An analysis of the character of Bertha Mason from "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte, taking a deeper look at the expectations of women in the 19th century.
Abstract The essay examines the character of Bertha Mason, Rochester's first wife, in the book "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte. The paper argues that Bertha was not insane, but an oppressed, possibly abused, woman who refused to submit to the societal norms of 19th century patriarchal society. The writer looks into the 19th century expectations of the "ideal woman", characteristics that were lacking in Bertha Mason, and concludes that Bertha was not crazy (mad), but rather angry (mad) at her ill-treatment.
From the Paper "Welter (1966) points out that women who engaged in sexual activity beyond duty to their husbands, especially premarital or extramarital, always ended in "madness" in Victorian literature. Did Bertha not subscribe to the "cult of true womanhood" in which a real woman was believed to be without any sexual feelings, to be responsible for the man's sexual behavior, to be religious, obedient to her husband, and to provide a serene haven for him?"
Abstract This literary study examines the role of Bertha Mason as the alter-ego of Jane Eyre. While Bertha represents the maddened and insane Victorian wife, bound to the household by Rochester; Jane seeks a far more equal feminist standing her relationship with Rochester. When she finally marries Rochester at the end of the novel, she has done with a feminist dignity, which contrasts the role that Bertha enacted as a prisoner in the attic. This why Bertha represents an alter-ego to Jane in the characterization brought forth by Charlotte Bronte.
From the Paper "This literary study will analyze the character Bertha Mason in 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte. In many ways, Bertha is the alter ego of Jane Eyre, as she clearly represents the Victorian insanity and delusional state, which opposes Jane's feminist integrity and sober mannerisms. By analyzing these behaviors, one can realize how Bronte brings forth this contrast of characterization through a psychological ego-based criterion. In essence, Bertha Mason, Rochester's clandestine wife, is the alter-ego of Jane's sober and modest feminist behaviors within the novel. The basis for Bertha as the alter-ego to Jane is founded through the principle of Victorian patriarchal domestic norms."
Abstract This paper explains that the protagonist Bertha Mason, who never consents to society's restrictions on women's behavior in Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre", symbolizes the oppression of women by the patriarchal system where men are the interpreters and enforcers of social and political rules. The author points out that Bertha is interested in neither social acceptance nor self respect; her childhood experiences did not teach her to comply with social rules. The paper relates the story and concludes that, although Bertha's conduct seems inappropriate according to the norms of nineteenth century middle class society, it cannot be definitely diagnosed as mental illness.
From the Paper "Rochester is "ignorant, raw and inexperienced" and is "dazzled" by Bertha's beauty. After the marriage he realizes that he "never loved, never esteemed nor even knew her" and that he was "not sure of the existence of one virtue in her nature, neither modestly nor benevolence nor candor nor refinement in her mind of manners." Rochester criticizes Bertha's behavior in the context of morality and intellect, but his belief in her madness is arbitrary. Her behavior tends to be more demanding and self indulgent than insane: "No servant would bear the continued outbreaks of her violent and unreasonable temper, or the vexations of her absurd, contradictory, exacting orders.""
Abstract This paper examines and contrasts the natures of two characters in Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre": Jane and Rochester's first wife, Bertha. The paper highlights the restraints facing both women and shows how each woman has chosen the only logical conclusion; Bertha through the freedom of death and Jane through further restraint and perfect humility in a love match with an old blind man. The paper shows how each woman has chosen the proper reconciliation for the restrained life they have led, bringing to a rightful conclusion the possible happiness for a man who was also restrained by his legalistic and proper society.
From the Paper "Jane Eyre is an essential work of fiction outlining the subject of the isolation and narrowness of place for women in its contemporary society. The work grapples with a dichotomy of comparing the right and the wrong of a woman's place, and her right or wrong reaction to restraint, by openly comparing the nature of Jane and the nature of Rochester's first wife, the lunatic Bertha. The options for women, facing social and cultural strife are demonstrated by the choices each makes to survive, Jane to become beguiling and Bertha to go mad in the face of her restraint. There are two passages in the work that express this comparison best, and first the passage where the reader is formally introduced to the secret lunatic locked within the secret room of the manner after Rochester is rightfully accused of attempting to become a bigamist."
