The figure of Bertha Mason - The British Library The figure of Bertha Mason Theme: The novel 1832 - 1880 Carol Atherton explores the character of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre through ideas of the ‘Other’, Charlotte Brontë’s narrative doubling and 19th-century attitudes towards madness and ethnicity. Professor John Bowen explores the character of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre, revealing the depths of her character and the context in which Charlotte Brontë created her. Filmed at the Brontë Parsonage, Haworth. Before we actually find out about Bertha Mason’s existence, we are aware of her as an uneasy and even threatening presence. She is the source of the mysterious, mocking laugh that Jane hears as she stands on the battlements of Thornfield Hall, desperate for freedom from domestic routine: she is responsible for setting fire to Mr Rochester’s bed, attacking Mr Mason, and tearing Jane’s veil on the eve of her wedding. When we finally meet her, she is depicted in language that degrades and dehumanises: she is a ‘clothed hyena’, a ‘figure’, described using the neutral pronoun ‘it’ (ch. 26).

Nevertheless, her plight – that of the ‘madwoman in the attic’, the character behind the title of Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s famous study of 19th-century women writers – means that she is an object of sympathy as well as of fear. Fair copy manuscript of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre Page from the original Jane Eyre manuscript featuring Bertha, 1847. We have been unable to locate the copyright holder for . Please contact copyright@bl.uk with any information you have regarding this item. The ‘Other’ The narrative strategies used by Charlotte Brontë clearly designate Bertha as ‘Other’. She is the obstacle that stands in the way of Jane’s marriage to Rochester: she is surrounded by a web of Gothic imagery, described as a ‘goblin’ and a ‘vampire’ who threatens to ‘drain [Mason’s] heart’ (ch. 20). Yet critics have seen this ‘Othering’ of Bertha as highly problematic. One particularly troubling aspect of Bertha is her psychological instability. Rochester clearly sees her as responsible for her own situation.

He tells Jane that Bertha ‘came of a mad family’, with a mother who was ‘a madwoman and a drunkard’, but also that, ‘like a dutiful child, she copied her parent in both points’ – implying a degree of choice (ch. 26). Brontë’s depiction of Bertha drew on contemporary descriptions of mental illness, such as those she found in the family’s medical encyclopaedia: this volume of Modern Domestic Medicine, which survives, is well-thumbed and clearly frequently consulted. Images Usage terms: Free from known copyright restrictions Opinions of the times It would be easy to see Rochester’s lack of sympathy as representative of general attitudes towards mental illness in 19th-century society. However, as Mia Iwana has pointed out, these attitudes were changing. In a review of the 1844 report by the Metropolitan Commissioners on Lunacy, the Westminster Review reported that the ‘disposition of the public’ towards the mentally ill was becoming ‘more enlightened and benevolent’.

The review promoted the idea that patients in mental asylums ought to be given ‘the benefit of a cheerful look-out on a pleasing prospect’, and that those responsible for their care should ‘avoid everything which might give to the patient the impression he is in prison’. Was Charlotte Brontë aware of these changes? If so, what might this suggest for our interpretation of Rochester? Report on the treatment of mental illness in 1844 This Westminster Review article from 1844 reveals the emergence of 'more enlightened' attitudes towards the mentally ill. Free from known copyright restrictions Ambiguous ethnicity Another source of complexity is Bertha’s ethnicity. She is a Creole, the daughter of a white European settler in the West Indies. Brontë leaves the precise nature of her ethnicity ambiguous, but references to her ‘dark’ hair and ‘discoloured’, ‘black’ face – plus the fact that her parents wanted her to marry Rochester because he was ‘of a good race’ – have led to speculation as to her racial identity, and the implications of this for Brontë’s portrayal of her as unstable, dangerous and threatening (chs. 25; 27).

It is interesting to note that even as a white Creole, Bertha would have been seen as ‘alien’. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many European writers in the West Indies sought to associate Creoles with the native Caribbean population, as a way of distancing them from ‘civilised’ Europeans. This was particularly the case for Creole women, who were often depicted as self-willed, decadent and untrustworthy – the very essence of Rochester’s description of Bertha. Two ‘bad animals’? Perhaps the most problematic aspect of Bertha, however, is the fact that the other ‘bad animal’ in Jane Eyre is, of course, Jane herself. Bertha, in many ways Jane’s polar opposite, has been described by Gilbert and Gubar as Jane’s ‘truest and darkest double’. Her early appearances occur when Jane is troubled, tense or desperate for freedom (it is no coincidence that the wedding-veil that Bertha tears is one that Jane feels she has been ‘cheated’ into accepting). Her confinement in the attic mirrors Jane’s imprisonment in the Red Room at Gateshead, a punishment for her anger and lack of conformity.

This doubling – a common Gothic motif – makes Bertha’s role within the novel much more complex, and means that any analysis of her character must take account of her relationship with Jane. Bertha’s legacy It is striking that Bertha is never allowed to speak for herself. In her 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys redresses the balance, writing a prequel to Jane Eyre that focuses on Bertha’s story and features Bertha – here renamed Antoinette Cosway – as one of its narrators. In Rhys’s novel, Rochester’s decision to call Antoinette ‘Bertha’ is just one of the acts of violence, both actual and metaphorical, that the character suffers. She is both the victim of oppression and a woman who (like Jane) has needs, dreams and desires: she is rejected by Rochester and treated as a ‘white cockroach’ by her family’s black servants. Rhys’s complex, fascinating novel, which explores themes of fragmentation and instability, is evidence of the fact that whatever Rochester might have wanted, Bertha simply will not stay hidden: nearly 200 years after her creation, she continues to disturb and intrigue.

Written by Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre: Character Analysis & Quotes - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre: Character Analysis & Quotes Watch short & fun videos Start Your Free Trial Today An error occurred trying to load this video. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. You must create an account to continue watching Register for a free trial Are you a student or a teacher? I am a student Start Your Free Trial To Continue Watching As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you succeed. Coming up next: St. John Rivers in Jane Eyre: Character Analysis & Quotes You're on a roll. Keep up the good work! Your next lesson will play in 10 seconds 0:02 Wives & Madwomen in the Attic 1:52 Who Is Bertha: Key Quotes 4:18 Bertha: Jane's Foil Add to Add to Add to Want to watch this again later? Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. Custom Courses are courses that you create from Study.com lessons.

