Bertha Mason is the ghost that haunts Thornfield at night. When the sun goes down and the house falls asleep, she rises to explore the house that she is locked within, and yet outside of, by daylight. She roams the corridors, peeping into rooms to take a whiff of the domestic life that she is shunned from. She exists on the threshold of sanity, domesticity, even personhood. This is a character that is simultaneously locked inside of the walls of the mansion and discounted from the everyday domestic life of the household. In the domestic narrative of Thornfield Hall, she also represents the liminal, closeted, purely private corners of the household. Bertha Mason’s spatial displacement in the domestic layout of the house is also reflective of the liminality of her character in Jane and Mr. Rochester’s romance narrative. The spaces that she inhabits in Thornfield Hall, as seen in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, illustrate the private sequestrated spaces in the household and the implications they have on the functioning of the Victorian family.
Thornfield Hall is described by the newly-arrived Jane as having “proportions not too vast, though considerable,” and as forming a “cozy and agreeable picture.” It is situated a little ways from a populous town yet distanced by woods enough to render it inaccessible in the winter. Mrs. Fairfax is introduced to Jane in a “snug, small room [...] a large cat sitting demurely at her feet,” suggesting “the beau ideal of domestic comfort.” (81) However, when Jane explores the house with Mrs. Fairfax later that night, she notes that the galleries and stairs in the house contain a “very chill and vault-like aspect, suggesting cheerless ideas of space and solitude.” She n...
... middle of paper ...
...Each house strikes a unique balance between the private and the public, and this is the balance that perhaps dictates the relationships within the house. Thornfield Hall, despite its immaculately designed segregations, was ruined because of this bipolar split within the household. Therefore, the architecture of a house and the designation of space in homes can have unavoidable effects on the lives of the members of these households.
Works Cited
Rhys, Jean, Judith Raiskin L., and Charlotte Brontë. Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.
Brontë, Charlotte, and Richard Dunn J. Jane Eyre: An Authoritative Text. New York: Norton, 2000. Print.
Tange, Andrea Kaston. Architectural Identities: Domesticity, Literature and the Victorian Middle Classes. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2010. Print.
Stevenson, J.J. House Architecture. London: Macmillan, 1880.
In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa Dalloway undergoes an internal struggle between her love for society and life and a combined affinity for and fear of death. Her practical marriage to Richard serves its purpose of providing her with an involved social life of gatherings and parties that others may find frivolous but Clarissa sees as “an offering” to the life she loves so well. Throughout the novel she grapples with the prospect of growing old and approaching death, which after the joys of her life seems “unbelievable… that it must end; and no one in the whole world would know how she had loved it all; how, every instant…” At the same time, she is drawn to the very idea of dying, a theme which is most obviously exposed through her reaction to the news of Septimus Smith’s suicide. However, this crucial scene r...
Upon entering Thornfield Hall, Jane Eyre observed unusual occurrences in the household that sparked the reader’s attention to the secrets of some of the attendants. After an incident resulted in Mr. Rochester’s room catching on fire, he convinced Jane that the person behind the outburst was Grace Poole. What Edward Rochester failed to indicate was that Grace was not responsible for the mishap that day, but that she was only a seamstress and played a little part in the events of that evening. Another mishap occurred in
Connected to the somber image of the town, The house is described with harsh diction such as “streaked with rust”, depicting the years of neglect. Affected by abuse, Petry describes the house as stained with “blood” in the form of rust. Despite the harsh outer layer, Lutie is drawn to it as her figurative and literal “sign”of refuge. A town that had been nothing but cold to her is finally seen as warm from the words on the sign; describing the house as “Reasonable” and open to “respectable tenants”.
