In Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, the author juxtaposes the representations of femininity of Bertha Mason and the title character to champion Bronte’s ideal conceptualization of independent women.
Coventry Patmore, a 19th century English poet, in his collection of poems entitled The Angel in the House, propounds his abstraction of a supposedly idealized relationship between men and women, with a specific focus on women’s responsibilities associated with romantic bonds. In “The Wife’s Tragedy,” Patmore asserts that “Man must be pleased; but him to please / Is woman’s pleasure” (1-2). During the first lines of the poem, Patmore establishes his argument that women are obligated to fulfill the whims of men and that all women so deeply dedicate
When Rochester informs Jane of the circumstances surrounding his marriage to Bertha, he inadvertently reveals that Bertha’s family so desperately wanted to marry her to a man of suitable status and wealth that Bertha was not necessarily given much choice in her future spouse. Bertha’s family allotted scant time for Rochester and Bertha to spend alone and the audience learns that Bertha showed symptoms of insanity gradually during the course of the first four years of her marriage to Rochester, suggesting that these characteristics emerged only after their union. This lack of time for the couple to interact privately may have been a result of the Masons’ indifference to Bertha’s attachment to her husband, rather than Rochester’s assumption of this being a manipulative measure of concealing any defects. When Rochester restricts Bertha to a hidden room on the third floor of Thornfield, she only gains short moments of freedom when Grace Poole, Bertha’s keeper, falls into a drunken stupor. Rochester locks Bertha as tightly in her secluded room as Jane is continuously locked into her subordinate life, and even in the literal prison of the red room. In this way, Bronte may intend the manic Bertha as an exaggerated distortion of Jane, should she continue to face similar
In lieu of the married Bertha fulfilling the feminine standards of an “angel of the house,” Bertha’s circumstances alter her into a “demon of the house” in her violent attacks and physical appearance. As Rochester approaches Bertha during his admittance of his first marriage, “the lunatic [Bertha] sprang and grappled his throat viciously, and laid her teeth to his cheek” (Bronte 381). Shortly after, Rochester explains to his audience that “Such is the sole conjugal embrace [he is] to know — such are the endearments which are to solace [his] leisure hours” (Bronte 381). In the second quotation, Rochester admits to desiring a wife that would perform some of the duties that Patmore outlines as a woman’s responsibility. By vocalizing his desire for a wife to hold and to amuse him with sentiments during his free time, readers can then deduce that Rochester expected Bertha to fulfill many of the same restrictive expectations that Patmore championed. In Patmore’s opinion, this type of relationship would result in “passionate duty love flames higher, / As grass grows taller round a stone” (Patmore 23-24). According to this depiction, the duty a woman faces in her relationship stokes the flames of her love for her husband. However, Bronte’s characterization of Bertha as beastly along with her many
Charlotte Bronte utilizes the character of Bertha Rochester to interrupt Jane’s potential happy ending with Mr. Edward Rochester. Bertha is announced by Mr. Briggs as a way to stop the wedding and it also shows how hopeless Jane’s situation is. “That is my wife “said he. ‘Such is the sole conjugal embrace I am ever to know—such are the endearments which are to solace my leisure hours! And this is what I wished to have,’” (312) and “’I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout,’” (312) are quotes that express Mr. Rochester’s reasons for trying to remarry while he already has a wife, meanwhile showing his disposition towards said wife. Had Mr. Briggs and Mr. Mason not been present for the ceremony, Jane may have lived happily in ignorance. Due to Bertha’s involvement however, Jane could never truly call herself Mr. Rochester’s wife. She says, “’Sir, your wife is living: that is a fact acknowledged this morning by yourself. If I lived with you as you desire—I should then be your mistress: to say otherwise is sophistical—is false.’” (323) This quote shows that as a result of Bertha’s exposure, Jane refuses to marry Mr. Rochester. The influence that Bertha’s brief debut had on Jane’s life was significant enough to hinder the growth of her relationship with Mr. Rochester.
...ment and realization that he has lost Jane to another man in the following dialogue between them, “’I know where your heart turns, and to what it clings. The interest you cherish is lawless and unconsecrated. Long since you ought to have crushed it: now you should blush to allude to it. You think of Mr. Rochester?’ It was true. I confessed it by silence. ‘Are you going t seek Mr. Rochester?’ ‘I must find out what is become of him.’ ‘It remains for me, then,’ he said, ‘to remember you in my prayers; and to entreat God for you, in all earnestness, that you may not indeed become a castaway. I had thought I recognized in you one of the chose. But God sees not as man sees: His will be done.’” (Bronte 436) Though Jane Eyre’s stay at Moor House and Morton were crucial for her recovery to stability of her life, she yearned to be at Thornfield and wedded to Mr. Rochester.
