Bertha’s Function and Similarity with Jane in Jane Eyre

Bertha’s function and similarity with Jane in Jane Eyre

In Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason both inhabit an important role in terms of criticism against the conform role women used to have in Victorian England. Bertha Mason can be seen as an oppositional figure of Victorian standards for women, in regard to her gender and colonial background. She does not conform to the standards of either being a good wife or woman in England. Also Bertha is the “evil force” standing between Jane and Rochester’s happiness, functioning as a rival to Jane. Nevertheless both characters have similar characteristics. Furthermore, Bertha can also be seen as a foreboding element “as a signifier for tension” (Heller 49), of the failure of marriage or equality between Jane and Edward Rochester during the novel.

Bertha Mason is the rightful wife of Edward Rochester and is often described as a “madwoman” (Brontë 298 - the following numbers without author are regarded to Brontë). She is Creole and her Jamaican heritage is usually mentioned in a negative way:  “It was a discoloured face – it was a savage face […] the lips were swelled and dark […]” (281). The word “savage” also hints to Berthas colonial background, since it was quite common to refer to “savages” when mentioning colonised people. (E.g. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: “Kill those savages!”) It is possible to interpret her unusual heritage as a reason why Bertha was not fully accepted, even before she was locked up in the attic e.g. Rochester refers to her, that he had “found her nature fully alien to mine, her tastes obnoxious […] cast of mind common, low, narrow […] incapable of being led to anything higher” (303). This statement implies that because she is not English, her intelligence is viewed lower than the mental ability of an English man like Rochester. In addition, the imply that she is not capable of being led to anything higher, shows the thinking of Victorian people back then, when Europe “needed” to colonise other countries in order to “bring light to the darkness”.

Her physical appearance and strength is described as “[…] a big woman, in stature almost equalling her husband, and corpulent besides: she showed virile force in the contest […]” (291) which again, empathizes her unconformity with the English society. The fact that Bertha is the person holding Rochester back and is therefore the reason why Jane and Rochester cannot become happy during her presence, can also be read as a critic against her colonial background. Meaning, that the colonies could be the reason why England cannot be “happy” or “successful”. This theory would conform to the matter that Bertha is mad because of the inherited madness from her mother (303), which is also interesting, because only the female side seems to become mad whether the male side of the Masons family remains sane (E.g. Mr. Mason). This suggests that being “mad” was purely an illness of the female gender, which was also a popular idea in Victorian England. Furthermore, Rochester mentions that he has been “tricked” into marrying Bertha because of her beauty and wealth: “[…] and, I married her gross, grovelling, mole-eyed blockhead I was!” (303). This could also be a critic against colonies, hinting that England was “tricked” by the colonies beauty and wealth, which are eventually revealed to be more harmful than beneficial for Rochester or Britain, from the point of view of postcolonial critics.

Bertha and Jane are similar in their role of being unfit to the English society, their biggest difference is arguably the fact that Jane manages to control her inner self, whether Bertha is unable to do so. Moreover, Heller refers to Bertha as Janes “darkest double” (Heller 54), representing a “monstrous version of Jane[s]” (Heller 50) passion which she needs to suppress during her adolescence. It can be seen like Sigmund Freud’s theory of the three egos, Bertha being the more childlike “it” of Jane. In this sense, there are similar scenes in the novel regarding young Jane and Bertha. For example, Jane is locked up in the Red Room after her fight with John Reed: “Take her away to the red-room, and lock her in there” (13), they also consider to tie Jane to a chair “[…] you must be tied down” (14). Whereas Bertha really is tied down after her fight with Rochester “With more rope […] he bound her to a chair” (291). In this scene Jane is presented as a “miniature version of the monster of passion Bertha will later embody” (Heller 51), suggesting that Jane has to conform to rules at least on the surface, otherwise she could have ended up like Bertha. In a later scene Bertha tears Janes wedding veil apart (281), if one considers Bertha as Janes double or inner “it”, this action can be seen as a rebellion from Janes “darkest side” against conventional marriage, and also as the fear Jane possesses in losing her independence if she marries Rochester (Heller 53). When Jane tries on her wedding veil she sees: “[a figure] so unlike myself that it seemed almost the image of a stranger” (Heller 53). Additionally, Bertha represents the “worst case scenario” of being a married woman (Heller 50), she can be pictured as a victim of marriage in a man dominated world, since she had no choice when she married Rochester.