Betha_Mason_(Character_from_Jane_Eyre)

Betha Mason (Character from Jane Eyre) Bertha Mason, though a minor character in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, played a pivotal role in the love story between Jane and Rochester. Bertha remains mysterious throughout the first half of the novel and, the times that she appears, the cryptic actions reveal her state of mind. She is the impediment to Jane and Rochester’s impending marriage and her actions later lead the two to reconcile. Bertha was a mentally impaired woman. Her motives and the causes for her behavior are unclear, besides the obvious jealousy towards Jane and the betrayal she must have felt by Rochester. Without the nuisance of her character, Jane Eyre would have been a flawless love story, but in life everything is not always perfect and neither is Bertha Mason. Bertha’s character only appears once Jane moves to Thornfield. She is never seen, only heard. One night, as Jane lay awake, she heard “a demoniac laugh”(168) and as she rose to investigate she found Rochester’s bedroom on fire. Jane thinks it is Grace Poole, the woman that appears to be crazy, who is the culprit of such an insane act; but in reality it is jane, rochester, bertha, mason, wedding, one, life, woman, thornfield, fire, felt, veil, two, love, being, under, story, richard, poole, person, own, out, night, never, mason’s, marriage, made, left, just, husband, heard, grace, first, everything, character, bertha’s, been, because, attic, appears, actions, act, year, wife, way, very, upon, took, thought, though