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Create an account to start this course today Try it free for 5 days! Lesson Transcript Instructor: Terri Beth Miller Terri Beth has taught college writing and literature courses since 2005 and has a PhD in literature. This lesson examines the character of Bertha Mason in Charlotte Bronte's 1847 masterpiece ''Jane Eyre''. The lesson analyzes Bertha Mason both as an image of horror and as a tragic figure, and explains why she is considered one of the most controversial characters of all time. Wives & Madwomen in the Attic In her 1847 novel Jane Eyre, published under the male pseudonym Currer Bell, Charlotte Bronte presents one of the most iconic love stories of all time, that of the wealthy, tortured Mr. Rochester and the governess Jane Eyre. In doing so, Bronte also creates one of English literature's most memorable and controversial characters, Rochester's first wife, Bertha Mason, the madwoman Rochester has secreted away in the attic of his mansion, Thornfield Hall.

Bertha is the great tragedy of Rochester's life; she is the obstacle that Jane and Rochester's love must overcome, and she is the catalyst that proves Jane's moral virtue and Rochester's ultimate redemption. Initially read in the 19th century as a villain or a horror, Bertha Mason in the 20th century has earned her own redemption of sorts, particularly following Jean Rhys' 1966 publication of Wide Sargasso Sea, widely considered the first postcolonial novel (a novel written from the perspective of indigenous peoples in territories once colonized by the European empires). Told from Bertha Mason's perspective, the novel presents a far more sympathetic and infinitely more human image of Rochester's wife, who was, according to the novel, born Antoinette Cosway on the island of Jamaica. Bronte's illustrious novel and Rhys' almost equally famous prequel present two starkly different images of Bertha Mason/Antoinette Cosway: the former an image of debauchery, malice, terror, and sickness; the latter an image of fragile humanity abused, exploited, maligned, and ultimately discarded. So who is Rochester's wife, really? Is she Bertha the villain?

Is she Antoinette the victim? Both? Neither? Who Is Bertha: Key Quotes Now let's take a look at some key Jane Eyre quotes from Mr. Rochester about Bertha. 1. Bertha Mason is mad; and she came of a mad family; idiots and maniacs through three generations! Jane Eyre pivots upon this idea that Bertha Mason is a madwoman, but the implications of this concept when the novel was written are far different than we might understand them today. Today, mental illness is understood to be a common and treatable condition, and a result of natural, biological processes in the brain. But in Bronte's Victorian era, mental illness aligned with moral condemnation, suggesting weakness and depravity. While modern psychiatric medicine has indeed proven a strong genetic component to many forms of mental illness, the tendency of such illnesses to run in families had already been noted in the Victorian era, but was taken as a token of a familial taint, a sort of curse on the bloodline. In this regard, then, Bertha Mason's purported madness is a sign of an inward corruption, a cancer that has eaten through her body, mind, spirit - and bloodline. 2.

Her mother, the Creole, was both a madwoman and a drunkard! Here is not only an emphasis on faulty genetics, but also on ethnicity. As a Creole, Bertha Mason's ancestry is ambiguous, as she descends both from European and non-European origins. As a native of Jamaica and a Creole, Bertha's ancestry likely includes African and Caribbean origins. Rochester's assertion of Bertha's Creole roots, then, is a racialized condemnation borne of imperialist presumptions of the 'superiority' of the European. Modern European imperialism was built upon the idea of the civilizing mission, bringing progress and enlightenment to the supposedly dark corners of the world. But this presumes that such places, like the Caribbean islands inhabited by the Creoles, are in fact dark and in need of saving and guardianship, hence the close connection between the idea of the Creole and madness: an indigenous person, especially a woman, is already a little sick in body or mind (and probably both). Otherwise, there would be no need for a European/colonizer to save her. 3.

That is my wife….And this is what I wished to have…this young girl, who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell, looking collectedly at the gambols of a demon. Bertha is also Jane's foil or counterpart. Both defy the conventions of what an angel in the house, the Victorian image of the ideal woman, should be. Jane is passionate and stubborn. She exerts her own will in an era in which woman were expected and required to submit, always, to the will of the patriarch. × Bertha Mason's Madness in a Contemporary Context Bertha Mason's Madness in a Contemporary Context Mia Iwama (English 151, Brown University, 2003) [ Victorian Web Home —> Authors —> Charlotte Brontë —> Works ] ne of the most controversial — yet essential — plot elements of Charlotte Brontë's widely beloved novel, Jane Eyre, is her depiction of Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester's first wife, a once-beautiful Creole woman who is ravaged by mental illness and is hidden away, locked up in a lonely room at Thornfield.

Many critics have decried Brontë's delineation of Bertha as both a racist and insensitive portrayal of insanity. Her sensationalistic approach to describing a character suffering from mental illness during the Victorian era, while lending the gothic elements of suspense and intrigue to her cleverly crafted and brilliantly executed novel, nevertheless remains rather unsettling for modern readers, who may often wonder whether her views toward mental illness reflect the prevalent attitudes of her day. An examination of articles contemporary with the initial publication of Jane Eyre in 1847 surprisingly reveals that awareness of mental illness and sensitivity towards the care of suffering patients were remarkably acute, and these issues were being actively discussed in the press, as well as by politicians. In the March-June, 1845 volume of The Westminster Review of London, an article entitled, "Report of the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy to the Lord Chancellor, Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty," appears.

This fascinating document — a report from the Metropolitan Commissioners investigating the condition of mental institutions throughout England — provides a detailed overview of various "mental asylums," with statistics regarding the number of "curable" versus "incurable" patients, and reports suggesting that the cases of mental illness reported seemed to be increasing. The report opens with its statement of purpose, briefly detailing its plan to set out a coherent report on British mental institutions. It notes regarding the issue of mental institutions: An equally striking change is perceptible in the disposition of the public generally on this matter. The time has not long gone by when the mere mention of it was received with aversion and disgust; this has now, however, we are glad to say, given place to an interest and attention which is not merely confined to the enlightened and benevolent portion of the community, but is shared in, to a very great extent, by the public at large. [Metropolitan Commissioners 162] Thus, this suggests that attitudes toward mental illness in the Victorian era were already shifting, and the public at large began to recognize the humane necessity of lending attention to the matter of mental institution conditions.

