Bertha Mason: Object of Fear or Object of Sympathy? Discuss Charlotte Brontë’s Depiction of Bertha and the Roles She Plays in the Narrative.

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Bertha Mason, Mr Rochester’s forgotten wife, is important in the story of Jane Eyre for acting as the reason why Jane and Rochester can’t marry. In any other story, we may pity the woman who was locked away by her husband because she was seen as a ‘freak’, but instead we pity Jane, and we want the obstacle of Bertha which prevents her from fulfilling her dreams and marrying Edward to be eradicated. Bertha is rarely referred to as a human person. Even to Brontë she would have simply been a plot obstacle and a catalyst for the events. She is associated with a lot of animalistic imagery, especially relating to dogs and wolves or the devil. These in themselves are contrasting, as animals refer to the known and the supernatural to the unknown. Nonetheless, the images conjured up as we hear her "wolfish cries" are frightful and make Bertha nothing if not an object of fear, from "goblin" to "wolfish". References to "demon" relate to Hell, which links to fire. Bertha plays to this character when she sets Rochester's room on fire (“Tongues of flame darted round the bed: the curtains were on fire”). The animals are scavengers, carnivores, untamed, and feast on the spoils of previous battles ("carrion-seeking bird of prey" is quite possibly referring to a vulture, which is an ugly creature and one to be feared). However, some pity is borne out of the animal names she is given. She is often named as "dog"; if there is was problem with a dog's health it would be locked up or, most likely, shot, especially if it turned savage, much like Bertha when she escapes. With this in mind, we can feel sympathy for Bertha as she is treated like a dog anyway an we don't doubt that Rochester would shoot her if she was a threat. To further the feelings of pity, a lot of the time Bertha is more simply called "it". Violence is a common theme surrounding Bertha. All
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