Essay - Bertha Mason: Madwoman or Just Mad? Why, Jane, What Would...

Bertha Mason: Madwoman or Just Mad?

Why, Jane, what would you have?... You will stipulate, I see, for peculiar terms—what ***** they be?" only want an easy mind, sir... I shall continue to act as Adele's governess; by that ***** shall earn my board *****d lodging, and thirty pounds a year besides. I'll furnish my own wardrobe out of that money, and you shall give me nothing but—" it is your ti***** now, little tyrant, but it will be mine presently: ***** when once I have fairly seized you, to ***** and ***** hold, I'll just—figuratively speaking—attach you to a chain like this" (touching his watchguard).

In this brief, ***** telling, exchange the reader sees that ***** Eyre, after unwillingly allowing Rochester to buy her some new clothes, has grown uncomfortable with her changing status ***** im*****nt heightened dependency on Rochester. He insists she must have six new dresses, which she does not want. She persuades him to purchase only two, but he then announces he will choose them himself. Jane is unwilling ***** become completely dependant upon him. She ***** not want Rochester to dress her "***** a doll" (p. 297).

***** thinks "If I had ever so small an independency, if ***** had ***** a prospect of one day bringing Mr. ***** an accession of fortune, I could better endure to be kept by him now" (p. *****). We can conjecture that Rochester's relationship to h***** first wife Bert*****a probably started ***** in a similar manner—***** attr*****ion, excitement, affection, and generosity. Probably, he bought Bertha all ***** clothing, too, ***** lavished gifts ***** her. Perhaps Bertha did ***** feel ***** her identity was threatened until it was too late, and she was already married to him. In this essay, I will argue that Bertha ***** not insane, but an oppressed, possibly abused, woman who refused to subm***** to the societal norms of 19th century patriarchal society.

When we meet ***** in the s*****ry she is nearly always off-stage. She no longer uses language but is heard expressing herself in gurgling, moaning, ***** demonic laughs. On ***** night Bertha tries to kill Rochester by setting his *****d on fire, Jane hears "a snarling, snatching sound, almost like a dog quarreling." Because Bertha has been so ***** silenced and so **********t tell her side of the s*****ry, we can ***** see her through ***** eyes and behavior of others.

Rodas (2003) suggests that instead of seeing the madwoman as Jane's "alter ego" that acts out ***** secret fantasies, it ***** be fruitful to see Bertha as a reflection of her husband Edward Rochester. She points out that Rochester "may be seen as the distorted image of the lunatic" with the same hirsute body, flowing black hair, olive skin, full nostrils, and "flexible looking m*****h." Rochester is considered an ugly man and ***** Rodas points out, "identifies *****self with a variety of unpleasant creatures," such as, gnome, ogre, ghoul, and scoundrel. Bertha likew*****e is continu*****y portrayed as animalistic. *****t is not