When an individual is kept locked away from society for an extended period of time, said individual will rebel against his or her authority. In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, it becomes evident that Bertha Mason and Jane Eyre share similar hardships and personality traits with one another. They have comparable pasts and the same extreme nature of passion which lead to each of their rebellion. In the case of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, protagonist Jane is in the custody of her Aunt Reed for just under a decade, chastised by her cousins and beaten by her superior. During her painful years there, she develops a rebellious and passionate mentality. It wasn’t until Jane turns eighteen that she learns of her counterpart, Bertha, who represents …show more content…
Lack of interaction with the world ultimately lead to their rebellion. Jane is isolated from the rest of the outside world, even as a child; Bertha, similarly, barely sees the light of day in her years in the attic. Bertha represents Jane’s more animalistic and unreasonable side, which often nullifies her other, more sound mentality of reason. Jane expresses this raging passion in quarrels with her aunt, speaking of her lack of freedom, starting at the age of nine: “I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to visit you when I am grown up,” At such a young age, Jane recognizes how her aunt abuses her, and that one day she would have her own freedom, which is why she tells Mrs. Reed she would not see her again when she is older. Jane has a strong sense of independence early on and Bronte plays this up by having Jane speak of the future, and how she wants to be free from her family and not depend on them. There are only a few times in which Jane is so …show more content…
Bertha involuntarily ruins Jane’s marriage and impedes her happiness. Both women are disregarded and overlooked: Bertha (due to her delegation to an attic for a long period of time) and Jane, as a result of her class as a governess and orphan. As a child, Jane was often sentenced to the red-room - the room in which her Uncle Reed died - just as Mr. Rochester confined Bertha to the attic of Thornfield. After Jane’s traumatizing experiences with being locked away, rather than being frightened for the rest of her life, she became angry at the discriminatory actions of her aunt: “No severe or prolonged bodily illness followed this incident of the red-room: it only gave my nerves a shock, of which I feel the reverberation to this day.” (Chapter 3). Jane’s time spent in the red-room symbolizes Jane overcoming her struggle to gain freedom and independence. Her experiences in the room show how she overcomes the initial fear of the dark and ghosts, just as she defeats the feeling of being deficient; becoming more independent and passionate about her decisions and feelings. Although there were never “severe or prolonged bodily illnesses”, Jane states that she was in fear for a good amount of time after the “incident”, which leave a long lasting impression on someone as passionate as
"Jane," is a romance fiction story written by Mary Roberts Rinehart. In this story, we come across a female protagonist who displays the characteristics of a typical woman during the War period. This story has been analyzed by different literary critics as they try to describe the different point of views this story can lead one to believing. Jane shows qualities that can lead one to believing that she is hysteric, thus creating the theme of hysteria in relation to the domestic sphere. In contrast to this, Jane eventually breaks off from these norms and goes against the concept of angel in the house.
Mrs. Reed likewise separates Jane from the Reeds’ social circle by confining her to the nursery while her cousins spend their days in the drawing room (22) and calling Mr. Lloyd, the apothecary for “ailing servants,” instead of the family physician for Jane’s illness (15), thus placing her among the servants. However, the servants too reject Jane from their group—Miss Abbot told Jane that she is “less than a servant” because she does “nothing for [her] keep” (9). Jane thus
He goes off and sleeps with other women. Bertha who seems fully aware of the situation between Rochester reacts with anger, making her seem even more insane. Rochester took her mother’s affliction to have rubbed off on Bertha. According to him Bertha had become sexually
In order to find her home, Jane embarks on a journey of self-worth. Jane suffers through a childhood filled with hardship, abandonment, and severe authority figures. This lack of empathy from her relatives causes Jane’s independence to deteriorate. Jane seeks to gain a sense of stability after living a
When Jane meets Helen at Lowood school, Jane is amazed and confused at Helen’s ability to tolerate the abuse directed at her by the teachers. Both Helen and Jane struggle at the school however, Helen and Jane endure the mistreatment from the teachers individually. “I heard her with wonder: I could not comprehend this doctrine of endurance” (Brontë 6). Jane refuses to conform to the teachers complaints, her free
Jane dislocates herself from the society of her family, one that in a perfect world is every kid’s closest society. Jane’s dislocation results from a ¨lousy childhood¨ filled with a ¨booze hound running around the house naked, with Jane around¨ as a step dad (Salinger 32). Jane lives in the unfair situation where she grows up in an unstable home, and it alienates her from her family. Holden tells how Jane never spoke of her family situation, and that shows how she tried to isolate herself from the family and think about the situation as little as possible. Jane is alienated from her family, but she chooses to do it and feels it is best for her.
