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Bertha Mason Biography: A closer look

She is one of the imaginary charms in Jane Eyre, the novel written by Charlotte Bronte in 1847. Being the first spouse of Edward Rochester, ferocious and unreasonable are the appeals described of her. Later she was been locked by her man in a room in Thornfield Hall.

Antoinette Cosway, in Wide Sargasso Sea “Bertha Mason” is revealed as being a fabricated name for Antoinette Cosway. In order to provide jolt and evolution to the advancement of the storyline the secretive and knotty character of Bertha Antoinetta Mason is placed in the life of Rochester and Jane.

The virile of the night beast’s oddity is depicted by Bertha who strolls Thornfield Hall at night and fleeces during the day. Bertha is left shorn of a voice and in place of it is a growl Richard Mason is the brother of Bertha, who is never portrayed in any way as beast like. Moreover, he is canned like an English gentleman which becomes more interesting, because he comes from the same family line as Bertha.

In literary criticism, Bertha has become particularly famous because her situation which supplied the title and vital theory of a foremost book of feminist criticism The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination written by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar in 1979.

We also see that for the encroachment of feminist’s rights the character of Bertha is find the middle ground. Also, Bertha’s race and self-worth are being sacrificed for the sake of the feminist movement.

Bertha Mason, Edward Rochester’s first wife the madwoman from the attic from Jane Eyre. Read about the character Helen Burns in Jane Eyre.. Read about the character Helen Burns in Jane Eyre.

 

Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre and Wild Sargasso Sea

The mark in literary history was made by Charlotte Bronte through Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys through Wilde Sargasso Sea.the character of Jane in Jane Eyre is dual darked with the oddity of Bertha Mason, in Mad Women in The attic by several literary critics.

But studies naked that the character of Bertha is not at all the dark side of Jane’s.
In Jane Eyre. The character Bertha Mason who is desperate and nasty is locked by her husband in the attic at Thornfield.

In the novel, she is being portrayed as an obstacle to Jane’s marriage.in order to add a melodramatic effect, Bertha is shown as heartless. Several critics have presumed this to be the desire and wrath of Jane. Bertha is made to face the coercion of women as well as male domination.

In Jane Eyre

Most of the portrayal of Bertha is known through Rochester. In the words of Rochester, Bertha is styled as low, tapered and incapable of being led to anything upper singularly. Also stating her nature to be uncivilized and impure. Bertha turns out to be a victim of colonialism as she was a white Creole.

Thus we can conclude that in Jane Eyre Bertha is racial unfairness, more of patriarchy and colonialism.

In Wilde Sargasso Sea

The story in Wilde Sargasso Sea is quite a recreation, as it is from the viewpoint of Bertha. in Wilde Sargasso Sea Bertha is not Bertha as in Jane Eyre, but Antoinette.

A very sparkling creole bubbling with her own moods and love.no longer horrible and mad as the woman in the attic.antionette is described as a vain silly woman by Rochester when their relationship goes in unfriendliness. She is brought back to England; sealed in dark and cold attic for ten years.

Through feminism, the story of Bertha Mason was rebuilt. The character of Rochester is of an antihero in Wilde Sargasso Sea, while it is opposite in Jane Eyre. The double standards of Rochester and the society made Bertha a quarry.

How long was Bertha in the attic?

Bertha Mason was sealed in the attic for ten long years and like some wild animal goes cracked. When Jane is locked in the red room just for five minutes, she anomalies out completely.to spoil Rochester’s plan of remarrying, Bertha snitches around at Thornfield at night.on the other hand Jane snitches around Thornfield at night in order to spoil the plan of Rochester of using her as two-timing.

Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason compare and contrast

In the way they both acted in the novel can help the readers to compare and contrast between Jane and bertha.there also comes the way in which they grew up and also how the met Mr Rochester.

Jane was known to be a girl who never voiced anything no matter how much she wanted to say them.and if we see Bertha, she was a girl who with all her actions let everyone know what was she feeling.feelings of the life at that time of Jane and Bertha was almost same.

Jane and Bertha were actually quite similar. if the incendiary potential of a woman was represented by Bertha’s madness then there is a full possibility of Jane being ending like Bertha. Although Jane had good fortune and more desirable to Rochester and here escapes the fate of Bertha mason.

Where is Bertha mason from?

