Madwoman In The Attic Jane Eyre

Jane eyre the madwoman in the attic.

Madwoman in the attic jane eyre.

The madwoman in the attic the most well known and problematic character in jane eyre is rochester s first wife who is almost always referred to by her maiden name of bertha mason. In jane eyre bertha eventually burns down thornfield and dies by suicide. Bertha mason s madness. The woman writer and the nineteenth century literary imagination is a 1979 book by sandra gilbert and susan gubar in which they examine victorian literature from a feminist perspective.

It also sets up one of the most important foil relationships of the novel. Bertha mason full name bertha antoinetta mason is a fictional character in charlotte brontë s 1847 novel jane eyre. The descriptions form a bestial image of bertha in the reader s mind even though there is no concrete proof. She is described as the violently insane first wife of edward rochester who moved her to thornfield hall and locked her in a room on the third floor.

The first and most important point to make about her is that within the time span of the novel she is unable to give an account of herself. In this chaotic time of our changing political world i wondered where that madwoman in the attic in jane eyre bertha mason fit into all of this. How mad was bertha mason in jane eyre. The real life attic that was the inspiration for a section of jane eyre where mentally ill character bertha mason is confined before she commits suicide is now open to the public.

In jane eyre the character of bertha mason serves as an ominous representation of uncontrollable passion and madness. One the one hand brontë s madwoman is a tragic figure a literary manifestation of jane s own feelings of oppression. The madwoman in the attic. Gilbert and gubar draw their title from charlotte brontë s jane eyre in which rochester s wife is kept secretly locked in an attic apartment by her husband.

Bertha mason the madwoman in the attic as a foil to jane herself. Bertha through her suicide rejects the confinement that she had been subjected to. Climax jane runs away from thornfield so she won t be tempted to live in sin with rochester.