Bertha Flashcards
what does Bertha represent in Jane Eyre
In Jane Eyre, Bertha symbolises:
The Other ( prejudice Victorian views on other ethnicities)
Jane’s double (appearance vs reality)
the pent up emotions of women who were suppressed by the patriarchal society (Bronte criticizes the patriarchal society through Bertha)
how does Bertha represent the Other
The colour of skin is important in Jane Eyre. Throughout the novel, Bronte creates the idea that those of darker skin are undesirable and morally inferior. She does this through multiple of characters such as Mrs Reed and Blanche Ingram who not only pose as Jane’s antagonists and tormenters but also are alluded to have a darker complexion (Miss Ingram’s “Spanish features” and John Reeds distaste with his mother’s “dark skin”). Bertha is not an acceptation to this rule, she is presented with this undesirable foreignness similar to Celine Varens ( Mr Rochester’s French mistress) who was associated with an excess of sexual passion like Bertha ,the only other foreign woman in the novel, “this passion Celine had professed to return with even superior ardour”. Bronte contrasts all this distasteful foreignness with the purity of the English. Note how Bertha is likened by Jane to the “German spectre- Vampyre” whilst Jane is called an “angel and “ fairy” by many characters in the novel. This contrast highlights the higher moral integrity of the British and emphasises how inferior the foreign “other” is. Furthermore, Miss Temple, the model British woman, is described with words associated with light and virtue “{..} and her appearance seen now in board daylight, she looked tall, fair, and shapely; brown eyes with benignant light in their irids, and a fine pencilling of long lashes round, relived the whiteness of her large font”. A sharp contrast with Bertha who is constantly linked to darkness.
Interestingly, Charlotte Bronte describes Bertha’s face as “savage”, as a reader we are instantly reminded of Helen and her comment on “heathens and savage tribes”. Bronte does this in order to again allude to Bertha’s unacceptable foreignness.
quotes to support how Bertha is linked to the “Other”
“Fearful and ghastly to me - oh sir, I never saw a face like it! It was a discoloured face- it was a savage face”
“This sir, was purple, the lips were swelled and dark; the brow furrowed: the black eyebrows widely raised over bloodshot eyes”
“the German spectre- the Vampyre”
how is Bertha presented as Jane’s double
Bertha and Jane are inexorably linked throughout the novel. Like Jane, Bertha has been locked up due to her intense emotions and passions. Furthermore, Bertha represents Jane’s acts of rebellion. Bertha does Jane a favour. Jane nor the sense of Rochester shaping her identity by buying her expensive gifts. Her resistance against Rochester, and arguably the stifling patriarchy , is enacted though Bertha’s actions.
how is Bertha presented as Jane’s double
The idea of that Jane saw Bertha through a reflection, “I saw the reflection through the visage and features quite distinctively in the dark oblong glass”, re- enforces the fact the Bertha and Jane are doubles. It alludes to the idea of appearance vs reality. Here, Bronte clearly shows the reader that Bertha is the representation of all of Jane’s pent up emotions and passions due to being constantly suppressed by the social hierarchy and the position of woman in a Victorian society. Perhaps this is why Jane is seen to be the only character in the novel sympathising with Bertha as she too was locked away due to her “passionate” nature is , “you are inexorable for that unfortunate lady: you speak of her with hate- with vindictive antipathy. It is cruel - she cannot help being mad”
quotes to support that Bertha is Jane double
“But presently she took my veil from its place; she held it up, gazed at it long, and then she threw it over her head, and turned to the mirror”
“I saw the reflection through the visage and features quite distinctively in the dark oblong glass”
“you are inexorable for that unfortunate lady: you speak of her with hate- with vindictive antipathy. It is cruel - she cannot help being mad”
how is Bertha presented to represent the pent up emotions/ passions of women who were suppressed by the patriarchal society (Bronte criticizes the patriarchal society through Bertha)
You can link this idea to the fact that Bertha is Jane’s double.
Bertha’s forward sexuality emphasises the idea that Bertha represents the pent up emotions and passions of women in a Victorian society. Bronte alludes to Bertha’s sexually forward nature through Mr Rochester’s clear distain at Bertha’s character, “A nature the most gross, impure, depraved I ever saw, was associated to mine”. Through this, Bronte is able to criticise the patriarchal society and it’s attitudes towards women stating how the continued suppression of women will lead to an uncontrollable, ungoverned passion similar to the many displayed by Bertha throughout the novel. Perhaps this is why Jane is seen to be the only character in the novel sympathising with Bertha as she too is a woman suppressed by the patriarchy, “you are inexorable for that unfortunate lady: you speak of her with hate- with vindictive antipathy. It is cruel - she cannot help being mad”
Alternatively, one could argue that Bertha was locked up due to Mr Rochester inability to control and reign in Bertha’s sexuality. The ability to do this was naturally expected for a husband in a patriarchal society.
quotes to support the idea that Bertha represents the pent emotions and passions of women
“A nature the most gross, impure, depraved I ever saw, was associated to mine”.
“I found her nature wholly alien to mine, her tastes obnoxious to me, her cast of mind common, low, narrow and singularly incapable of being held to anything higher”
“you are inexorable for that unfortunate lady: you speak of her with hate- with vindictive antipathy. It is cruel - she cannot help being mad”