The report continues, mentioning that in 1828, Parliament initially appointed a Commission to inspect London mental asylums on account of reports of abuse, and that this inspection resulted in improved conditions and the passing of an act in 1841 that required a Commission from Parliament to inspect every British mental asylum. In contrast to the older asylums, which resemble dreary "prisons or dungeons" and were designed primarily so that its inhabitants could not escape, the more "modern establishments" are designed with the well-being and comfort of the patients as main priorities (Metropolitan Commissioners 163). The report argues that "the patients ought to have the benefit of a cheerful look-out on a pleasing prospect" and stresses the fact that older asylums are not suitable for modern-day patients, as these facilities "have been devised more as a means of confinement than as a means of cure, more for the protection of the public than for the treatment of the patient" (Metropolitan Commissioners 166-167).

It is remarkable to observe that the Commissioners who wrote the report are truly concerned about the environment the asylum provides for a patient; they are adamant about ensuring that newly-constructed asylums "avoid everything which might give to the patient the impression he is in prison" (168). This seems to contradict markedly with the attitudes expressed towards Bertha and her condition in Jane Eyre. When Bertha is finally revealed on Jane's long-awaited wedding day, she is living sequestered in her hidden apartment which does not appear to be designed with her comfort in mind: In a room without a window there burnt a fire, guarded by a high and strong fender, and a lamp suspended from the ceiling by a chain. Grace Poole bent over the fire, apparently cooking something in a saucepan. In the deep shade, at the further end of the room, a figure ran backwards and forwards. What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it groveled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing; and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face.

[250] Thus, Brontë likens her to a vulgar animal, with wild mannerisms and a disheveled appearance. The descriptions that follow are even less flattering: Brontë uses such epithets as "the clothed hyena," "the maniac," "that purple face," and "the lunatic" (250) to describe Bertha's condition. When she attempts to strangle Rochester, Grace Poole "gave him a cord, and he pinioned them behind her: with more rope, which was at hand, he bound her to a chair" (Brontë 250). Quite interestingly, this was not considered acceptable, humane treatment of patients of mental illness, even by Victorian standards. The report in The Westminster Review recalls that when the asylum at West Auckland was examined in 1842, there were discovered the most appalling conditions, where there existed "only one unglazed window" and "one woman was leg-locked by day and chained to her bed at night," as were several of the other male inhabitants (187).

The article notes: "The Commissioners who first visited the asylum stated their opinion to be that it was entirely unfit for the reception of insane persons" (187). The report also mentions a visit in 1842 to the asylum at Haverfordwest, where the Commissioners reported that "the asylum was deficient in every comfort, and in almost every convenience: the rooms being small and ill-ventilated" and that they were appalled by the fact that "the dress of the patients was . . .dirty, ragged, and insufficient," and that "the refractory patients were confined in strong chairs, their arms being also fastened to the chair" (185-186). This catalogued evidence of abusive treatment in Victorian mental institutions raises two questions for a reader of Jane Eyre. Why is Bertha Mason living sequestered in a house, rather than institutionalized in an asylum, as there were asylums throughout Britain? Since she is living in a room at Thornfield, why is she being exposed to such cruel conditions? The reader is told only briefly of Bertha's history by Mr. Rochester. He summarizes her past quite succinctly and without any semblance of sympathy: Bertha Mason is mad .

. .she came of a mad family; --idiots and maniacs through three generations! Her mother, the Creole, was both a mad woman and a drunkard!-as I found out after I had wed the daughter: for they were silent on family secrets before. Bertha, like a dutiful child, copied her parent in both points . . .Oh! my experience has been heavenly, if you only knew it! [249] This statement has long been the source of criticism of Jane Eyre as a racist novel, since it is explicitly mentioned that Bertha's mother is "the Creole" and is both an alcoholic and a lunatic — traits which were common stereotypes regarding Creoles. There is no evidence in the novel that Bertha has ever been placed in a formal mental asylum in an attempt to discover a cure for her condition. This is very unusual to note, as the actual Commissioners' report relates that "the number of insane persons ascertained to exist in England and Wales exceeds 20,000, and there is every reason to believe that this is considerably below the actual amount" (168). Thus, mental illness was a recognized and widespread condition throughout England and Wales.

It seems that the number of institutionalized patients was also on the rise; while the Lancaster Asylum had 160 reported patients in 1816, in 1845 it boasted 600 strong (Metropolitan Commissioners 169). While the poor would face difficulties in finding adequate care at asylums due to financial restrictions, certainly Mr. Rochester would have no such financial obstacle to surmount in finding appropriate care for his ill wife. Perhaps, however, Brontë envisioned that in the past Bertha might have sought a medical cure, and discovering none, found, as the Commissioners Report remarks, "[s]he should be removed from asylums instituted for the cure of insanity, in order to make room for others whose cases have not yet become hopeless" (170). However, the statistics in the report suggest that early treatment seemed to prove effective in the Victorian era.

The report cites the "General Statement of Insane Persons Confined in Asylums in England and Wales" in 1844; it compares "Private patients" to "Pauper patients." Of 3,790 Private patients, 1,045 were deemed curable, while 2,745 were pronounced incurable. Conversely, of the 7,482 Pauper patients, 1,484 were seen as curable, while 5,998 were viewed as incurable. "From this table," says the authors of the report, "we perceive that the relative proportion of incurable paupers in asylums is double that of the private patients, who have probably had the benefit of early treatment" (173). Furthermore, in the introduction to a letter featured in The Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review in the October 1847-January 1848 edition, John Conolly, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians at London and a physician to the Middlesex Lunatic Asylum at Hanwell, is presented as a leading physician who has shown that: the whole of the barbarous system of coercion and restraint . .

.was founded on a fallacy, and that insanity . . .is simply a state of unsound, physical health — a state of functional disease — in the great majority of cases capable of a cure, under appropriate treatment; capable also, under injudicious treatment, of being rendered permanent and incurable. [Conolly 120] Although modern readers have the benefit of increased knowledge of mental illness conditions and treatments, it nevertheless is encouraging to realize that even in the Victorian era with its rather antiquated and limited knowledge and views upon mental illness, measures were actively being taken to alleviate the suffering of patients and attempt to implement some sort of beneficial treatment. As the article continues to explain, such victims of ravaging mental illness are incapable of judging their condition with accuracy or realizing the necessity of seeking medical assistance. All of this evidence of increasing understanding and awareness of mental illness in the 1840s then places Mr. Rochester's character in a rather unfavorable light. He allows Bertha, whose family has a history of mental illness, to be locked up like a prisoner in a cheerless, windowless room, wearing dirty and ragged clothing and subject to the abuse of Grace Poole, who binds her to a chair to subdue her.