Abstract This paper looks at the many similarities in Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights", and Charlotte Bronte's novel, "Jane Eyre". The author discusses the gothic elements present in both books: the dark, the hidden, the secrets, and the brooding characters like Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester. The paper examines the element of the occult in both novels: ghosts, visions, the dead Catharine, and insane Bertha Mason Rochester.
From the Paper:
"
Traditionally, Gothic elements were constituted by the ambiguous, the chaotic, the unenlightened, the supposedly irrational, the dark, the hidden, and the secret. According to literary handbooks, Gothic is a matter of d?cor and mood, of an obscurely pleasurable terror, of the nostalgic melancholy of ruins and of remote times and places. Conventions familiar in Gothic narratives include a vulnerable/curious heroine, a wealthy/enigmatic hero/villain, and a grand, mysterious dwelling concealing violent secrets."
An analysis and comparison of Charlotte Bronte's novel "Jane Eyre" with that of Jean Rhys, entitled "Wild Sargasso Sea". The paper focuses on the character of Bertha Antoinetta Mason, who features in both works.
Abstract The paper begins with a character study of Bertha Mason, who appears in both novels. Her role and capabilities in the two novels are compared and the paper discusses how Rhys' novel is in some ways a revision of Bronte's work. The language, speech, thought and genre in the two novels are compared, and the differences in settings are highlighted. The difference in perspective (English vs. Colonial) in the novels is discussed and Rochester's reaction to his wife in each novel is studied. The paper supports its claims with quotes from the novels and concludes by summing up the similarities and differences between the works.
From the Paper "Bertha Antoinetta Mason is an interesting character, who plays a relatively minor role in "Jane Eyre," but a major role in Jane's fate. It is easy to see why Rhys decided to resurrect her and tell her story, because even though she only appears a few times in the novel, she is a fascinating character. Bertha is the mad wife of Mr. Rochester, Jane's love. He married Mason without knowing her family's roots in madness."
An analysis of Katherine Mansfield's story "Bliss" and how it represents some of the key feminist theories outlined in Simone De Beauvoir's work "The Second Sex".
Abstract This paper looks at Katherine Mansfield's work "Bliss" to identify if any of De Beauvoir's theories in "The Second Sex" can be drawn from it. It examines the relationship between Bertha and Miss Fulton and her husband Harry in "Bliss" in order to highlight some key theories of "The Second Sex" and demonstrates how "Bliss" can be viewed as a literary response to feminism which attempts to present women's oppression.
From the Paper "In the opening lines of Bliss, the reader is given an insight into Bertha's happy state and her analysis of her own blissful feelings: 'there is no way you can express it without being "drunk and disorderly." How idiotic civilisation is! Why be given a body if you have to keep it shut up in a case like a rare, rare fiddle?' This suggests that, as opposed to drunkenness and disorderliness, the accepted norms of behaviour for the female character are dignity and self-control. The reader is given the first clue as to a class prejudice, for Bertha is reflecting the viewpoint of her world and environment. It can therefore be assumed that she comes from a middle-class, bourgeois background."
This paper explores the theme of monstrosity in literature, as presented in Charlotte Bronte's novel "Jane Eyre" and its prequel Jean Rhys novel "Wide Sargasso Sea".
Abstract This paper explains that Charlotte Bronte in her novel "Jane Eyre" and Jean Rhys in her novel "Wide Sargasso Sea" tell the same story of humanity and monstrosity, sanity and madness, but the monsters are different. The author points out that Bronte comes from romanticism and Gothicism movements in literature; whereas, Rhys, generations later, reflexes modernism and surrealism. The paper relates that Bronte's madwoman, "beastly Bertha Mason", imprisoned in the attic, is described as unfeminine and inhumane, and example of how a Victorian lady ought not to behave. The author highlights that Jean Rhys tells a more complete story of "Bertha Mason" who in this story is really Antoinette, the first Mrs. Rochester. The paper states that, in this version, this character is not regarded as being a monster but rather is pitied. The author concludes that, in Rhys' novel, Mr. Rochester is the monstrosity because of his lack of humanity and compassion.
