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Terézia Záborská

Grauzľová

British literature I

29.12.2022

Significance of Bertha’s character in Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë’s 19th-century novel Jane Eyre presents us with several unforgettable and

remarkable characters, introducing their inner world of emotions, desires, and unique

personalities. In this essay, I primarily focused on the character of Bertha, the runic creature,

the ghost of Thornfield, and by far the most outstanding element of Gothic in the novel. The

significance of Bertha’s character can be perceived in terms of her resemblance and

connection to other characters, which work as Charlotte Brontë’s social commentary and

criticism of patriarchal social conventions of the 19th century, and her role within the plot.

Charlotte Brontë presents us with social issues regarding the perception of women’s

roles within the concept of social classification. Bertha works as a threatening example of

how women could feel in marriage in the 19th century. Her condition and Rochester’s

treatment can represent the very circumstances many women ought to endure. Even though

both Jane and Bertha are victims of the patriarchal system, they differ in the way in which

they accept their roles as women. Bertha acts in an open rebellion against marriage

conventions. There is a symbolic scene where Bertha rips the wedding veil. This is a violent

protest and objection against women’s roles and social status in the Victorian Era.

Bertha appears to be in total opposition to Jane, however, after closer observation, we

can identify their resemblances, for they are acquaintances in their similar passionate, fierce,

and vivid personalities. Cass states that Bertha literally and figuratively shadows Jane
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throughout the novel (202). Gilbert and Gubar interpret Bertha as Jane’s “avatar”, who acts

out the heroine’s secret fantasies and desires (359), and indeed, we can feel the passionate

personality of Jane, her desire for affection within the story, as well as her violent impulses.

For instance, Jane acting as a “mad cat” (Brontë, p. 6) at the Gateshead makes the first

revelation of her violent personality, encountering her true darks-self. Even later in the novel,

she states “am I a monster?” (Brontë, p. 267). In the red room, seeing her reflection, she

describes herself as “the strange little figure…with white face…like one of the tiny phantoms,

half fairy, half imp…” (Brontë, p. 8). Bertha can be perceived as the dark reflection of Jane,

her “darkest double” (Lerner, 290). “She is the angry aspect of the orphan child; the ferocious

secret self Jane has been trying to repress ever since her days at Gateshead” (Gilbert, Gubar,

360).

We can observe similarities between Jane and Bertha also in their positions in relation

to Rochester. Even though Jane first perceives Bertha as a dreadful, “fearful and ghastly”,

“Vampyre-like” creature (Brontë, p. 287), later on, she is able to emphasize with her, which

can be seen in the scene where Rochester is tying Bertha to a chair, and by this loss of

freedom, Jane’s revived memories of the red room. This retrospective narration makes her

question Rochester’s treatment of Bertha: “ 'you are inexorable for that unfortunate lady: you

speak of her with hate-with vindictive antipathy.' ” (Brontë, p. 305).

Rochester’s perception regarding Jane and Bertha can be found in his comparison and

description of them: “look at the difference! Compare these clear eyes with the red balls

yonder – this face with that mask…” (Brontë, p. 297). Bertha is a living representation of

Rochester’s sin, a source of misery in his life. Chen points out that Rochester displays his

“colonial other” in an unfavourable light, aiming to justify his treatment and make reader

support his decisions by dehumanizing her (368).

Even thou Rochester indicates that the mental impairment had a genetic source, we

should consider whether it is not indeed Rochester himself, an unhappy marriage, that caused

Bertha’s lunacy. Even Jane herself questions it: “ 'It is cruel-she cannot help being mad.' ”

(Brontë, p. 305). By this Charlotte again makes us wonder about the role of women in

Victorian society and their treatment in marriage. At the same time, Bertha’s actions make us

question her madness. She seems to be causing trouble only to those who had hurt her. When

she ripped Jane’s veil, it was not her intention to hurt her, for she calmly watched her sleep,

but rather to warn her about the unholy and miserable marriage and Rochester’s violent

treatment of women: “'I could bend her with my finger and thumb: and what good would it do

if I bent…uptore...crushed her? '” (Brontë, p. 321).

Concerning the importance of Bertha regarding the plot, she is the source of the main

conflict and climax of the relationship between Jane and Rochester. Her exposé is the moving

point of Jane’s liberation from Rochester. By liberation, I suggest salvation from economic

dependency and the role of a dutiful wife or mistress. As Lerner mentions, Jane wants their

union to be a “marriage of equals” and is not ready to marry Rochester till she can meet him

on an equal, if not superior footing. (290). Bertha is undoubtfully the reason for the disruption

of their wedding, however, she is also the seed of restoration of their relationship. By her

causing the fire of Thornfield, Rochester regains his freedom, both from sin and wedlock.

This outwardly violent action is a symbol of the purification of Bertha and Rochester, and

redemptions from their sins and past mistakes. By Bertha performing this act of purification,

Jane is losing her “dark side” and part of her nature in order to fit into the expectations of

social order. It remains a question whether it was also Jane’s love that instigated the change in

Rochester’s personality, or whether his purification happened only as a consequence of the

fire.
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Considering all that has been stated so far, the character of Bertha has a significant

role in the novel as a source of the main conflict regarding the plot, her unique connection to

the main character, portraying her dark alter-ego, and her relationship with Rochester, that is

used as Charlotte Brontë’s social commentary and protest against conventionality. She works

as the initiator of purification, her most striking final event, which publicly revealed her

existence, and through which she gave a statement of her significance.

Works Cited

BRONTË, CH.: Jane Eyre. Collins Classics, Harper Collins, London, 2010, 462 pp. ISBN

13: 978-0-00-735080-3

CASS, J.: Miltonic Orientalism: "Jane Eyre" and the Two Dalilas [online] Dickens

Studies Annual, Vol. 33, Penn State University Press, 2003, pp. 191-213 Available at

<https://www.jstor.org/stable/44372077>

CHEN, CH.: "Am I a monster?": Jane Eyre" among the shadows of freaks [online]

Studies in the Novel, Vol. 34, No. 4, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002, pp. 367-

384 Available at <https://www.jstor.org/stable/29533530?read-

now=1&seq=5#page_scan_tab_contents>

GILBERT, S. M., GUBAR, S.: The Madwomen in the Attic: The Women Writer and the

Nineteenth-Century Literacy Imagination [online] New Haven: Yale UP, 1979. Available

at

<http://www.ricorso.net/tx/Courses/LEM2014/Critics/Gilbert_Gubar/Madwoman_full.pdf

>

LERNER, L: Bertha and the Critics [online] Nineteenth-Century Literature. Vol. 44, No.

3, University of California Press, 1989, pp. 273-300 Available at

<https://www.jstor.org/stable/3045152?read-now=1&seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents>
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