There is no evidence any real attempts have been made in the past to address her situation by medical professionals and try to lessen the suffering she inevitably experiences. Ultimately, investigation into the condition of mental institutions at the time of the publication of Jane Eyre reveals that although poor and abusive conditions and overcrowding were prevalent in Victorian era mental asylums, there also existed a surprising level of awareness of the plight of the mentally ill and a widespread desire to improve the conditions of asylums and the treatments they offered to those who were incapable of functioning in regular society due to mental illness. In both selected articles, the issue of mental illness is handled with an impressive degree of respect, sensitivity, and understanding. As the Commissioners Report authors declare, "We sympathize with the lower animals and protect them from cruelty, whilst we suffer every species of barbarity to be heaped with impunity on our afflicted brethren" (191). They hope to that improved conditions and understanding will "suffice to provide the means of comfort, freedom, and happiness to the many afflicted and worse than slave-bound of our fellow countrymen" (192). This evidence leads one to question with much greater scrutiny Mr.

Rochester's character, for his treatment of Bertha Mason is unpardonable. More importantly, however, is the criticism one might direct towards Charlotte Brontë herself for her sensationalistic, highly stereotypical, and unsympathetic portrayal of a woman who has been removed from her home country, has suffered mental illness, is kept like a caged animal in deplorable conditions without medical treatment, and ultimately is compelled to end her tragic life by suicide. Bibliography Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Norton & Co., 2001. "Report of the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy to the Lord Chancellor, Presented to Both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty." The Westminster Review [London] Vol. 43. March-June 1845: 162-192. Jane Eyre Themes from LitCharts | The creators of SparkNotes Love, Family, and Independence As an orphan at Gateshead, Jane is oppressed and dependent. For Jane to discover herself, she must break out of these restrictive conditions and find love and independence. Jane must have the freedom to think and feel, and she seeks out other independent-minded people as the loving family she craves.

Jane, Helen Burns, and Ms. Temple enjoy a deep mutual respect, and form emotional bonds that anticipate the actual family Jane finds in Mary… Social Class and Social Rules Life in 19th-century Britain was governed by social class, and people typically stayed in the class into which they were born. Both as an orphan at Gateshead and as a governess at Thornfield, Jane holds a position that is between classes, and interacts with people of every level, from working-class servants to aristocrats. Jane's social mobility lets Brontë create a vast social landscape in her novel in which she examines the sources and consequences of… Gender Roles In 19th-century England, gender roles strongly influenced people's behavior and identities, and women endured condescending attitudes about a woman's place, intelligence, and voice. Jane has an uphill battle to become independent and recognized for her personal qualities. She faces off with a series of men who do not respect women as their equals. Mr. Brocklehurst, Rochester, and St. John all attempt to command or master women. Brontë uses marriage in the novel to… (read full theme analysis) Get the entire Jane Eyre LitChart as a printable PDF.

"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S. Religion Religion and spirituality are key factors in how characters develop in the novel. Jane matures partly because she learns to follow Christian lessons and resist temptation. Helen Burns introduces Jane to the New Testament, which becomes a moral guidepost for Jane throughout her life. As Jane develops her relationship with God, Mr. Rochester must also reform his pride, learn to pray, and become humble. Brontë depicts different forms of religion: Helen trusts in salvation; Eliza… Feeling vs. Judgment Just as Jane Eyre can be described as Jane's quest to balance her contradictory natural instincts toward independence and submission, it can also be described as her quest to find a balance between passionate feeling on the one had and judgment, or repression of those feelings, on the other. Through the examples of other characters in the novel, such as Eliza and Georgiana, Rochester and St. John—or Bertha, who has no control over her emotions… The Spiritual and the Supernatural Brontë uses many themes of Gothic novels to add drama and suspense to Jane Eyre.

But the novel isn't just a ghost story because Brontë also reveals the reasons behind supernatural events. For instance, Mr. Reed's ghost in the red-room is a figment of Jane's stressed-out mind, while Bertha is the "demon" in Thornfield. In Jane Eyre, the effects of the supernatural matter more than the causes. The supernatural allows Brontë to explore… SparkNotes: Jane Eyre: Analysis of Major Characters Analysis of Major Characters Themes, Motifs & Symbols Jane Eyre The development of Jane Eyre’s character is central to the novel. From the beginning, Jane possesses a sense of her self-worth and dignity, a commitment to justice and principle, a trust in God, and a passionate disposition. Her integrity is continually tested over the course of the novel, and Jane must learn to balance the frequently conflicting aspects of herself so as to find contentment. An orphan since early childhood, Jane feels exiled and ostracized at the beginning of the novel, and the cruel treatment she receives from her Aunt Reed and her cousins only exacerbates her feeling of alienation.

Afraid that she will never find a true sense of home or community, Jane feels the need to belong somewhere, to find “kin,” or at least “kindred spirits.” This desire tempers her equally intense need for autonomy and freedom. In her search for freedom, Jane also struggles with the question of what type of freedom she wants. While Rochester initially offers Jane a chance to liberate her passions, Jane comes to realize that such freedom could also mean enslavement—by living as Rochester’s mistress, she would be sacrificing her dignity and integrity for the sake of her feelings. St. John Rivers offers Jane another kind of freedom: the freedom to act unreservedly on her principles. He opens to Jane the possibility of exercising her talents fully by working and living with him in India. Jane eventually realizes, though, that this freedom would also constitute a form of imprisonment, because she would be forced to keep her true feelings and her true passions always in check. Charlotte Brontë may have created the character of Jane Eyre as a means of coming to terms with elements of her own life. Much evidence suggests that Brontë, too, struggled to find a balance between love and freedom and to find others who understood her.

