Jane Eyre Character Analysis

While tutoring, Eyre begins to overhear strange, guttural peals of laughter coming from upstairs. When she inquires about it she is told that it is the servant Grace Poole. Eyre suspects the staff is hiding something but does not investigate further and soon she forgets all about it. A few months later when Eyre and Rochester about to wed a clergyman comes to inform them that he cannot marry them. A search of the marriage records reveals that Rochester has a wife that is still living. A witness confirms seeing her at Thornfield Hall. Rochester reveals that he indeed married to a Bertha Mason. He explains that he married her unaware that “she came from a mad family; idiots and maniacs through three generations.” They all ride to Thornfield Hall to show the clergyman his wife. Locked in an upstairs room, Bertha Mason resembles a “strange wild animal…[with a] bloated…purple face.” Upon seeing Rochester, she rushes at him, attempting to throttle him. But Rochester manages to restrain her and binds her to a chair.

Rochester that she doesn’t even take a glance at Rochester’s past and the ironic events which took place at the Thornfield Hall. To her when she finds out from kind Mr. Richard Mason, Bertha’s beloved brother, that Bertha is an insane first Mrs. Rochester, she just runs away to avoid the temptation.

Jane Eyre is a powerful novel with many secrets in the storyline between the characters. One of the most shocking secrets was finding out that Rochester has a wife. Since his older brother would inherit his father's fortune, Rochester needed to secure his own future with a marriage for the sake of money, not love. So, he married Bertha, who was both wealthy and beautiful.

Jane Eyre’s character changes throughout the book significantly. Many of her struggles are what bring her to change from a suffering young girl, to a very brave, well driven, independent woman.

Rochester’s propaganda lingers throughout the rest of the Thornfield section when he informs Jane that he is due to marry Blanche Ingrim, and that she is set for a job in Ireland (250-251). The sole purpose of this fib was to test Janes jealousy and experiment her reaction towards the situation; which is an evident sign of Rochester’s extent of manipulation. Her reaction leads Rochester to reveal that what he truly wants is Jane’s hand in marriage. The night before the marriage, Bertha escapes her room and rips Janes veil in half; this event following the proposal causes Rochester to attempt to convince Jane it is merely a dream. (Bronte.264)

Before she can become Rochester 's wife, Jane must prove her acceptability based on class. Does she have an upper-class sensibility, despite her inferior position at Thornfield? For example, when Bessie sees Jane at Lowood, she is impressed because Jane has become "quite a lady"; in fact, her accomplishments surpass that of her cousins, yet they are still considered her social superiors based solely on wealth. The conversation emphasizes the ambiguities of Jane 's family 's class status and of the class system in general: Should a lady be judged based on academic accomplishments, money, or family name? The novel critiques the behavior of most of the upper-class characters Jane meets: Blanche Ingram is haughty and superficial, John Reed is debauched, and Eliza Reed is inhumanely cold. Rochester is a primary example of upper-class debauchery, with his series of mistresses and his attempt to make Jane a member of the harem. In her final view of Thornfield, after Bertha has burned it down, Jane

Near the novel’s conclusion, St. John attempts to persuade Jane to join his mission to India, but she responds, “If I go to St. John, I abandon half myself: if I go to India, I go to premature death.” The repetition used in this line conveys how, if Jane accepted St. John’s plea to travel to India, she would suffer becoming socially isolated from Rochester. This resolves her conviction to decline St. John and return to marry Rochester within the finale. Chris Bossche comments on Jane’s feeling of exclusion, stating, “[Jane Eyre]’s heroine rebels against social exclusion yet ultimately does not seek to overturn the existing social order.” This interpretation of Jane’s motivations aligns with my own personal understanding of the character who, while not wishing herself to be excluded from Rochester, accepts Bertha’s isolation in the attic of Thornfield. This is demonstrated when Jane describes Bertha through the hyperbole, “I found her nature wholly alien to mine, her tastes obnoxious to me.” This exaggeration of Bertha details how Jane believes that she possesses an eccentric and dangerous nature, providing reason for why Jane does not protest her imprisonment. Yet, since Bertha remains estranged from society, she ultimately burns down Thornfield at the end of the novel. As a result of their perpetual fear of exclusion and social isolation, the actions of characters within the novel are dictated, transpiring in the text’s

The two characters have been placed under similar circumstances. The most notable one is Jane being trapped in the Red Room and Bertha being imprisoned in Thornfield attic for ten years after showing signs of violent insanity. The difference is that Jane’s violent outburst against her cousin John Reed was explained from her perspective. She hardly mentions that she was winning their fight in an attempt to play the victim. One can assume that Bertha may have had similar angry feelings towards Rochester because she was somehow trapped in an arranged marriage for

