What is the significance of the character of Bertha Mason in the plot of Jane Eyre ?

What is the significance of the character of Bertha Mason in the plot of Jane Eyre ?

Jane Eyre is a progressive book in many senses – far ahead of its time, it is even deemed feminist. As she lived in a time when women were not encouraged to write, Charlotte Bronte wrote under the pseudonym Currer Bell to avoid being ostracized by society, and to avoid being badly received by the audience because the book was written by a ‘woman’.

Jane Eyre revolves around the life of a simple, ‘plain’ yet intelligent, orphaned girl who struggles with internal and external battles before she comes to accept that she loves her employer Mr Rochester, who is double her age, and from an upper class background. Her life turns upside down when she discovers, right before her wedding, that her lover has an ex-wife, a madwoman hidden in the attic, and flees – narrowly escaping from committing to a sinful relationship. Eventually, the madwoman, Bertha Mason, commits suicide, and Jane marries Mr Rochester.

Sure, Jane is a groundbreaking, rebellious character in literature and has been talked about everywhere, but in this article we will analyze the one character, which even though is absolutely essential to the plot, has no representation of her own – a character that has been termed ‘mad’, ‘violent’, and ‘crazy’. No prizes for guessing who! Bertha Mason, despite being so important to the plot of the story, interestingly does not have a single dialogue in her part. ................TO GET COMPLETE STUDY MATERIAL JOIN NSOU ENGLISH COACHING

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Milan Tomic

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