At many points in the book, Jane voices the author’s then-radical opinions on religion, social class, and gender. Edward Rochester Despite his stern manner and not particularly handsome appearance, Edward Rochester wins Jane’s heart, because she feels they are kindred spirits, and because he is the first person in the novel to offer Jane lasting love and a real home. Although Rochester is Jane’s social and economic superior, and although men were widely considered to be naturally superior to women in the Victorian period, Jane is Rochester’s intellectual equal. Moreover, after their marriage is interrupted by the disclosure that Rochester is already married to Bertha Mason, Jane is proven to be Rochester’s moral superior. Rochester regrets his former libertinism and lustfulness; nevertheless, he has proven himself to be weaker in many ways than Jane. Jane feels that living with Rochester as his mistress would mean the loss of her dignity. Ultimately, she would become degraded and dependent upon Rochester for love, while unprotected by any true marriage bond. Jane will only enter into marriage with Rochester after she has gained a fortune and a family, and after she has been on the verge of abandoning passion altogether. She waits until she is not unduly influenced by her own poverty, loneliness, psychological vulnerability, or passion.

Additionally, because Rochester has been blinded by the fire and has lost his manor house at the end of the novel, he has become weaker while Jane has grown in strength—Jane claims that they are equals, but the marriage dynamic has actually tipped in her favor. St. John Rivers St. John Rivers is a foil to Edward Rochester. Whereas Rochester is passionate, St. John is austere and ambitious. Jane often describes Rochester’s eyes as flashing and flaming, whereas she constantly associates St. John with rock, ice, and snow. Marriage with Rochester represents the abandonment of principle for the consummation of passion, but marriage to St. John would mean sacrificing passion for principle. When he invites her to come to India with him as a missionary, St. John offers Jane the chance to make a more meaningful contribution to society than she would as a housewife. At the same time, life with St. John would mean life without true love, in which Jane’s need for spiritual solace would be filled only by retreat into the recesses of her own soul. Independence would be accompanied by loneliness, and joining St. John would require Jane to neglect her own legitimate needs for love and emotional support. Her consideration of St.

John’s proposal leads Jane to understand that, paradoxically, a large part of one’s personal freedom is found in a relationship of mutual emotional dependence. Helen Burns Helen Burns, Jane’s friend at Lowood School, serves as a foil to Mr. Brocklehurst as well as to Jane. While Mr. Brocklehurst embodies an evangelical form of religion that seeks to strip others of their excessive pride or of their ability to take pleasure in worldly things, Helen represents a mode of Christianity that stresses tolerance and acceptance. Brocklehurst uses religion to gain power and to control others; Helen ascetically trusts her own faith and turns the other cheek to Lowood’s harsh policies. Although Helen manifests a certain strength and intellectual maturity, her efforts involve self-negation rather than self-assertion, and Helen’s submissive and ascetic nature highlights Jane’s more headstrong character. Like Jane, Helen is an orphan who longs for a home, but Helen believes that she will find this home in Heaven rather than Northern England. And while Helen is not oblivious to the injustices the girls suffer at Lowood, she believes that justice will be found in God’s ultimate judgment—God will reward the good and punish the evil.

Jane, on the other hand, is unable to have such blind faith. Her quest is for love and happiness in this world. Nevertheless, she counts on God for support and guidance in her search. Jane Eyre The Madwoman in the Attic: Angel or Monster? | GradeSaver Jane Eyre The Madwoman in the Attic: Angel or Monster? Buy Study Guide In “ Jane Eyre ,” the character of Bertha Mason serves as an ominous representation of uncontrollable passion and madness. Her dark sensuality and violent nature contrast sharply with Jane’s calm morality, and it is no surprise that Bertha’s presence at Thornfield is a key factor in transforming Mr. Rochester into a stereotypical Byronic hero. Moreover, Bertha’s marriage to Mr. Rochester serves as the primary conflict of the novel, and it is only after her death that Jane is able to achieve personal happiness by marrying Mr. Rochester. However, Bertha’s position as the “Madwoman in the Attic” also speaks to larger social questions of femininity and authorship during the Victorian period.

In 1979, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar made a breakthrough in feminist criticism with their work “The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination.” In the 700-page text, Gilbert and Gubar use the figure of Bertha Mason as the so-called “Madwoman in the Attic” to make an argument about perceptions toward female literary characters during the time period. According to Gilbert and Gubar, all female characters in male-authored books can be categorized as either the “angel” or the “monster.” The “angel” character was pure, dispassionate, and submissive; in other words, the ideal female figure in a male-dominated society. Interestingly, the term “angel” stems directly from Coventry Patmore’s 1854 poem “The Angel in the House,” in which he described his meek and pious wife. In sharp contrast to the “angel” figure, the “monster” female character was sensual, passionate, rebellious, and decidedly uncontrollable: all qualities that caused a great deal of anxiety among men during the Victorian period.

However, Charlotte Brontë (as well as many other contemporary female authors) did not limit her characterizations to this strict dichotomy between monster and angel. Jane Eyre possesses many of the qualities of the so-called angel: she is pure, moral, and controlled in her behavior. Yet, at the same time, she is extremely passionate, independent, and courageous. She refuses to submit to a position of inferiority to the men in her life, even when faced with a choice between love and autonomy, and ultimately triumphs over social expectations. Moreover, Jane’s childhood adventures demonstrate much of the same rebelliousness and anger that characterize the “monster.” It is clear that Jane’s appearance of control is only something that she learned during her time at Lowood School; she still maintains the same fiery spirit that defined her character as a child. With the character of Bertha Mason, Brontë has a more difficult time when it comes to blending the distinctions between angel and monster. The readers only meet Bertha when she is in the depths of madness, having been confined in the third-story attic of Thornfield for nearly fifteen years, and there is not enough interaction between her and the other characters to demonstrate any “angelic” behavior.

Yet, Bertha’s position as the obstacle to Jane’s happiness with Mr. Rochester, as well as her state of complete imprisonment, suggest that her madness may have been partially manufactured by the male-dominated society that forced her to give up her wealth in marriage to Mr. Rochester. Moreover, the similarities between Bertha’s behavior in the third-story attic and Jane’s actions as a child in the red-room suggest that neither character is full angel or full monster but rather a combination of the two. While Brontë does not differentiate between angel and monster in her portrayal of Jane and Bertha, she does, however, argue for moderation of the passions in all of her characters. Mr. Rochester and Bertha both have too much passion in their lives, while St. John Rivers has too little. Bertha’s passion manifests as madness, while Mr. Rochester’s passion is displayed in his debaucherous behavior on the continent and his determination to make Jane his mistress. St. John, on the other hand, suppresses all of his passion and love for Rosamond Oliver , and thus becomes a cold and aloof man whose only desire is to fulfill his duty to God. Of the three characters, Mr.