Bertha is a significant presence in the book Jane Eyre because she causes the mysterious happenings at Thornfield, leads to the separation of Jane and Rochester, and ultimately leaves Rochester crippled by burning down Thornfield. To begin, Bertha proves to be a weighty presence in Jane Eyre because she is the source of the mysterious events occurring at Thornfield. Her existence first is hinted at when Jane hears a forebodingly deep, creepy laugh coming from the

Bertha Mason is indirectly meant to be view as a combination of both innocent and villain. Without knowing her existence until the very end of the novel, one has a tendency to pity her character. I mean, we have an individual who is married to Edward Rochester but finds herself imprisoned on the third-story of Thornfield, without any company to love her the way any human should be. Although it’s understandable that Rochester is upset that he got trick to marry her, yet he should’ve gotten a divorce and taken her to get the treatment she needed. Consequently, for these reasons, it’s undeniably to speculate that Bertha provides that innocent individual who didn’t necessarily have control for the actions she made. This is because when one suffers

If we had known who (or what) Bertha was from the beginning and why she was acting in such a crazed, psychopathic way, the novel would lose a lot of its Gothic vibe- there would be no mystery behind her bewildering actions. In fact, it's likely that the entire course of the story would have changed, as Jane would have found out that Rochester was married before he had proposed, and the opposite of such ends up becoming a major plot point later in the novel. In a different twist, if Bertha had committed less brutal acts, it wouldn't have accurately portrayed Jane's bottled-up emotions or future negative events as well as they did with the vehement events that actually took place. For example, if Bertha had simply tried on Jane's veil on the

Although Bertha’s seclusion is a result of her insanity and unacceptable behaviour, Jane’s isolation seems to be the cause of some mental illness, throwing her into a panic attack in the red room where she believes her Uncle Reed’s ghost dwells. It must be noted, though, that Jane is a child at this point in the novel, with an active imagination. Bronte may be making a point then, that children should not be shunned for their inventiveness and imagination, as was so common in her day. However, there is a fine line, and socially acceptable age, that separates a healthy imagination from madness. There is a clear lack of this knowledge in Bertha, whom does not appear to have a firm grip on reality. Madness, however, does not merely deal with concepts of reality in “Jane Eyre.” Jane has bouts of uncontrollable speech, in which she must say what comes to her mind. Jane first loses control of her tongue in chapter IV, in which she accuses Mrs. Reed of wishing her dead, and later exclaims “I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare, I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed,” and goes on to evaluate the terrible treatment Mrs. Reed has given her, and the lack of love and compassion she has been shown while at Gateshead. In this instance, madness works in Jane’s favour. This temporary bout of mania allows Jane to finally express the

Also, even though Rochester and Jane were of different classes, Charlotte Bronte presents him as an intelligent person. Both Edward and Jane enjoy conversations with each other. However, Jane does not express her feelings as clearly as Rochester does. So he dresses up as a gypsy and tries to find out what she thinks of the marriage, which everyone assumes that he will with Blanche. Although, both Jane Eyre and Rochester have are fond of each other, Edward was deceitful to Jane. For example, when Jane found out about Mr Rochester’s first wife, he first says that they can run away as ‘brother and sister’. However Jane refuses. Rochester tries another tactic and asks her to be his mistress. But Jane was too virtuous to accept the offer and had no other alternative but to leave Thornfield.

Edward Fairfax Rochester appears in the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë as the protagonist’s employer main love interest. Jane’s first impression of him is that he is cold, prideful, and in her own words, “I am sure most people would have thought him an ugly man” (Brontë 140). She warms up to her employer during her stay at Thornfield Hall, however, and discovers a new side of Mr. Rochester she didn’t see before. He is a match with her in intelligence and wit, and seems to favor her presence above the others. Whenever the two meet, he “always had a word and sometimes a smile for me” (Brontë 155), and they converse with each other frequently. Their bond as master and employee grows into something more with each meeting. However, one obstacle stands in the way of their romance, namely in the form of Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester’s still living wife trapped in the third floor of the house. Jane leaves Thornfield Hall, unable to put love before her faith, and Mr Rochester is devastated. Eventually, with much difficulty and sacrifice, Jane and Mr.Rochester are able to get married in the end, and live out the rest of their days in peace.

Bertha Mason, although a minor character in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre , played a crucial role in the love story between Jane and Rochester and gives a deeper understanding of how mentally impaired people were treated at the time. She is necessary to Jane and Rochester’s imminent marriage and her actions lead the two to reconcile. Her motives and the causes for behavior are unclear, besides her obvious jealousy towards Jane and betrayal she felt from Rochester. Not only that, but Bertha also symbolizes everything Jane is not, mirroring her in a way as a polar opposite.