Bertha is rejected by the man who was supposed to love her. The book purports to tell antoinettes side of the story, as well as rochesters, and. Rochester clearly sees her as responsible for her own situation. Rochester claims that she was drunken and promiscuous and that her excesses. Jane eyre is a progressive book in many senses far ahead of its. But, he promises them all, jane is completely ignorant of berthas existence. Even her seeing a shadow of a woman in her rooms is, according to rochester, part of her dream. The most wellknown and problematic character in jane eyre is rochesters first wife, who is almost always referred to by her maiden name of bertha mason.
On the wedding day however, jane is finally told of rochesters wife bertha living in the north tower. Rochesters wife throughout most of charlotte brontes jane eyre. Bertha mason is a fictional character in charlotte brontes 1847 novel jane eyre. Culture the book that changed jane eyre forever bbc. 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 described as the violently insane first wife of edward rochester, who moved her to thornfield hall and locked her in a room on the third floor the 1966 parallel novel wide sargasso sea by jean rhys serves as a prequel to brontes novel. He does not consider himself to be married to bertha because. Charlotte fell in love with an unattainable man constantin heger. Bertha rochester has always been a fascinating character for me.
Bertha is kept prisoner in a lonely house on the english moors. Bertha mason full name bertha antoinetta mason is a fictional character in charlotte brontes 1847 novel jane eyre. For charlotte bronte, bertha seems to become a strange kind of alterego. The speaker explains that he is a solicitor from london, and he introduces himself as mr. Before we actually find out about bertha masons existence, we are aware of her as an uneasy and even threatening presence. In giving a voice and an identity to mr rochesters first wife, antoinette aka bertha, the madwoman in the attic the novel has become a. I dont know if jane eyres bertha rochester really is a baddie. Bertha mason, edward rochesters first wife the madwoman from. Bertha antoinetta mason, a creole woman he married fifteen years ago in jamaica. Susan gubar who were so taken by this idea that they called their classic book after her.
Many critics have decried brontes delineation of bertha as both a racist and insensitive portrayal of insanity. Rochesters first wife, a oncebeautiful creole woman who is ravaged by mental illness and is hidden away, locked up in a lonely room at thornfield. He tells jane that bertha came of a mad family, with a mother who was a. Why is rochester s wife bertha so often referred to as bertha mason shouldnt it be bertha rochester. A portrait of bertha mason rochester, the madwoman of my favourite book, jane eyre.