Howl's Moving Castle: retelling of Jane Eyre?
It recently occurred to me that Howl’s Moving Castle is kind of another retelling of Jane Eyre. No wonder I love it.
HMC is of course in the fantasy genre and is more whimsical, not gothic and set in the real world like Jane Eyre or other novels that also retell it (e.g., Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, or Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden-both of which I also love). Nonetheless, consider the similarities:
· Young woman, largely unappreciated and downtrodden throughout her childhood, sets out on her own and acquires employment and lodging in a large, gloomy, isolated castle/manor owned by a mysterious but alluring man
· She soon makes friends with the man as well as a youngster who lives there (Howl’s apprentice, Markl; Rochester’s ward, Adèle)
· The guy definitely has some complicated secrets
· One of the house’s other denizens, who is fire-themed, is central to the man’s complicated secret (Calcifer the fire demon/shooting star; Bertha with her tendencies toward arson)
· There are themes of disguise and transformation (various HMC characters are under appearance-altering spells; Rochester pulls off an “old gypsy fortune teller” disguise, among his other deceptions)
· Both stories employ many juxtapositions of the eerie, dark, architectural/technological interior of the manor/castle against the peaceful, lovely natural landscape it sits in
· The young woman’s forthrightness and courage eventually lead the man, herself, and the household into a healthier state of trust, love, and honesty
I grant you, this connection might be a stretch. Both stories could also be more broadly classified as Cinderella stories with a dark dash of Beauty and the Beast and/or Bluebeard. And in general it’s extremely common for any happy-arc story to be about damaged people finding each other and thereby becoming more whole. Still, it has pleased me today to find and highlight these similarities between two stories I love.
Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson in 2006's Jane Eyre
Sophie and Howl in Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle