliot approved of my arrangements.
Why should she not? Come along, girls, home.
I have just remembered that now Diana and Mary have left you must be so lonely.
Please, come home with me and see Papa.
Mr Rivers? Can I speak with you a moment? It is a very graceful and correct drawing.
Correct? That word is a little lacking in passion, isn't it? I mean, for someone who loves Miss Oliver as you do Would it comfort you, when you're in Madagascar or the Cape? Or would the sight of her distress you? You are very direct, Miss Elliot.
You must know me well enough to know I mean no mischief or disrespect.
She likes you, I am sure.
And so does her father.
She's a sweet girl, a little lacking in reserve, but you have more than enough for both of you, surely.
Why do you not marry her? Why do you resist her? DOES she like me? She is always talking of you.
There is no other subject she is more interested in.
It's very pleasant to talk like this.
You may go on for another quarter of an hour.
Well, what's the use of that? When you are only planning an even crueller way to resist her.
St John, you tremble when she comes into the room! You don't understand! I love Rosamond Oliver wildly.
More intensely than I will ever love anyone again.
So why not marry her? Because I know she would not make me a good wife.
We would have a lifetime's regret.
Can you see Rosamond as a sufferer? A missionary's wife? No! You cannot! You need not be a missionary.
You may do God's work here.
I will not give up my life's ambition.
It's dearer to me than anything.
And Miss Oliver Are her feelings nothing to you? She is surrounded by suitors.
She will forget me and marry someone who can make her far happier than I could.
No, Jane! You do not know me.
I do tremble at the sight of Rosamond, but it repulses me.
It has nothing to do with me.
My skin may burn with fever but, in my heart, I am a cold man.
Don't! You have the chance to love someone who loves you with all her soul.
Not many people are that lucky.
You may never find that again.
You are an enterprising young woman, Miss Elliot.
An unusual specimen.
You've made a good start.
I look forward to your career with interest.
I must leave Thornfield, Mr Rochester.
Now .
.
do you mean that? I do.
And now? What do you say now? You cannot leave me.
You cannot leave me, confess it.
I will I will leave you.
How can this flesh be so soft and yielding .
.
and yet your heart be like an iron fist? There is a place I know.
A villa in the Mediterranean.
It is far from anywhere.
Come and live with me there.
No, Jane JaneJane Listen to me.
Listen to me.
We would live as brother and sister.
We would have our separate chambers, come together in the afternoons, for tea, or to play bowls Something sedate and traditional.
I give you my word .
.
I wouldn't touch you.
Maybe a chaste peck on the cheek on birthdays .
.
but I wouldn't tempt you into a life of sin, Jane.
I wouldn't do that.
I must rest now.
Yes.
Yes, you must rest.
'We will talk in the morning.
'Yes.
In the morning.
'You will think about the villa? 'We'll talk in the morning.
' Whoa, boys! Whoa, whoa! Walk on.
SHE SOBS Girls, this is a butterfly.
Now pass that round.
Can you tell me how a caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly? CHILDREN SHOUT OU SCHOOL BELL RINGS OU ALL: Good afternoon, Miss Elliot.
Is everything all right? Yes, of course.
You look very well.
You have performed wonders in this colourful universe.
You have given it discipline and individuality.
I wish Diana or Mary could come home to live with you.
You're reckless with your health.
I am well enough.
Oh, forgive me.
One of the girls saw Miss Oliver in her wedding dress and the others begged me to imagine a painting for them.
I told you she would forget about me.
You must allow me to be right sometimes.
Mr Rivers, what are you doing here? I have often wondered where you got that forthright quality.
I've come to have a little talk with you.
Or rather, I have a story to share with you.
Just over 20 years ago, a poor curate fell in love with a rich man's daughter.
They married, and she was cut off from her family entirely.
Within two years they were both dead.
They left a daughter.
She was cast out onto the very cold charity of an aunt by marriage Now we come to details.
.
.
a Mrs Reed of Gateshead, who kept the orphan ten years and then sent her to one Lowood School.
I calculate she would have been approximately your age.
It seems she did very well, with qualities very similar to your own.
And another coincidence - she rose to be a teacher.
She left Lowood to become a governess to the ward of a Mr Rochester.
Mr Rivers I know nothing of this Mr Rochester's character, but I do know that he offered marriage to this young woman, but, at the altar, she discovered he had a wife still living.
A lunatic.
For another quite different reason, one Mr Briggs, a solicitor, was searching for this young lady, but by then she had disappeared, was never seen again.
Is that not very strange? Since you appear to know so much, tell me this.
Mr Rochester - how is he? Where is he? I know nothing of him.
But you said they were looking for me.
Did they write to Thornfield? Yes, of course.
But received no reply.
He must have been a bad man.
You do not know him.
Very well.