Rochester is the only one who eventually achieves a balance of passion; after Jane’s departure from Thornfield and the loss of his eyesight, he becomes much more spiritual and is able to achieve the same emotional moderation that Jane exhibits throughout the novel. Although Bertha does serve as one of the seeming villains of the novel, she should be seen more as a critique of a society in which passionate woman are viewed as monsters or madwomen. Charlotte Brontë’s act of writing a novel – particularly such a Gothic one - was no doubt equally threatening to the men of her time period. In some ways, Brontë’s decision to merge the identities of the “angel” and the “monster” in the two primary female characters of her novel can be seen as a personal statement about the conflict between passion and passivity in her own life.

Jane Eyre and the 19th-century woman - The British Library Jane Eyre and the 19th-century woman Themes: The novel 1832 - 1880 , Gender and sexuality Professor Sally Shuttleworth explores how Charlotte Brontë challenges 19th-century conceptions of appropriate female behaviour through the creation of a heroine who works, demands respect and combines self-control with passion and rebellion. Professor John Bowen explores the central role of women in Jane Eyre and the unique role of the governess in 19th-century society. Filmed at the Brontë Parsonage, Haworth. Femininity and rebellion When Jane Eyre (1847) was published by Charlotte Brontë under the masculine pseudonym Currer Bell, it was received with great acclaim by some critics, and harsh criticism by others. The conservative Lady Eastlake suggested that if the book was by a woman ‘she had long forfeited the society of her own sex’.

In addition to this lack of femininity, she also diagnosed a spirit of rebellion which she likened to the working class uprisings of the Chartists, with their demands for votes for the working people, and also the political revolutions which were then sweeping across Europe. [1] Jane Eyre unsettled views as to how women should act and behave, suggesting, in Lady Eastlake’s eyes, almost an overthrowing of social order. Unlike the long-suffering heroines in Charlotte Brontë’s early writings, who pine away for the dashing, promiscuous Duke of Zamorna, Jane demands equality and respect. ‘Do you think’, she demands of Rochester, ‘I am an automaton? – a machine without feelings?’. She speaks to him as one spirit to another, ‘equal – as we are’ (ch. 23). One can find, however, elements of this rebelliousness in the early writings, which cover a period of Brontë’s life from early adolescence to her late 20s. In ‘Visits in Verreopolis’ (1830), the noble Zenobia, who is deeply learned in the classics, is subject to ridicule by various males.

The Duke of Wellington suggests that women are like swans, graceful in the water, but when they presume to leave their natural element, the home, they have an ‘unseemly waddle’ which entitles everyone ‘to laugh till their sides split at the spectacle’. [2] Interestingly, Zenobia is also prone to fits of rage or madness, and is described as having a West Indian, or Martinique complexion, which makes her also a forerunner of the ‘mad wife’. Review of Jane Eyre by Elizabeth Rigby The conservative ‘Lady Eastlake’, real name Elizabeth Rigby, harshly criticises Jane Eyre as dangerously immoral in this review, here reprinted in Littell’s Living Age, 1849. Free from known copyright restrictions Women should be allowed to use their talents Despite the spirit of rebelliousness which flows through Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë was not overtly radical in her social views. On reading an article in the Westminster Review (1851), which argued for women’s rights to vote and to work, she writes to the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell that while she approves of many of the writer’s arguments she feels they are lacking in ‘heart’ and tender feelings.

[3] While Brontë does not approve of women voting, she does believe they should be allowed to work. In the novel, Jane makes a passionate plea for women to be allowed to use their talents, and not to be confined to the home ‘making puddings and knitting stocking, …playing on the piano and embroidering bags' (ch. 12). Charlotte Brontë herself had worked as a governess and a teacher, but had hated it. Her views come over clearly in a letter to her brother Branwell, written while she was teaching in Brussels, and also in a letter to her editor, W S Williams, in which she suggests that women who take on the role of a live-in governess can never be happy. [4] The plight of the governess was one which was drawing considerable social attention at that time. It was virtually the only occupation that was considered respectable for a middle-class woman who had no family to support her, but the experience was often wretched. The governess was neither one of the servants, nor one of the family, and was often treated with contempt by both sides. Anne Brontë writes in vivid detail of these problems in her first novel, Agnes Grey (1847).

Jane Eyre is, in comparison, very fortunate in her relationship with Mrs Fairfax, and of course in her romantic relationship with her employer which broke all the rules of social hierarchy. Images Usage terms: Free from known copyright restrictions Passion or self-control? The novel draws a marked implicit contrast between the strong, self-controlled figure of Jane, and the animalistic qualities of Rochester’s first wife, Bertha Mason. But as many critics have shown, there are parallels between the angry child shut in the red room, and the mad wife confined to the attic. Significantly, Jane first sees Bertha in her own mirror, and she refuses to condemn her as Rochester does. The novel was shocking in Rochester’s frank descriptions of Bertha’s sexuality, and his own debauchery, but it is important to note that the novel also depicts Jane as a heroine with strong desires. When Jane is courted by St John Rivers, she fears that if they married, he would ‘scrupulously observe … all the forms of love’ while the spirit was absent: he would offer sex, in other words, without romantic love. Jane feels this would force her ‘to burn inwardly and never utter a cry’ (ch. 34).

Images of passion, and of fire, run through the novel, symbolised most forcibly in the fire that burns down Thornfield. Brontë establishes explicit contrasts between Jane and Bertha, but she also suggests that there are underpinning parallels between these two passionate forms of womanhood. Edmund Garrett's illustrations to Jane Eyre Illustration of Bertha Mason by Edmund H. Garrett, a renowned American illustrator, for an 1897 edition of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Contemporary approaches Jane Eyre: Advanced Contemporary approaches Anna-Mari West/Shutterstock.com Psychoanalytical readings and those which focus on myth have suggested many new and interesting readings of the novel, including the idea that Rochester’s first wife is Jane’s double. Bertha Mason is a madwoman who is kept under lock and key in the attic, is unable to speak, physically and mentally resembles a savage wild animal and is treated as a thing rather than as a human being. She therefore seems to be the opposite of Jane who is a calm English governess, rational, self-controlled, articulate and small.

