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... Charlotte Bronte’s character Bertha Mason from the novel Jane Eyre is a perfect representation of how women were thought of in Victorian society. I intend to describe Victorian society’s views on madness and why women were thought of to be most likely to suffer from it while also describing the madwoman, Bertha Mason, from Bronte’s Jane Eyre and how she represents how a woman fits into the stereotype of women in Victorian society. ... Rochester and Jane Eyre are representatives, Bertha Mason is insane. ... Rochester admits that there was nothing wrong with Bertha, per se, when he married her, telling Jane, "this was no lie. ... By drawing comparisons between Jane and Bertha we see that the real root of Berthas madness is Rochester himself, and therefore, Victorian ideas of how a woman should live and act on a daily basis.
Jane understands the misunderstandings that can lead to a diagnosis of madness because of her experiences at Gateshead and so she sympathizes with Bertha stating that Rochester is "inexorable for that unfortunate lady: you speak of her with hate, with vindictive antipathy. ... Both Jane and Bertha are forced with confinement, but Jane is able to succeed and be defined as "sane" because she is able to adapt to the system. Rochesters behavior is socially acceptable by the Victorians and yet Jane criticizes him because she can see that perhaps Bertha’s moral weaknesses were correctable as were hers.
Approximate Word count = 1286
Approximate Pages = 5.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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