But maybe you should ask me how I come to know your story.
What inspired our Mr Briggs to look for you and to write to me.
As you know, I travelled to Derbyshire a few days ago.
I had dinner with a family who had a housekeeper who was related in some distant way to a Mrs Alice Fairfax.
Now she provided me with such an exact description of the mysterious Jane Eyre to relieve me of any doubt.
Did they tell you anything of Mr Rochester? Mr Briggs was not interested in him.
Don't you want to know why he was interested in you? What did he want? Simply to tell you that your uncle had died and had left you all his property and fortune.
Oh I am sorry.
Sorry? For £20,000? I am sorry my uncle is dead.
I might have wished to have seen him one day.
Wait.
Wait! Why would you ever know about this Mr Briggs and his search for me? Why would he write to you? There is more, but you've had too much surprise.
I will tell you tomorrow.
You will tell me now.
He wrote to me because your uncle was also my uncle.
I am your cousin.
Your half-cousin, that is.
Y-Your mother was my father's sister? We are half-cousins? Oh! You are a strange young woman.
I tell you you've inherited a fortune and you are very serious.
I tell you something of little importance and you dance with excitement! You have two sisters! A mere half-cousin may be of no importance to you, but to me I have no-one.
I have never had anyone.
You must go.
Write to Diana and Mary and tell them to come home immediately.
But why? Because we are rich! YOU are rich, Jane.
We may do anything we like.
We may live as we choose.
Write to them tomorrow! Hurry, Hannah.
We must light the fires before they arrive.
She wants fires in every room! In places where they never were! What's the use of £5,000 if you can't light a few fires at Christmas? £20,000.
St John, I will not hear another word.
We have been over it again and again.
Our uncle left a nephew and three nieces, we must all profit from his will equally.
Jane, you have never had money.
You do not know what use you may put it to.
And you have never been without family.
I will have a brother and sisters, and a home.
I will be brother to you whether you share the money our uncle left you - you and only you - or not.
Leaving you with nothing, unable to realise your dreams, and me with a fortune? I know enough about money to realise that will not make me happy.
What of the future? If you should marry? I'll never marry.
They're coming! Hello.
Oh, miss! Oh Was ist das? Das ist ein Schuh.
Sehr gut.
Was ist das? Das ist ein Handschuh.
You are enjoying your German lessons? Yes, it is easier than French.
I want you to start learning a new language.
We will begin tomorrow.
Go with you? To the Cape? To share my missionary work.
I've been watching you for over a year now, and I am convinced you are equal to the task.
Have you never asked yourself why God led you here? On that evening, at the very moment you were ready to die, he led me through all this wilderness to find you.
You have always felt you must travel the world.
Jane, it is your destiny! He HAS asked you, hasn't he? I knew it! St John has asked me to marry him.
Thank heavens! Now he'll stay at home, safe with us.
He has asked me to marry him so that I might accompany him on his missionary work.
You will shrivel up and die.
You are both too pale to go to Africa! You did not agree to go, Jane? Jane, you cannot! We sail in six weeks.
We must make marriage preparations.
Why can we not travel as brother and sister? As equals? That would be impossible.
St John, you do not love me.
Love is not an ingredient in this matter.
I fear you have not forgotten your old association, despite the harm he tried to do you.
I will never see any of them again.
But I owe a debt to my friends at Thornfield Hall.
In many ways, I started my life there.
I became Jane Eyre.
God made Jane Eyre! You surely don't give this man Rochester any credit for that! Of course not.
I have always known myself.
But he was the first to recognise me .
.
and to love what he saw.
I will give you your answer, St John, soon.
Don't worry.
And if I go with you, it will be my decision.
You will have him to thank for that.
Jane Jane! Jane! Jane! Jane Whoa-oa! Walk on.
Aye, it's a pity, all right.
Did you know Thornfield Hall? Aye, Miss.
I used to work for the late Mr Rochester in his stables.
He is dead? I mean the present Mr Edward's father.
I'm guessing you're not from these parts, Miss, so you don't know what happened a while or so back.
It was almost a year ago now.
Mr Edwards had sent away most of the servants, so nobody knows exactly what happened.
Bertha! Bertha, come down.
Take my hand.
Bertha, it's not safe up here.
Will you take my hand? Come, we'll go down together.
Will you take my hand? Bertha, come down! Bertha! No! BIRD CRIES TWIG BREAKS Who's there? Dammit.
Where are my candles? Do you think because I'm blind I don't need them? GLASS TINKLES DOG BARKS What's the matter now? Has Pilot gone mad like the rest of us? Well, man? What's the matter? George? That is you, isn't it? George is in the kitchen, sir.
Who is that? Pilot knows me, sir.
These are Jane Eyre's fingers.
I'd know them anywhere.
