Essay on "Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte"

Essay 6 pages (1499 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Bertha in Bronte's Jane Eyre

The character of Bertha Mason is more than just another personality that adds drama to Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre. The character of Bertha becomes an outlet for Jane's suppressed emotions and an extension of her personality. Bertha becomes the women that Jane wishes she could be when things are out of control. When Jane cannot respond the way she would like, Bertha makes an appearance and expresses emotions that Jane cannot. Bronte strategically places Bertha near Jane so that she can be that extension and so that Jane can live vicariously through her. When Jane struggles over her feelings for Rochester, Bertha can react. Bertha also represents the side of Jane that longs to be free and independent of men. While she love Rochester, Jane lives in a man's world and she cannot always respond to it in the ways that Bertha can. Bertha becomes an extension of Jane's character in order for Jane's psyche to feel completed.

Bertha's character is an emotional outlet for the emotions that Jane does not allow herself to experience. Jane is accustomed to behaving in a prim and proper manner most of the time and we see this even when she discovers the truth about Bertha. She firmly decides to tell Rochester that she needs to leave and "begin a new existence amongst strange faces and strange scenes" (Bronte 333). She wants to leave him because her option is intolerable. She struggles, however, to get to this point. Earlier, she wavers even though she knows exactly what she should do. For example, she writes that she hears a "voice within in me averred that I could do it; and foretold that I should do it. I wrestle with my own resolution: I wanted to be weak and avoid the awful passage of further suffering I saw laid out for me" (326). Her struggle is too much for her at times because just a few lines later when Rochester wonders if Jane could ever forgive him she does so "on the spot" (326) without any regret or wavering. She does forgive him but it is only a matter of the heart. She still knows what she must do to carry on with her life but it does not make her any happier. Bertha is just the opposite of this prim and proper lady. She can do crazy things because she is unstable and she can be excused for that behavior. Jane never has that luxury. Bertha's appearance allows the conflict to surface.

In regard to Bertha's freedom of expression, she is rather lucky. She can exhibit weird behavior such as ripping Jane's veil and be forgiven because she is mad. However, this scene is placed strategically in the novel because it occurs after Jane has been forced to try on dresses. In this scene, she resents Rochester for treating her like a little doll and the ripped veil is a way that anger can be vented. While she does love the man, she does not want to lose her identity when she marries him. She even tells him that she has no intention of quitting her job after their marriage. Her mixed emotions need to be expressed and Bertha is the one through which she can live vicariously. Arnold Mackley agrees, noting how Bertha "acts out at least one of Jane's unconscious wishes when she comes into Jane's room on the night before Jane's wedding and rips up the wedding veil that Jane felt uncomfortable about wearing" (Makley). Jane is no doubt experiencing what every young woman in her day experienced - an internal conflict between love and a sense of identity. Bertha is unrefined enough to react without seeming unusual. Since Jane cannot react to Rochester's oppressive behavior, we see it in Bertha. Bertha is the raging voice that is heard railing against the discomfort. When the most Jane can do is tell Rochester that she will not be his, Bertha can react violently. When Jane tells him that it would be nothing short of wicked to obey him and decides to leave Thornfield, Bertha can burn the place down. Bertha has a slight advantage over Jane since she is crazy because she can get away with much more wild behavior. While her state of mind is nothing to be desired, it has a place in the novel and it drives the plot when Jane finds herself stuck in situations that require more than she… READ MORE

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