Mr. Rochester is irresistibly driven by his feelings. He carries a long history of ignoring sound judgment, including his hasty and unwise marriage to Bertha Mason because he "was dazzled, stimulated...[he] thought [he] loved her"(310), and his ensuing licentious, wandering life in search of pleasure. He has grown so accustomed to burying good sense, that he is able to completely disregard the fact that he still has a living wife with a clear conscience. Swept away by his feelings, he ignores the law, and tries to justify marriage to Jane. His passion often exceeds his control, like when Jane tells him she must leave Thornfield. "‘Jane! Will you hear reason? Because, if you won't, I'll try violence'" (307), he tells Jane desperately. Mr. Rochester deludes himself into the belief that he listens to sound judgment, but in reality, what he calls reason is simply folly born from his uncontrolled passions.
...o a madwoman. “May your eyes never shed stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine.” (ch 27 pg 342). Jane hurt so bad, her heart wrung tears. Although Bertha has inflicted pain upon Jane, she doesn’t retaliate; after Helen, Jane understood that it was not necessary to get revenge on those who hurt her. Even though Mr. Rochester wrongfully kept a deep, dark secret from her, she still loved him with her whole heart.
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre may be superficially read as simply a sweet romance in which Jane ends up with the man of her dreams after overcoming many obstacles and challenges. But doing so misses the much deeper—richer—messages of Bronte's lasting masterpiece. A more thoughtful reading reveals this novel, especially its heroine Jane, challenging centuries-old gender roles which assume male supremacy, characterizing men as the dominant, more privileged gender, while women are oppressed into inferior and submissive roles. Of course this Victorian novel portrays the expected gender roles of both men and women in 19th century England, but Jane rises out of the patriarchy challenging the social roles assigned her with a personality marked by sass and self-assurance . Ms. Bronte, through Jane, ultimately demonstrates that women can live their lives on equal terms with—or independent of—men.
Jane searches for independence, but gender hinders her in every stage of her journey. Troy faces similar complications. Jane’s gender ties her to specific roles in her work as a teacher or governess. She only watches children; she can only aspire to be an educator. Jane is smart enough and works hard enough to be an architect or scientist, but cannot due to her time. Such roles were not suitable for female occupation, and society decreases Jane’s chances to become financially independent. Gender also inhibits her ability to travel to India, since she cannot “be forever together-- sometimes in solitudes, sometimes amid savage tribes” with St. John (Brontë, 474). Jane’s outcry at this statement matches perfectly with her denunciation of dependence-
While isolation may help some with different processes of healing, or finding one’s self, it can also be quite maddening to be solitary for long periods of time. Since humans are social creatures it is imperative that we have some form of positive interaction with other humans. Bronte again examines her theme of solitude but from a darker perspective as she creates her character the estranged Bertha Rochester, wife of Jane’s love interest Mr. Rochester. Bertha is described rather negatively physiologically and behaviorally throughout the novel: “The maniac bellowed: she parted her shaggy locks from her visage, and gazed wildly at her visitors. I recognized well that purple face, --those bloated features…the lunatic sprang and grappled his throat violently, and laid her teeth to his neck: they struggled” (Bronte 71). Bertha was supposed to have lost her mind shortly after Mr. Rochester and she married, yet the fact that Mr. Rochester locked her in a room (while understandable since mental institutes at the time were nothing but torture chambers) did not aid in her health or betterment. Solitude can drive people to extremes, and while she is locked in that room she is described in a more monstrous and animalistic way than she is when out of the room as she “removed [Jane’s] veil from [her] gaunt head, rent it in two parts, and flinging both on
When assessing Jane, it is important to understand the “normal” and accepted role of Victorian women—to be married, or accept low paying chore-like jobs (such as housekeeping, service work, or factory jobs) (NEH). Unmarried women had little means or influence in society, and were considered lowly and unwanted. The ideal situation for a Victorian woman was therefore to be married, as little other options existed. Jane, having grown up in this time, is fully aware of this—however, she refuses to compromise any part of herself for a man or marriage. Rochester’s first marriage proposal may have been accepted, but as soon as Jane feels her integrity is threatened—when Bertha Mason, Rochester’s first wife is revealed—she leaves him with a certainty and nerve that downplays exactly what she is giving up – the option of a comfortable, wealthy life. Unperturbed, Jane would rather face the world head on, experiencing truly what society has to offer a woman with no husband or family—starvation and near death, “Oh, this spectre of death! Oh, this last hour, approaching in such horror! Alas, this isolation—this banishment from my kind!” (Bronte, 356). Jane feels rejected from society after her refusal to marry because of the intense pressures on women in that time, and while she could’ve chosen to return to Thornfield manner, where the devoted Rochester waited, Jane does not. She would prefer to die than give up
Rochester specifically mentions that Bertha's family wished for him to marry Bertha because of his "racial" superiority. "Her family wished to secure me because I was of good race, and so did she" (ch 27).