The scorn of the family Bertha Mason, young beautiful women with mental illness and violent outbursts. A very little is known of Bertha mason before the insanity.

Bertha Mason was the only daughter of the very wealthy family living in Spanish town.described of being Creole heritage she was married to a landowner Mr Rochester by her father and brother just to get rid of her.

Most of her are known through her husband only who remains unhappy. The wedding was planned in a clever way. Rochester was not allowed to see much of Bertha before marriage.

And as expected Bertha refused to help Rochester. As a result, she was locked in a room. Berytha was famous for her beauty and she was the pride of the town in the words of Rochester.

 

Bertha-Mason-figure

Richard Mason; brother of Bertha Mason

A weak-willed man, Richard Mason.in some way he gets to know the plan of Rochester being marrying again to Jane and arrives at Thornfield. He came to spoil the wedding and reveal all the truth.

He is beaten and stabbed by his own sister Bertha when he goes to her room alone during his visit to Thornfield. Richard arrives with the solicitor Briggs in order to spoil the wedding.

What does Bertha Symbolize?

In Jane Eyre, Bertha Mason has specified an intricate manifestation. Impending happiness of Jane and also catalysing the self-understanding growth of Jane. An unsureness and dread are added to the plot and the ether with the surrounding mystery of Bertha.

Bertha Mason also saw serving as a remnant and reminder of youthful liberalism of Rochester. One major symbolic picture of Bertha could be of “trapped” Victorian wife. Allowed not to travel or labour outside the house. With time becoming more feverish, seeing no way out for her obstruction and fretfulness.

Secondly, Bertha could also be seen as Jane’s expression of the intuitive feelings, specifically of her temper counter to the repressive social and gender standards.no denying, Jane announces her love for Rochester, on the other hand, she also fears secretly marrying to him. Jane also thinks to shout of the rage against the captivity it could grow into.

Jane Eyre

The essential element of Jane’s personality is artistic and educational, still, she felt the need to assert her identity through rebellion.” rebel slave” is what Jane refers to herself in the opening chapters of the novel. Also all over the story, she does battle with the forces, that preclude her from finding the looked-for contentment.

The first person reporter, Jane Eyre narrates incidents from her doomed childhood, offensive relatives, the Stalks, to her idyllic marriage to Rochester.” a tale my imagination created . . . that I desired and had not in my actual existence.”

The lines of Jane shows how she uses to escape from her unhappy domestic situation with her stories and imaginations; landing into the world away from all troubles. Stories for Jane is an escape from real life. Blunt, truthful, and lacking in personal arrogance, she often provided a prototypical of proper English womanhood.

Not only discarding old-style views of the class, but Jane also pours scorn on society’s efforts to control the activities of women. active hunts and intellectual inspiration are necessary for women in the same way as men.

What illness did Bertha Mason have?

Rochester had journeyed to the West Indies and it was the time when he was made known to Mason when she was in her late twenties. Rochester and Mason were engaged quickly for financial reasons and just after the wedding Rochester got to know of the family history of Mason’s being idiots and freaks through three generations.

For the period of the first four years of their marriage, Rochester describes her ‘cast of mind’ in which occurred dreadful findings. Initially, Bertha was described with appropriate conduct. She pleased Rochester and also had lavishly shown for her allures and endeavours for his desire.

Rochester describes an accelerating illness when Bertha Mason was in her early thirties. He says ‘her character ripened and developed with frightful rapidity.’ This portrayal of an advanced familial disorder along with social and cognitive drop with violent movements is moreover similar to Huntington disease included and described long before in Huntington’s original essay.

Is Grace Poole Bertha Mason?

A screech, mid-age and red-haired retainer are Grace Poole. She works like a retainer and prison guard for the foolish Bertha Mason at Thornfield. Bertha would effortlessly escape from the prison due to the drinking and lack of attention of Grace Poole.

Prison guard-Grace Poole

The character of Grace Poole is portrayed in such a way that both Jane, as well as the readers, are side-tracked by it. For all the enigmatic happenings, Grace is made in charge. She is also made accountable for the laugh that happens on the third floor and for fiery Rochester alive.

Firstly for all the depravities of Bertha Mason in the house, the blameworthiness was straight given to the nursemaid that is Grace Poole. With all these we come to know that Grace Poole is not Bertha Mason, she is just the prison guard.

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