Both of them have this erotic, romantic relationship with Rochester. Richard Mason appears, confirming this evidence, and Rochester admits that he had planned to commit bigamy. Dark Doubles in Jane Eyre While some critics regard Bertha Mason (Mrs. Rochester) as a mere ‘plot device’ in Brontë’s text – an obstacle to Jane’s happiness who must be excised from the narrative before closure can be achieved – others have argued that Bertha may be seen as Jane… The sense that somewhere hidden in the secure domestic home is a back story and an otherness that must be confronted and which can come out and get you in the middle of the night. Bertha and Mr. Rochester live together in Jamaica for a few years after. Upon leaving college, Rochester was persuaded by his father to visit the Mason family and court Bertha. She's everything she fears, she's this monstrous, grotesque, bestial, obscene kind of figure. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys expands on the story of Bertha and Richard Mason, who plays a major role in this novel, too. Since she has no control and no outlets, she appears to only communicate through her violent—and vengeful—acts. It's also that, you know, they're both outsiders, they're both marginalised. And that's there, absolutely the centre of the book, with, in some ways, the most famous character in it, the mad woman in the attic. How do you react to Bertha's character? Character Role Analysis Bertha Mason to Jane Eyre Bertha and Jane only meet face-to-face twice, and they never have any conversations, but, as Rochester’s two wives and as the two higher-class-than-the-servants residents of Thornfield, they’re still odd doubles of one another. In the novel, Mason was the former wife of Edward Rochester and she was kept locked up in the attic because she was ‘mad’. Jane's imprisoned early on in the red room, we later find Bertha imprisoned in Rochester's house. Jane settles in with her new family at Moor House; 30. Bertha symbolizes all things Gothic in the story. Later in the novel, Jane sees Bertha’s burning passionate nature and it warns her that she will only become the maniac that Bertha has if she follows her passion and her temptation for her one love Mr. Rochester. She's everything she fears, she's this monstrous, grotesque, bestial, obscene kind of figure. Of course, in another way, she's exactly the opposite - she's the other to Jane. So, often when she talks to Rochester, you notice that there's a whole way in which they keep talking about slavery. Text - With special thanks to John Bowen. Get Essay It passed off in a clamorous peal that seemed to wake an echo in every lonely chamber; though it originated in one…” (Bronte 114) Bertha’s eerie laughs foreshadow the dark events to come at Thornfield. Jane Eyre’ is hard to categorize into a genre. A doctor diagnoses Bertha eventually, claiming that she is suffering from the beginnings of insanity. Get Your Custom Essay on Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre Just from $13,9/Page. ©2021 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mr. Rochester’s father had arranged and pushed … Near the end of the novel, Bertha sets fire to Thornfield and kills herself by jumping off the roof. Bertha Mason. She is described as being of Creoleheritage. Log in here. Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Bertha Mason Biography: A closer look She is one of the imaginary charms in Jane Eyre, the novel written by Charlotte Bronte in 1847. But at the same time, when you get down to the detail, it's much more subtle, I think, and that clearly she does fear that she might become rather like a slave.00:01:34:17Text - Slavery and imperialism.00:01:45:24PROFESSOR JOHN BOWEN:So, often when she talks to Rochester, you notice that there's a whole way in which they keep talking about slavery. She first sets fire to Mr. Rochester’s bed, which Jane luckily catches before he is burned alive. Her mother had been placed in an institution, and her younger brother had mental disabilities. She is the “madwoman in the attic,” reduced to unimportance and placed far away from others. Jane Eyre: who is Bertha Mason? Unlike Jane, she cannot learn, grow, or leave Thornfield. And it's associated with madness, with haunting, hallucinations and with fear. Bertha Mason, who is really Bertha Rochester (Mr. Rochester 's legal wife), has gone insane and been locked up by her husband in the attic of the house. And you see them exploring here in the medical literature and then working it through in the novel, what are the bodily signs and symptoms that we need to be most attuned to, what will it tell us about the status of our minds or of our bodies, how diseased they are or how healthy they are? Later she was been locked by her man in a room in Thornfield Hall. When Bertha sets fire to Mr. Rochester’s bed, she’s taking revenge for her maltreatment. She is only visible in what seem to be ghostly apparitions: gazing at Jane as she lies in bed or attempting to set fire to Rochester's bed 3. Last Updated on November 19, 2020, by eNotes Editorial. 15 years ago in Jamaica, Rochester married a Creole woman, Bertha Mason, who still lives in …