From the Paper "It shouldn't go without saying, however, that some critics believe "Jane Eyre" was before it's time in its view of the humane and inhumane. It is believed that perhaps Charlotte Bronte, despite a Victorian upbringing, was making a statement about her society's expectation and marginalization of women. In "Jane Eyre", Bertha Mason, despite being described as physically frightening, ghastly and intimidating, is not described as being cruel to the protagonist, nor is she described as having inhumane personal qualities. In fact, it is quite the opposite."
Abstract The paper discusses how Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" presents itself as a novel that lies well within the realist tradition. And yet, a closer reading suggests that Bronte is not quite as committed to realism as she initially appears to be, for we are presented with characters who are less individuals than they are archetypes. The paper also shows that we tend to read this novel as being necessarily a part of the realistic tradition because it so obviously rejects the romantic one. But an anti-romantic novel does not have to be a realistic one.
From the Paper "Because each of the characters violates Romantic expectations, they have tended to be read as Realistic characters, but a more careful reading of the ways in which gender is represented in the novel suggests that Bronte's strategy has all along been to create highly interpreted characters rather then particularistically limned individuals.
That the novel has a happy ending, for example, comes about directly as a result of the fact that Jane has proven herself to be an entirely angelic character. She is a chaste nurse, more the figure of a daughter than of a lover. She is unsophisticated, unknown in the ways of the world, a childlike figure. She is also dedicated entirely to Rochester; she seeks to have no identity of her own but through him. This is not, one need hardly say, a realistic portrait of an actual woman."
Abstract This paper argues that, in Charlotte Bronte's novel, "Jane Eyre", the institution of marriage functions as a Gothic "monster." Although marriage appears to be the desired resolution of the novel's plot, it in fact contains throughout an element of horror and threatens the destruction of both individual characters and societal order.
From the Paper "Charlotte Bront?'s Jane Eyre is, in its barest form, the story of the achievement of a marriage. Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester fall in love despite class and age differences; their union is impeded by the presence Rochester's mad wife; Jane flees, then returns, and at last, the first wife having killed herself, the marriage can take place and all can end happily. It is, on one level, a novel working towards and concluding in a conventional marriage plot: loose ends are neatly wrapped up, all of the Gothic elements that have troubled the novel seem to be expunged from it, and a certain conservatism is preserved. On closer observation, however, it becomes apparent that Bront? presents a far more troubled picture of the institution of marriage than this initial reading would suggest. Marriages and potential marriages abound throughout the novel, as expected in a text that draws on the genre of the domestic novel (among others), but they are almost universally problematic: with the exception of a few servant couples, there is no purely calm and happy marriage Bront?'s novel. In this multi-genre novel, marriage becomes the most Gothic of spaces, in fact nearly a Gothic monster, something that haunts the characters and the text itself, something both fled from and pursued, both feared and desired, a space of possible fulfillment but of more probable danger and horror. In Jane Eyre, marriage is invested with legal and social authority and necessity, but it is also presented as deeply problematic, both because of this social importance itself, and in the fact that, like all Gothic horrors, marriage endangers identity and threatens the dissolution of the self. Throughout the novel, and even in the apparent resolution at the end, marriage poses a Gothic threat both to the self and to the workings of the domestic sphere of which it should be the most basic and well-functioning unit."
Tags: 19th, autobiography, bertha, century, gothic, novel, rochester
Abstract This paper examines the striking similarities of the characters, Jane and Bertha in "Jane Eyre", and the underlying psychological messages Bronte places within the novel.
From the Paper "Another example of how Bertha serves as an outlet for Jane's repressed emotion can be seen when Bertha rips Jane's veil in half. It is interesting to note how this scene occurs after Jane is forced to try on dresses, secretly resenting the fact that Rochester is dressing her like a doll. Later she tells him that she does not want to give up governessing after they are married. She tells him, ?I will not be your English Celine Varens.? These scenes indicate how Jane wants to marry but only on her own terms."
