Marriage and the Victorian Woman: An Analysis of Bertha as a Foil to Jane in “Jane Eyre”

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Marriage and the Victorian Woman: An Analysis of Bertha as Foil to Jane in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
This literary study will analyze the character Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. In many ways, Bertha is the alter ego or foil to Jane Eyre as an independent thinking woman, as she clearly represents the Victorian insanity and delusional state. By analyzing these behaviors, one can realize how Bronte brings forth this contrast of characterization through a psychological ego-based criterion. Also, the Reed and Rivers families are very similar in that the male heads of the household wish to have control over Jane through the patriarchal Victorian institution of marriage. In essence, Bertha Mason, Rochester’s submissive...

..... and Reeds families, which forces her to move to differing place of residence throughout the novel. In this way, the Reed and Rivers families are similar because they offer shelter and a home to Jane, but only if she gives up her freedoms and submits to the males that govern these places. When she finally marries Rochester at the end of the novel, she has done with a feminist dignity, which contrasts the role that Bertha enacted as a prisoner in the attic. This why Bertha represents a contrasting foil to Jane in the characterization of the submissive Victorian woman brought forth by Charlotte Bronte.
Works Cited
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. The Literature Network. 2005. 4 May 2006 <http://www.online-literature.com/brontec/janeeyre/>.