When Jane arrives at the summer estate with her husband, a physician of some repute, she immediately begins to fantasize that the location is haunted, at the least strange, she can “feel it” (479). We begin to see that something is occurring with her mentally, that possibly she is the one feeling strange. “This is our first intimation that all is not right, though whether with the house, or with Jane, we have yet to be told. However, the fact that she tells us at the beginning that this is not a haunted house, suggests that the "queerness" will lie with her” (Kerr). This is again reinforced in the next lines when she confesses that she get “unreasonably angry” with her husband (479). She is sure that she “never use to be this way” (479). This is the effects of her suffering from postpartum depression, finally falling under a psychosis by story’s end.
The house is described as, “The most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people” (251). However, Jane’s delusion is just that, a delusion encrypted by her mind to have her think she is living in quiet luxury. She goes on to talk about how the bed is nailed down to the floor, the walls are covered in scratches, the windows are barred, and there are rings in the walls. Obviously, Jane, despite being told by her husband that she is fine, is slowly beginning to lose sight of reality. The reader should know at this point that this “mansion” is nothing short of an insane asylum John has taken Jane to so she can rest and calm her troubles. But Jane and John’s troubles are only beginning when she is forced to sit in solitude with the awful yellow
Supernatural values and natural imagery are a major theme throughout Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre. This essay will examine the representation of natural and supernatural values that play an integral role in developing the story in Jane Eyre.
There is no doubt in the fact that motherhood has changed throughout history in the way that it is practiced and perceived. Although hard to classify motherhood as an "easy" task in any time period, mothers of the Victorian period were among those who have had it the hardest. For example, Natalie McKnight, author of Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels, states: "When I first began studying the lives of Victorian women, I sympathized with the many women who suffered through the agonies of labor only to die shortly after the baby was born. As I continued my research, I began to feel more sympathy with those who survived" (McKnight 1).
... destroys Thornfield. While Jane lives at Thornfield the place is consistent with a "ridge of lighted heath, alive, glancing and devouring" as her passion for love and kindness is fulfilled by Mr. Rochester. The place then dies when she leaves, and is still "the same ridge, (just) black and blasted after the flames are dead" when Bertha burns it down.
-Ellen G Friedman, Breaking the Master Narrative: Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, in Breaking the Sequence: Women’s Experimental Fiction. Princeton University Press, 1989,
Brennan, Zoe. "Reader's Guide: Bronte's Jane Eyre." Ebrary. Continuum International Publishing 2 2010. Print. April 28, 2014
Rhys, Jean, and Judith L. Raiskin. "Wide Sargasso Sea." Wide Saragossa Sea: Backgrounds, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. 3-112. Print.
Jane spends her first 10 years of her life at Gateshead Hall, a lavish mansion. She lived with her Aunt, Mrs Reed, and three cousins, Eliza, Georgina and John. During her time in the mansion she wouldn't dare argue with the mistress, and fulfilled every duty. Jane is deprived of love, joy and acceptance. She is very much unwanted and isolated.
The development of Charlotte Bronte's character, Jane Eyre, becomes vital to her novel Jane Eyre, and the other characters in which she is involved. She is an intelligent, plain featured, honest young girl whose reaction to her situations brings more depth to her personality. She is forced to deal with oppression, discrimination, and at times poverty, which disrupt her strong will, dignity, and desire for freedom. At the beginning, Jane possesses a passion for pride and the idea of freedom and these characteristics, along with her integrity, are tested continuously throughout the novel by the many personalities with whom she encounters. Living in a male dominant world Jane is expected to remain obedient and docile and her passion sometimes keeps her from being able to do this. She is a rarity among obeying female characters and we see this throughout the book.
Gill, L. (2007). The Princess in the Tower: Gender and Art in Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre"
This detailed description shows Jane’s dedication to her decision to leave Thornfield, and allows the reader feel as if they are with her in the moment. The sequence conjures up strong imagery, which the reader is likely familiar with, such as the sight of early dawn. The locked gates suggest both a sense of confinement and security within Thornfield. Such a layering of small details and observations creates the sense of realism that is characteristic of classic Victorian realist literature.