However, as Elizabeth Imlay has noted in Charlotte Brontë and the Mysteries of Love Myth and Allegory in Jane Eyre (1989), both women are represented at different times in very similar ways. Jane describes Bertha as a ghost or a vampire after the wedding veil is torn. This is a very frightening image, but Mr Rochester similarly thinks of Jane as an imp, spirit and witch. Bertha is mad, and Jane is said to behave like a mad cat; Bertha scratches and bites, and Jane scratches her cousin John Reed; Bertha is tied to a chair and locked in a room, Jane is told to sit in a chair and is locked in the red-room. In other words, when Jane follows her passions and loses her self-control, she behaves and is punished like Bertha. When she is frustrated by her life at Thornfield Jane goes up onto the third floor to daydream, at which point she is physically and mentally close to Bertha. In this way we become aware of the fact that Jane could easily become another madwoman if she followed her basest instincts.

Bertha’s death, at which point Rochester is also maimed and tamed, therefore symbolises the sacrifice of the most passionate part of Jane’s self. However, Gayatri Spivak in Critical Inquiry 12 (1) 1985, criticised this kind of approach and argued that Jane Eyre’s rise as an independent woman was dependent upon the fall and dehumanisation of a colonial subject. Also, that the novel therefore reflected the patterns of imperialism. Edward Said in Orientalism (1978) had by this point highlighted the importance of colonialism and images of imperialism and empire in Jane Eyre . Jane is clearly a white middle-class Protestant who believes in healthy good deeds and hard work. When she runs away from Thornfield she therefore says that she will try to turn her hand to anything that is honest. However, she still draws the line at travelling to India where, she fears, she would collapse and die, as St John eventually does. This rational approach to life allows her to have the self-control that Bertha Mason lacks. Bertha Mason’s story is itself a colonial narrative. Rochester marries her purely for her property.

In fact, he went to the Caribbean just to seek his fortune and, like other English adventurers, found unbridled passion and madness as well as a solution to his financial difficulties. Interestingly, until Rochester meets Jane all his sexual partners have been foreign, and this is typical of the period. Foreign women were supposed to be more highly sexed than English women, but, more importantly, the very fact that they were foreign also made them particularly attractive to English men. Foreign shores and people were seen as dangerous, essentially unhealthy, wild, yet alluring in the British novels of the time, and Charlotte Brontë has made full use of this widespread colonial imagery. Bertha is treated and seen as a thing rather than a human being because she is a Creole, not just because she is a madwoman. And, as suggested by Rochester’s desperate need to leave the West Indies, it is suggested that only Britain can provide a safe haven for the English.

More recently still, critics like Peter Hulme in Colonial Discourse/Postcolonial Theory (1994), have stressed that though it remains important to take a critical view of Jane Eyre in light of Jean Rhys’ novel, Jean Rhys herself can be categorised as a member of the ‘white colonial elite’, while her novel is ‘sympathetic to the planter class ruined by emancipation’. Check the film The best twentieth-century film and stage versions of the novel, those like Franco Zeffireli’s 1996 version that capture its underlying emotion and sexual tension, were influenced by contemporary, post-Freudian, interpretations of the novel. But it is important to go back to the book as adaptations will say more about the time at which they are made than they will about the original text. Check the book For a general study of post-colonial writing, to which genre and period Jean Rhys’ work belongs, see B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths and H. Tiffin The Empire Writes Back Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (1998).

Ms Caldwell's Y13 English: The significance of race in Jane Eyre The significance of race in Jane Eyre Hi Y13 In recent lessons we have made red rooms and an attics. These places link Jane and 'Bertha'. Your homework is to read this and leave a comment. This should answer: How significant is race in Jane Eyre? (due before Thursday's lesson) The autobiographical premise/first person narrative of the governess, Jane Eyre, allows an ethnocentric viewpoint that varies in its representation of race and, in consequence, significance. The two most obvious representations of race are through Bertha Mason and St John Rivers, but Charlotte Bronte also uses subtle language to connote racial stereotypes. It has been suggested that Charlotte Bronte uses representation of race as a metaphor for class and gender inequality. It is also important to note the significance of the representation of race on the nineteenth-century novel’s readership, predominately white middle class women, to our own contemporary post-colonial ideas of race and British imperialism. The racial representations of Bertha Mason are significant as the reader sees her through Jane’s eyes before we hear her story. The images are strong and animalistic. ‘a figure ran backwards and forwards.

What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it grovelled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched growled like some strange, wild animal: but it was covered with clothing, and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, his its head and face.’ (Bronte, Chapter? p.308) Jane’s meeting with Bertha Mason is loaded with animalistic imagery as Bertha Mason ‘gazed wildly’ (Bronte, 309) at Jane and biting of her husband is an animalistic act. Bronte dehumanises Bertha with the description turning her into something ‘wild’ and ‘grizzled’ and then is more sinister with ‘goblin’ and ‘vampire’ (Vol II, C10), clearly signalling the Gothic. The reader then identifies this as the ‘discoloured’, ‘savage face’ that tears Jane’s veil in Chap. 25. ‘the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments!

… the lips were swelled and dark; the brow furrowed: the black eyebrows widely raised.’ (Bronte, 299) Bronte’s representations of race here show Bertha Mason as non-white and conform to racist 19th century stereotypes. However, the representation of Bertha Mason’s ethnicity becomes more ambiguous as Rochester reveals their story. She is described as a Creole, which at the time could have meant black or white. As her father was an ‘old acquaintance’ of Rochester’s father and as she is white enough to marry a wealthy English man the reader can assume she is predominately white. Although ambiguous as a ‘Creole’ Bertha Mason does become blacker as her sanity declines; she is compared by Rochester to Blanche Ingram as ‘tall, dark, and majestic’ when they first met; (Bronte, Chapter 27, pg 321) this contrasts starkly with the animalistic image of Bertha Mason in the attic. The representation of Bertha Mason’s mother ‘the Creole, was both a madwoman and a drunkard’ was also significant to the 19th century audience.