Jane describes Bertha as reminding her “of the foul German spectre—the vampire,” and Bertha’s brother, Mr. Mason, states that “she sucked the blood: [and] she said she’d drain [his] heart” (327, 246). By the time Jane meets Bertha, she is criminally insane. However, people often refer to her as cunning, which is a sign that she has not totally lost her mind.
Thus, the extreme difficulty to enter the room suggests a jail-like environment, corresponding to the Red rooms jail atmosphere. Bertha, even in isolated confinement, remains like a “strange wild animal” (338), suggesting that she is still untamed in terms of this harsh society. Bertha must be contained because she is not submissive. Bertha's situation is comparable to when Jane was sent to the Red Room because she fought against her cousin. Since Bertha's failure to conform continues as she ages, it highlights Jane's adaption into society.
Jane and Bertha Mason are doubles and to say otherwise is incorrect. Both Bertha and Jane go through some form of mistreatment or oppression at some point in the novel. When young Jane remained at Gateshead she was often abused by her cousin John Eyre; she had enough of him and fought back calling him a “wicked and cruel boy” (11) her retaliation was described by one of the maids as a “picture of passion” (11). As punishment she was locked into the Red Room. This parallels Bertha since she was locked into the attic for behaving like a “madwoman” in the eyes of Rochester.
(The Child of Nature, p. 621) Her perception of poverty will take an U - turn as she grows up. After Jane refuses to go to the Eyre’s, the doctor advises to attend school. Mrs. Reed takes it into consideration and arranges a meeting with the director of a school. She is happy to get rid of Jane especially after the red-room incident; Jane is not deemed as a family member, she is not eating together with the Reeds anymore, she is separated from the children and condemned to sleep alone in a closet.
Jane demonstrates to readers how she has suffered through her cousin’s anger and her aunt’s neglect to stop the abuse. Through Jane the reader is shown how even with all the suffering, Jane has her limits, even though she was submissive throughout the passage until the end. Jane’s point of view is important for the readers to know because the readers will understand what is happening to the character. In
Although Bertha’s “discoloured face” in Jane’s mirror is even more ghostly than that of the child Jane (p. 300), both appear to be a countenance that Jane has never seen. Bertha is, according to Rigney (1978), a distorted reflection of Jane’s propensity for passion, causing Jane to have lost her consciousness ever since her childhood trauma. Therefore, the staring reflection of Bertha in the glass which mirrors Jane’s and Jane’s reaction to Bertha’s appearance hint Bertha’s role in constructing Jane’s selfhood. In addition, Bertha who is imprisoned in an isolated room for her madness reminds the reader of the little Jane who is confined in the red-room as a punishment.
Throughout the Thornfield episode, Jane experiences not only terror but also horror, the two feelings being of feminine source as much as of a masculine source. Bertha creates such instances of both horror and terror in the wake of her night errands. For example, the first time Bertha manages to escape she attacks Rochester setting his bed on fire. Even though Jane is not directly affected, she does feel the terror as she hears Bertha’s “demonic laugh” and finds Rochester’s life in danger (Bronte 237). The situation calls her for action.
Jane is also able to stand up to her aunt before they are separated at Lowood. Ms. Reed tells the very religious headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane is a liar. Jane reacts by telling her she wants Ms. Reed to have no part in her life and that she will never call her aunt again. Ms. Reed had a large negative effect on Jane’s life by causing her to feel unwanted by being sent to Lowood and isolating Jane from the rest of her family. Jane is later able to face the Ms. Reed again, several years later on her deathbed.
The figure and the lady was representational of the Two Faces seen by Bertha. The hardest part of writing the story was creating the emotions Jane was feeling. I worried adding too much emotion would be untrue to Jane’s character since she was often plain and controlled, with only moment of outbursts or profound disobedience. The way I overcame this difficulty was referring to the voice and emotions she exhibited during her time in the red room. Another difficulty of writing my story was the overwhelming thoughts and details I created when pre-planning the paper.