Characters: Bertha Flashcards
What narrative strategy does Brontë designate to Bertha to hint of her foreign decent?
“Other”
What is Bertha always linked with?
Fire
What is Bertha a catalyst of?
The evidence of Janes moral virtue and Rochester’s ultimate redemption
Hint of being mixed race raises England’s fear of what?
The Unknown
What is one of Berthas representations ?
The fact that if women showed extreme emotions or passions they were labelled as insane
What does Berthas character say about the Victorian era and mental illness?
It is aligned with moral condemnation suggesting weakness and depravity
What can Bertha represent regarding Jane?
All the feelings , passionate opinion and desires Jane has to repress in order to fit into the mold of a perfect Victorian woman
What is the significance of berthas death regarding Jane?
The passion in Jane that Bertha represents has to die in order for her to marry Rochester
What is the significance of Berthas outbursts ?
Everyone of them happens when Jane is feeling conflicted
What does Bertha represent regarding the world?
England’s neglect and harsh treatment of its colonies
What is the significance of Berthas death regarding escape?
She is escaping that patriarchal confinement and hurting Rochester in the process.
What is the significance of Bertha burning Thornfield?
She has destroyed a quantity of valuable property that establishes Rochester and essentially the wealth that he has partly gained from Bertha and what she represented
What are the alternate interpretations into Rochester believing Bertha has lost language?
- Speaking Jamaican patios- her brother can understand her as he tells us “she said she would drain my heart”
- Symbolically has lost her voice in society
- Rochester symbol,I ally and physically refuses to listen
Significance 1 of ripping the veil?
Jane had told Rochester she didn’t want any costly jewels yet he buys her an expensive veil. If we are perceiving Bertha as a mirror personality of Jane , she is taking out her anger of Rochester’s attempt of dressing her up like a doll out on the veil. An action in which Jane wishes she could have made herself but that the patriarchal Victorian society won’t allow
Significance 2 of ripped veil
The biblical saying “ and the veil shall be rent” meaning the true will be revealed. When Bertha rips the veil she is revealing the truth in her presence and the truth in Rochester’s relationship status
