Eyre Apparent

Explaining the dissolution of her last marriage, my fraternal twin sister tells me the story of discovering her husband with another woman at a Christmas party. She tells me that her husband, Martin, didn't like it when she glommed onto him at parties so she wandered alone "around this enormous house, Maxim DeWinter's Manderley estate, and after a while..." she looked for Martin.

The actress playing my sister has thrown the line away, but there is more to the Manderley reference, I know. I can hear the line "last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" repeating in my head; I just can't place it. I ask the stage manager later "is that from Jane Eyre?" She doesn't know either, but types the words into her BlackBerry. The answer comes back: Rebecca.

Ah, Rebecca. Right. Got it. Wow, hadn't thought of that one in a while. But thinking about it now, I realize that confusing it with Jane Eyre really wasn't all that far off. In fact, I can recap both novels/movies at once -- with the generous use of the friendly slash mark.

Ready? This ain't gonna be pretty.

(Jane Eyre/Unnamed) is in love with (Mr. Rochester/Maxim de Winter) whose first wife (Bertha Mason/Rebecca) is (alive in the attic/dead in a sunken boat) and (dismissed as/remembered by) the madwoman servant (Grace Poole/Mrs. Danvers) of (Thornfield/Manderley).

In a telling scene, a bedroom is shown to be (set alight/kept as a shrine) but the estate is eventually destroyed in a fire set by (Grace Poole/Mrs. Danvers) who dies in the act by (jumping off the roof/perishing in the flames).

Given the similarities between the two, there is little wonder that I'd confused them. In fact, because Rebecca was (apparently) inspired by Jane Eyre, the actress Joan Fontaine was employed to fill both roles in the 1944 and 1940 movie adaptations, respectively, adding to the confusion.

Now that the confusion has been lifted, I can sleep at night. I cannot, however, forgive Martin his trespass.