It is Jane.
It is me, sir.
I'm come back.
You are real? I dream of you often, and in the morning, you're gone.
You always were a witch.
Does that seem real? You always did torment me.
I am very real, sir.
I am an independent woman.
My uncle died and left me £20,000, but I gave most of it away.
No, I could never have dreamt such detail.
You must stay with me? I will stay with you as long as I live.
Unless you would prefer I go.
No, no.
Stay! You shall stay.
It's a ghastly sight, isn't it, Jane? I knew if you ever saw me again, you would be revolted by me.
I am sorry for this.
And this.
And this But the worst of it is one's in danger of spoiling you too much.
When do you have supper? I never take supper.
Well, you shall tonight, for I am very hungry.
Have you a pocket comb about you, sir? What for? I need to comb out this shaggy black mane.
I find you quite alarming, when this close.
And you accuse me of being supernatural.
Am I hideous, Jane? Very, sir.
You always were, you know! Ha-ha! You haven't lost your wickedness, wherever you've been.
Yet I have been staying with good people, far better than you.
A hundred times better! Altogether more refined and exalted than you will ever be! Who the devil have you been with? There.
You are decent, at least.
I will tell you about them tomorrow.
I have been travelling for days and I'm tired.
Goodnight.
Jane Were there only ladies at the house where you were? The grass is soft and mossy in that little patch.
And the blackbird's wing is like coal with an emerald sheen.
So this St John person you have been mentioning so often what of him? Well He is tall with blue eyes and a Grecian profile.
He's handsome, then.
Compared to me.
He's much more handsome than you! And he's a far better Christian, of course, than you ever were I thanked God last night, for your sudden reappearance.
The other night, I cried out to him in my despair.
I called your name, too.
What about his brain, this Rivers fellow? Find yourself getting bored when he speaks? He doesn't say very much, but what he says is to the point.
His brain is first rate.
Did he study much? Taught you things? Oh, yes.
He taught me languages.
All right.
Why did he do that? He wanted me to go with him to Africa.
He wanted you to marry him? He asked me to marry him.
You're lying! You've made this up to torment me.
He asked me more than once.
Well, then, I think you might take yourself off and go elsewhere! Why are you still here? You've assured yourself that I am still living.
Well, still living a tenth of a life.
Youheiress! Well, if you want me to go.
No! I'll pack my bags.
No No.
Humour a foolish old ranter for a little bit longer before you go.
St John does not love me.
I do not love him.
He's good.
Great, even.
But severe.
Cold as an iceberg.
He's heartless? Oh, worse than that.
He has a heart.
I-I have seen it overflowing with passion, but he just keeps it buried in stone with a tenacious willpower.
He is much more frightening than you.
Hmm.
It's turned chilly.
We've been sitting here too long.
No, I want to stay out here.
You can go on in, if you wish.
The night I left The night I left, you told me of a villa you own in the Mediterranean .
.
where we might go for refuge and live as brother and sister.
I remember.
Jane.
Jane, are you still there? I am here, sir.
Jane, that villa I mentioned the, uh .
.
separate bedrooms the peck on the cheek on birthdays, that sort of thing Yes? Well, that plan doesn't strike me as so attractive as it once did.
You do not want to be friends? Jane, would you be so good as to come back here and sit beside me? Jane, I want a wife.
I want a wife.
Not a nursemaid to look after me.
I want a wife .
.
to share my bed every night.
All day, if we wish.
If I can't have that, I'd rather die.
We are not the platonic sort, Jane.
Can you see me? Then hear this, Edward.
Your life is not yours to give up.
It is mine, all mine, and I forbid it.
No, George.
I told you You're not to work today.
You are part of the enterprise.
Sit down and don't move.
What's he doing? Moving chairs.
Come on, everyone.
You must take your place.
INAUDIBLE You must go directly behind us.
Grace Pilot, not on the chairs! Right Stand there.
Where's the baby? Jane, we're all ready.
Take your place beside me.
Coming! What's all this about you being a racist? I don't think he found it offensive.
Don't talk to journalists, under any circumstances.
You're just going to drop in and say, "hello, goodbye" and run away again as per usual.
I'm staying with Dad.
Angela! Angela, where are you? I can help him beat this thing.
There's no reason he'd be bullied.
There's no reason I was bullied.
You must not lie.
He told his teacher I died in Iraq.
Stranger! Stranger! Ben! I'm not called Ben.
WHISTLE BLOWS That was a foul.
I didn't dive! SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMEN Come on Ben, get up.
He didn't even touch you.
Get up! Come on - it's a team game.
Ben! You're Ben's dad.
Hi, I'm Rory's dad, Steve.
Hi, Pete.
Ben was round our place on Sunday.
He's quite a kid, isn't he? Yeah, he'squite a kid.

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