Jane_Eyre_and_Bertha_Mason_(Research_Paper)

Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason are two very similar characters, yet they are also very distinct characters. They are not similar in the sense that their personalities reflect each other, but in the fact that their pasts can be interpreted as being similar. However, it is in reaction to their pasts that they have turned out so different. While Jane is described as a calm and intellectual thinker; Bertha is described as a “wild animal” that is not capable of rational reasoning (pg. 367). Charlotte Bronte describes and even forms Bertha to be this “creature”, as she is so often described, in order to infer onto the reader the result of giving in to one’s passion. Bertha, in essence, is a possible outcome Jane would have become like had she succumbed to her passion permanently and allowed it to control her life; she is thus depicted as the foil character of Jane. By looking into both Jane’s and Bertha’s past we, the reader, can depict how Jane and Bertha are similar. Jane experienced an extremely isolated and solitary childhood where she was neither accepted nor wanted. It was due to her family background and her lack of money that the family did not accept her. Not only did her family reject her but society also rejected her because of her lack of status and money. She was not accepted anywhere, not with the Reeds because they shunned her, and she did not fit in with the servants, lower class, because her relationship with the Reeds. This is also witnessed with Bertha, she, too, was not accepted anywhere when she was young. As it is known, Bertha was half-Creole and half-British, which alienated her from both ethnicities. It alienates her from both classes as a result of being only half of both ethnicities, not a whole which means neither one fully accepted her. Jane and Bertha were both looked down upon by society and both of them were restricted by society’s limitations on their lives and actions. However, it is their reaction to such limitations placed upon them that make them distinct from one another and ultimately foil characters of each other. Jane learned, or at least became slightly aware, that succumbing to ones passions wholly was a frightening and powerless ordeal. She learned this lesson early in her life when she was locked in the Red-Room; this is the first instance that Jane becomes acutely aware of her “imprisonment” in society. By Jane being locked into the Red-Room it symbolizes society locking away Jane’s emotions inside her, that being too passionate was frowned upon and women should not have the freedom to express themselves as their emotions do. Whether conscience of the fact or not, Jane rebels against this idea that society has set up. She allows herself to succumb to her emotions/passion while in the Red-Room in protest of her literal and metaphorical imprisonment. However, this is where she becomes aware that succumbing to ones emotions was frightening. Her emotional tantrum she had experienced in the Red-Room had literally frightened her because it converted her into someone she was not. By letting herself be controlled by her passion she had lost sight of herself and this is evident when Jane is referred to as a “mad cat” (pg. 19), just as Bertha is described to be a “wild animal” (pg. 367). This can basically be seen as a turning point for Jane, in which she commences to change and to seek a balance of passion and emotion. Bertha, on the other hand, completely succumbs to her emotions and is never able to regain control of her passion, which is the reason for her becoming “insane”. She has, since youth, been aware of society not fully accepting her due to her heritage, which may have lead to her allowing her emotions to control her. She does not completely turn toward the passionate side of her personality until after she marries Mr. Rochester. A reason behind this was likely because she saw the limitations that had been placed upon her in society and by becoming rebellious and letting herself be controlled by her passions she was able to do something herself; in a way, she choose to become that way. It is seen that she has let herself be manipulated by her emotions when Mr. Rochester describes that Bertha has put him through “all the hideous and degrading agonies” that all men have with an “unchaste” wife (pg. 386). She, herself, has chosen that lifestyle which, symbolizes that the only way women could feel free and in some way in control was, by basically, cheating on their husbands. It gave Bertha a sense of self decision in her life, because prior to this she did not make any decisions for herself at all. Bronte purposefully molded Bertha into a “wild animal” in order to demonstrate to the reader the possible outcome Jane would have had, had she let herself be manipulated by her passion. Bronte wanted to infer onto the reader that just being passionate about something could be an eventual downfall of, not only Jane, but women in general. Bertha demonstrates this well through her passionate nature that has caused her to become “insane”. This could also, most likely, be a reason why Jane was so intent on finding a balance of passion and reason. By the end of the book it is seen that Bertha, being the foil character of Jane, and the embodiment passion died because of it. While Jane, able to find a balance of passion and reason, was finally able to find a place she fit in.