| Summary: | The goal of this study is to better understand connections between Forster’s novel Howards End and James Ivory’s 1992 film adaptation by focusing on the blueprint for the film provided by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s screenplay. Though both Jhabvala and Ivory sought to readjust elements of the 1910 novel to strike a more contemporary balance and better appeal to today’s audiences, each has a distinct objective and vision. Jhabvala carefully devised a structural matrix for a reaccentuated period piece, one that balanced three acts, three social groups and three transcendental figures, all while strengthening themes of class struggle and sexism found in the novel. Ivory took many of these ideas a step further, yet he dropped many of Jhabvala’s key devices and elements of political discourse in search of his own form of balance, one that focused more on the appeal of certain characters and on more clearly tracing their romantic development.
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