‘(Rochester) associates that line with two of the most common stereotypes associated with blacks in the nineteenth century.’ (Meyer, p. 229) This is significant as, as cited by Meyer, Bronte had associated these racist stereotypes with black people from childhood and was a commonly held belief at the time. This shows that the representation of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre fits with nineteenth century beliefs and fears of non-whites and the association of race and low morals as coterminous. The racial representation of Bertha Mason is compounded by the juxtaposition with Jane Eyre. Jane is often described as pale and small, in contrast to the tall and dark ‘Indian Messalina’ (Bronte, 328), and often described by Rochester as his ‘English girl’. As well as represented racially different from Jane, Bertha is also the emotional opposite to Jane; Jane is composed and modest whereas Bertha is ‘intemperate and unchaste.’(Bronte, 323) The representation of Bertha Mason reinforced the fear of racial difference and of women that didn’t fit the cultural British norm. The representation of race implies the non-white are insane, sexually provocative and dangerous.

The representation of the race of Bertha Mason is significant as a contrast to Jane. The use of the Gothic, and patterns of imagery in Jane’s ordeal in the red-room, could be said to link Jane and Bertha on a psychological level in terms of struggle against social oppression with Jane’s internal struggles with rebellion and control. The representation of the savage nature of people in the colonies is validated by the proselytising St John Rivers. St John martyrs himself for his ‘great work’: Christianity. He hopes of joining those who have ‘merged all ambitions in the glorious bettering of their race’ (Bronte, Chapter 32, p?) and, in doing so, the goodness of white people. He throws his ‘valuable life away’ ‘Firm, faithful, and devoted, full of energy, and zeal, and truth, he labours for his race; he clears their painful way to improvement; he hews down like a giant the prejudices of creed and caste that encumber it.’ (Bronte, p.

481) Here St John fits the Victorian work ethics with the Christain need to proselytise the colonies, cutting down the prejudices of creed and caste while simultaneously, and ironically, holding and perpetuating his own. This is significant as nineteenth- century colonisation needed to be justified and this was done using the idea of the inferior ‘savage’ native needing to be civilised into proper British behaviour. To a contemporary ‘modern readership’ is more accurate. Contemporary usually implies ‘of the time’ St John’s ‘energy and zeal’ seems suspicious as it represents the imperialistic brutality against natives of colonized countries. This shows how the significance of representation of race changes historically, a point put forward by Spivak. The British Empire is significant in reading Jane Eyre. Spivak cites that Bertha Mason is born out of the ideology of imperialist axiomatic. When living in the colony in Jamaica, Rochester’s torment and emotional ‘storm’ is calmed by the reassuring, civilising European wind: ‘A fresh wind from Europe blew over the ocean and rushed through the open casement: the storm broke, streamed thundered, blazed, and the air grew pure.

I then framed and fixed a resolution’ … ‘the sweet wind from Europe was still whispering in the refreshed leaves.’ (Bronte, 325) This shows that the colonies were wild, mad places, but the sanity of Europe can reach Rochester. The use of natural imagery to describe extreme emotion pervades the novel. Conversely, the imperialistic interpretation is seen by Meyer (228) as highlighting Bronte’s anxieties about oppression and is a response to some Victorian texts and the connection of black people and white women to demean both, emphasising the need for control over both by white men. Meyer links Bertha’s blazing rebellion to the slave uprisings in the West Indies, and finds in this an oppression shared by white women and black people. Salvery and anxieties also remain in the unhealthy mist over Ferndean; slavery is used by Jane Eyre to describe her situation throughout Jane Eyre. As a child she describes herself as like ‘any other rebel slave’ and when Rochester buys her gifts she feels like a degraded slave. Racial representation is significant as slavery and oppression serve as an allegory for women’s dependence on men.

The representation of race having significance for allegorical gender assertions is apparent in chapter 24. ‘I would not exchange this one little English girl for the Grand Turk’s whole seraglio ...” “I’ll (…) preach liberty to them that are enslaved – your harem inmates amongst the rest. … I’ll stir up a mutiny.’ (Bronte, p. 283) Here Rochester is emphasising Jane’s subjugation and her response is to wish to emancipate those women; this highlights her own oppression and the dichotomy of her preaching to those who she perceives as oppressed whilst being oppressed herself. This ethnocentric view of herself as, although oppressed, morally better than the women in the Turks seraglio and therefore shows the significance of racial representation and stereotypes. Charlotte Bronte also subtly connotes racial and nationalistic prejudices. She uses the name Dionysius O’Gall for the family that Jane Eyre would work for in Ireland: Dionysius is the Greek God of wine and insinuates the drunkenness of the Irish.

Charlotte Bronte also refers to Celine Varens and Adele as being materialistic and superficial because they are French, but Adele is saved from this by the superior English: ‘a sound English education corrected in a great measure her French defects.’ (Bronte, 479) Charlotte Bronte does not just use race, but a degree of xenophobia to imply the superiority of the English. Where Bertha’s Creole heritage explains her insanity, Celine Varens morals were explained by her French nationalism. Charlotte Bronte also uses white and black in Jane Eyre that connotes good and bad. The old ‘witch’ is ‘almost as black as a crock.’ (Bronte, 199) and Rochester also has a ‘dark, imperious eye.’ There are also the references to Bertha. This is contrasted by the welcoming ‘whitewashed villa’; the white River’s cottage; the pale Jane Eyre and the Christian ‘Whitcross’ (Whitecross). The symbolic white of the pure and virginal also accentuate the depravity of the dark racial references. Race is also used in Jane Eyre with irony to highlight class snobbery and prejudice in British, nineteenth century society.

Mrs Dent’s criticism of Jane portrays her as a snob ‘it was a reminder that one of the anathematised race was present … “I see all the faults of her class”( Bronte, 183) Here, Bronte is using race ironically to satirise class and also gender inequality. Middle-class women were at the mercy of judgements their fathers made and in consequence would end up in the ‘slavery’ of governessing. Women’s reliance on men often left them with no money or inheritance. The image of a lonely middle-class governess suggests promiscuity, madness and a challenge to the domestic stability. This also links to the depiction of Bertha. Jane Eyre represents race as negative, but it is important to consider nineteenth century ideology and culture that was exceptionally scared of racial differences; imperialism often only reinforced these anxieties. Charlotte Bronte reveals her ethnocentricity in the novel when it is read today, this would have varied significantly to her contemporary audience in a time when imperialism was not seen as a stain on British history as it often is today. Bronte also uses race ironically to highlight snobbery and class prejudice in Victorian England.

The representation and significance of race in Jane Eyre help to show some the inequalities that existed in nineteenth century England and some of the struggles to break away from them. What do you think? Leave a comment. Ms

Question: Bertha Mason is a barely seen but important character in which 19th Century novel?
Answer: JANE EYRE