Compare and contrast
The characters in both the films are women who face difficulties during their period of development. Charlotte Bronte’s film focuses on the main character named Jane Eyre. At ten years old, she gets orphaned since her parents die from typhus and goes to live with her uncle in Gateshead. While in her uncle’s family, the Reed’s, she is mistreated by the aunt and her cousins. Her cousins even locked up in a room where her uncle had died. While in the room, she experiences visions of her later uncle that makes her panic. This home suffering temporarily ceases when she joins Lowood School.
At the school, the Mr. Brochlehurst, the school’s administrator and clergyman, accuses her of dishonesty. She accidentally breaks her slate. This occurrence makes her get public humiliation from the administrator in front of her colleagues. This action makes Jane emotional since she feels abandoned and rejected by important people in her life such as the headmaster and the Reed’s family. She finds friends like Helen who consoles her and gives her hope in life. Miss Temple helps her clear off the accusations by writing the letter to Mr. Lloyd seeking to clarify Jane’s situation. Later, she is cleared of her aunt’s accusation of dishonest thus redeeming her image among the schoolmates.
Consequently, Jane is among other eight pupils who live under harsh conditions characterized by inadequate clothing, poor food and exposure to cold rooms. This contributes to prevalence of typhus disease which results into death of Helen, Jane’s schoolmate friend. The demise of Helen leaves Jane without a good friend who consoles her during hard times. The loss of both her parents and friend from the typhus disease makes Jane feel abandoned since she feels lonely and with no one to express her feelings and problems.
After moving from Lowood, she goes to Thornfield Hall where she becomes the governor. While at Thornfield, she rescues Edward Rochester, a horse rider who felt from his horse. It is at this point that she gets emotionally in love with Edwards but fail to wed due to various challenges. For instance, Mr. Mason, Bertha’s brother challenged their marriage by claiming that Edwards was married to his sister. This action again contributes to Jane’s loneliness since she feels that she is destined to fail in life. She loses her love that could lessen and comforts her during hard times.
She responds to this situation by moving away from the town and going back to her aunt, Mrs. Reeds who was now ailing. She looks after Mrs. Reeds despite all the tribulations she underwent during her stay in her house. Consequently, she felt unwelcomed at the River’s family when the housekeeper turned her away. She fainted and almost died but later saved by St. John, Diana and Mary’s brother. The rescue by Diana and her group emotionally encouraged Jane since she felt loved and cared for. She declines marriage proposal by St. John since she felt disappointed by the several tribulations she has underwent. Later, her physical and emotional abandonment ends when she reunites with her husband, Rochester. She accepts his new physical appearance and marries him despite all the tribulations he has faced.
In the film La Strada, Anthony Quinn who is a brutish man takes Gelsomina, a fey young woman to work with him. He pays 1000 lire to her mother who does not object to the deal even after Guiletta Masina, Gelsomina’ sister had passed away in the hands of Anthony. The money blinds her mother thus does not see the danger her daughter is exposed to even after her other daughter passes on due to the harsh conditions imposed by Anthony. Gelsomina feels emotionally and physically abandoned by her mother’s action to sell her out to the danger of brutality and suffering by Anthony.
Despite the suffering of Gelsomina, she accepts her mother’s decision and goes to work. Unlike Jane, Gelsomina does not suffer at young age since she was under the care of her mother. Jane was mistreated at childhood by her aunt and cousins. While under Anthony’s authority, Gelsomina gets exposed to brutal life and poor working conditions. Jane while studying and working at Lowood School experienced the same conditions as felt by Gelsomina. After escaping from Anthony, Gelsomina escapes but he later finds her and forcefully returns her back under her service.
Finally, she accepts to marry Zampano but he brushes her off. This action leaves her emotionally and physically abandoned. She witnesses Zampano beating up II Matto and thus resulting into II Matto’s death. This scenario breaks her heart, as she remains hopeless an lifeless. Unlike Jane, her husband abandons her since he could not bear the guilt of killing II Matto anymore. Consequently, Gelsomina dies due to starvation and exposure to poor living conditions. Jane’s tribulations seem more pronounced compared to Gelsomina’s experiences. Both of them suffer emotional and physical abandonment when each of them loses a loved one. For instance, Jane suffered when her parents and friend Helen dies from typhus while Gelsomina suffers when she realizes that her sister is dead. The outcome of Gelsomina’s life experiences resulted into her death while that of Jane lead to her reunion with her husban