User:FryWrites/Jane Eyre

Colonialism and the Character of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre

Throughout Jane Eyre there are frequent themes relating to ideas of colonialism or the domination of other cultures, which can be seen in the European society that the novel is set within. Mr. Rochester claims to have been forced to take on a “mad” Creole wife, a woman who grew up in a sort of colony that belonged to Britain, and who is thought to be of mixed race. Bertha plays the role of the racialized “other” through the shared belief that she chose to follow in the footsteps of her parents. Her alcohol dependence and apparent mental instability cast her as someone who is incapable of restraining herself, almost forced to submit to the different vices she is a victim of. Many writers of the time believed that one could develop mental instability or mental illnesses simply based off of their race.

This means that those who were born of ethnicities associated with a darker complexion, or those who were not fully European, were believed to be more mentally unstable than their white European colonizers were. “In Jane Eyre, Bronte responds to the seemingly inevitable analogy in 19th century British texts that compares white women with blacks in order to degrade both groups and assert the need for white male control.” Bertha is an example of both the colored population and of a ‘clean’ European, as she is seemingly able to pass as a white woman for the most part, but also is hinted towards being of an ‘impure’ race since she does not come from a purely white or European lineage. The title that she is given by others of being a Creole woman leaves her a stranger where she is not black but is also not considered to be white enough to fit into higher society. This leaves her as a victim of the repression that both of these groups faced, which is then compounded into the life events of a single character.

Unlike Bertha, Jane Eyre is thought of as being sound of mind before the reader is able to fully understand the character, simply because she is described as having a complexion that is pale and she has grown up in a European society rather than in an “animalistic” setting like Bertha. Jane is favored heavily from the start of her interactions with Rochester, simply because like Rochester himself, she is deemed to be of a superior race than that of his first wife. While she still experiences some forms of repression throughout her life (the events of the Lowood Institution) none of them are as heavily taxing on her as that which is experienced by Bertha. Both women go through acts of suppression on behalf of the men in their lives, yet Jane is looked at with favor because of her supposed “beauty” that can be found in the color of her skin. While both are characterized as falling outside of the normal feminine standards of this time, Jane is thought of as superior to Bertha because she demands respect and is able to use her talents as a governess, whereas Bertha is seen as a creature to be confined in the attic away from “polite” society.

Both of them go against the ideals of the time period, but in two very different ways. The fair complexion of Jane allows her to be cast as someone who is different in a positive light, where the potential “dirty” blood of Bertha leaves her lesser than most household servants. This can be seen even from the first encounter that the reader has with her in the book, when she is heard shrieking in the night. Jane associates the noise with a servant, someone who Jane looks at as lesser than her. These shrieks leave the reader and Jane concerned about the state of Grace Poole’s mind, who is not respected after this incident. Yet when we later find out that these sounds were coming from Bertha instead, there is no concern expressed or any empathy shown towards her fellow human being. Jane instead is terrified at the idea of this hidden monster in the attic, someone who should never have been allowed a chance to experience any of what life has to offer outside of her little prison. Bibliography