In the outstanding novel of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, the story is told of a romantic heroine named Jane Eyre who pursued independence during an era in which women were inferior to men. Jane proved her independence by demanding self-respect, becoming socially independent, and pursuing true love based on equality.
From the time Jane is held in the red-room and Bertha being detained as one of Rochester’s “prisoners” in the attic, Brontë creates a similarity between Jane and Bertha from their furies manifesting deep within themselves as being another token of oppression within a patriarchal society. Both females live within the same circumstances of a restriction-filled male-controlled time; their responses to these circumstances, however, make them adverse counterparts. While Bertha kindles a fiery wrath toward her oppressor, Jane must learn to contend with her anger so that she will ultimately be free to live a life of true equality and love with Rochester. In the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë draws distinct similarities between the red-room and
Rochester’s father and brother. Leading up to this point in the novel, Bertha is discovered and Mr. Rochester explains to Jane why he doesn’t consider himself married. He tells Jane that when he found out that his wife was mentally ill, he went to his family but, “My father and brother Rowland knew all this; but they thought only of the thirty thousand pounds, and joined in the plot against me” (p. 306). In other words, Mr. Rochester asserts that his father and brother were conspiring against him to gain access to Bertha’s dowry proving they’re blinded by “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”; which they believe is only achievable with money.
Charlotte Brontë composed her novel Jane Eyre during the Victorian era; a period of history where Patriarchy set the expectations of men and women. The effect of this social system resulted in women suffering discrimination simply because of their gender. Sigmund Freud, in his essay entitled, “The Relation of the Poet to Day-Dreaming,” articulated that women were only capable of having erotic wishes dominate their “phantasies,” and even their ambitious “phantasies” were rooted in erotic wishes (177). The predominating thought concerning women during this era was that, due to their nature, longed to marry—tending to the needs of her household. Those who were not fortunate enough to marry (due to appearance or social status) were to become governesses. Ms. Brontë, through her protagonist Jane Eyre, clearly depicts the struggles of an indigent young woman who is forced into near slavery. This tale is articulated well by Adrienne Rich in her essay entitled, “Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Woman,” when she states that Jane wants to “choose her life with dignity, integrity, and pride” (471). Even though Charlotte Brontë depicts a woman who will not be bound by the mores of her society, she is not so exuberant as to have her protagonist proclaim “I am woman, hear me roar.” The toning down of Jane’s demeanor can be attributed to satisfaction of the critics, but Brontë also expresses that the societal expectations, or the patriarchal rights of men, produced a similar negative effect on men. From John Reed and his self-righteous attitude, to Rochester’s internal battle in regards to the treatment of women, Charlotte Brontë demonstrates that sexism—inherent in a patriarchal society—has an adverse affect on both men and women.
Edward Rochester, the owner of the Thornfield estate and the later romantic interest of Jane, also has dynamic emotional relationships throughout this Bildungsroman novel. Rochester, a powerful but unusual man, uses his authority to assert his position through his relationship with both Bertha and Jane Eyre. Bertha, his first wife, with whom he has an arranged marriage, involves an association that primarily revolves around preserving
Women, in all classes, were still living in a world which was misogynistic and male-dominated. Their purpose in life was to produce male heirs and maintain the home by hiring and overseeing servants. It was also taboo for one to marry significantly below one’s social class. This is one reason that Jane is not a conventional heroine for the society of her time. Although, as a governess, she is not considered to be as low as a housemaid, she is still part of the hired help in the house. This is why it is unconventional for her and Mr Rochester to be in a relationship. Yet this is not as peculiar as how Jane Eyre ends their relationship due to her sense of betrayal. It would have been considered extremely foolish for a working-woman’s sense of betrayal to end and turn down a man of great wealth.