Abstract In Bronte's "Jane Eyre", the characters Rochester and St. John Rivers represent the nature of oppositional conflict, as they affect its protagonist and narrator. Looking further at these characters, this paper reveals that we must look at Bronte's perspective through theories of narrative growth and character progression that temper her observations of secondary characters such as Rochester and St. John Rivers. The paper shows that Rochester represents an inquisitive side of Jane's imagination in the earlier part of the novel ,and his passionate nature reveals the story's secret after Jane is delivered, as it were, by St. John Rivers, who feeds and clothes her after she flees Thornfield House. Rochester and St. John Rivers work as sort of oppositional poles to the narrator in a confusing experience that involves preconceptions and mysteries about both men that she alternately seeks to
understand imaginatively and logically.
From the Paper "A common theme to be found in Jane Eyre is that of fire. This represents an uncontrollable and powerful force that is capable of providing both warmth and destruction. Jane describes Rochester in terms of fire after she is won over by his friendly and frank manner: "gratitude" made his face the object I best liked to see; his
presence in a room was more cheering than the brightest fire? (Bronte, p. 166). Fire is used to represent both destructive, scandalous passion and comfort in the novel. As a positive and self-determined female, Jane is able to differentiate from among many different kinds of metaphorical fire, seeking comfort without being burned. Others are
not so lucky: "master had been reading in his bed last night; he fell asleep with his candle lit, and the curtains got of fire" (Bronte, p. 176)."
Abstract The paper addresses several parts of the book, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," by Maya Angelou. The analysis discusses how these parts prove that racism has negative effects and show how to overcome racism. The paper analyzes specific quotes and includes the use of outside sources to back up these analyses.
From the Paper "Despite being "caged" in a horrible life of racial discrimination, she "sings" or prospers. In the Bible, Peter comes to realize that "God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right (New International Version Acts 10:34-35)." Peter realizes that prejudice is not highly looked upon by God. Regardless of a person's color, God loves them, and we should too. Maya proves in this book that racial intolerance has highly negative effects on people. To live a truly happy life, we should all learn to accept everyone, even those who are different."
Abstract This paper examines how Alejandro Amenabar uses symbols and foreshadowing in his movie "The Others" to keep the viewer interested until the conclusion and how he uses irony to show the viewer that his or her impressions about the movie may also be wrong. It also discusses how Amenabar hints that the characters are dead throughout the movie to keep the viewer interested in the conclusions he will draw.
From the Paper "Amenabar sets up the conflict in the movie as Grace's struggle between the answers that her religion has given her that should encompass all of human experience and the realization that these answers do not ring true in all cases. When Bertha tells her the truth of the situation, that the living and the dead are in contact with one another, Grace insists that this is not so because the Bible says that "the living and the dead will only meet at the end of Eternity" and that God "would never allow such an aberration" (Amenabar). Here she spouts the Church's accepted viewpoint even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Grace also places a lot of emphasis on the rosary (long associated with the Virgin Mary) and on "the Virgin" herself (Amenabar). While one could say that the Virgin is the ideal mother, the viewer later learns that Grace is certainly no ideal mother."
An analysis and comparison of the dominant husband's perception of insanity in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre".
Abstract This paper explains that insanity, in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", is symbolized by the anonymous narrator as an insidious force that is mostly ignored by the dominant husband, while in Charlotte Bronte's, "Jane Eyre", insanity is represented by Bertha Mason's behaviour as an evil force that must be dealt with by the dominant husband.
From the Paper "On the other side of the insanity spectrum there is Bertha Mason. While in the beginning Rochester too hides his wife from public view, like a dark secret, he does not illusion himself that his wife is only momentarily sick. In the end, Rochester publicly admits that his wife is really a monster. Rochester's revealing and confronting attitude regarding his insane wife is best illustrated by when he publicly announces during his second wedding that, "Bertha Mason is mad; and she came of a mad family; idiots and maniacs through three generations! Her mother, the Creole, was both a madwoman and a drunkard" (Bronte 326)! Even though the setting in Jane Eyre is also the nineteenth century, Rochester's ultimate approach to his wife's madness is very different from John's. When cornered, Rochester simply admits the truth and even shows his insane wife to everyone. Because of the two men's differing tactics concerning insanity each serves as a character foil for the other."
