Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason

Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason can be compared and contrasted easily by showing the way they act in various situations in the novel. There is also a significant difference between how they were raised and how they met Mr. Rochester. Jane was known as the girl who had many things to say but never voiced them. Bertha, on the other hand, would let everyone know what she was feeling by her actions. Both Jane and Bertha had some of the same feelings about how their life was at that time.

Jane was raised with her cousins by her aunt Mrs. Reed. While spending time at that residence, Jane was abused by her cousin John Reed. After finally fighting back with him, she was sent to the Red Room, where her uncle died. Bessie, the nurse that Jane took a liking to, would often visit her with food to eat. Mrs. Reed decided that it would be best if Jane was sent to Lowood, a religious boarding school for orphans.

During Jane’s time at Lowood, she experienced the cold winter, a lovely spring, and horrible deaths. Many of the girls at Lowood had gotten ill with an infection from the harsh cold weather and semi-starvation, including her only close friend Helen. Jane was lying in the same bed as her and wrapped around Helen as she took her lasts breaths and passed away. Jane also tells how after fifteen years, Helen’s grave gets a marble tablet that has her name and the word “Resurgam”.

As time passed, Jane became a teacher at Lowood and decided that she wanted more in life than what she was doing on a daily basis. Jane wrote an advertisement for her services in the local newspaper. After a while, Jane was contacted by the head servant at Thornfield Hall, Mrs. Fairfax, to be the governess of Adele Varens. When Jane arrived at Thornfield, she got to se...

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...conclusion, Jane and Bertha were both at once point connected to Mr. Rochester weather it be mentally and physically or on purpose by someone else. Jane grew up in a unhappy way but didn't let what had happened in the past completely take over her life. Bertha had troubles from the beginning and end up unhappy and insane causing her to end all of it. Both women have gone through challenging things from having mental diseases to finding out that the man that they love has a skeleton in the closet. But in the end Jane finally found the happiness that she needed in her life.

Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Signet, 1991. Print.

Griesinger, Emily. “Charlotte Brontë’s Religion: Faith, Feminism, and Jane Eyre.” “Christianity and Literature. 58.1 (2008) Web. 10 Nov. 2013.

. N.p.. Web. 20 Feb 2014. .