Bertha Mason Madwoman In The Attic

In reality society has always mimicked bronte s idea of the madwoman in the attic by forcing women into submissive roles.

Bertha mason madwoman in the attic.

Her life turns upside down when she discovers right before her wedding that her lover has an ex wife a madwoman hidden in the attic and flees narrowly escaping from committing to a sinful relationship. Gilbert and gubar draw their title from charlotte brontë s jane eyre in which rochester s wife is kept secretly locked in an attic apartment by her husband. The madwoman in the attic. Rhys s novel re imagines brontë s devilish madwoman in the attic.

Author charlotte bronte uses the latter archetype in her novel jane eyre 1847 through character bertha mason. The woman writer and the nineteenth century literary imagination is a 1979 book by sandra gilbert and susan gubar in which they examine victorian literature from a feminist perspective. Bertha serves as jane s double juxtaposing the feminist character to a character constrained by domesticity. Is she an abused wife or just the madwoman in the attic.

Professor john bowen explores the character of bertha mason in jane eyre revealing the depths of her character and the context in which charlotte brontë created her. In 1979 sandra gilbert and susan gubar made a breakthrough in feminist criticism with their work the madwoman in the attic. Yes she comes from the 1800s and at first glance may seem completely incomprehensible in her actions but i believe her portrayal in jane eyre can be a lesson to us all in dealing with the modern day issue of mental illness. Bronte profiles bertha as the quintessential madwoman which coincidentally equals the 21st century s independent woman.

It is the story of mason there called antoinette cosway from the time of her youth in the caribbean to her unhappy marriage and relocation to england. The real life attic that was the inspiration for a section of jane eyre where mentally ill character bertha mason is confined before she commits suicide is now open to the public. In this chaotic time of our changing political world i wondered where that madwoman in the attic in jane eyre bertha mason fit into all of this. She s half creole and half english raised in jamaica among the british aristocrat half of her family and already not exactly a part of one world or the other.

Bertha s family heritage is complex and puts her in a difficult position. The woman writer and the nineteenth century literary imagination in the 700 page text gilbert and gubar use the figure of bertha mason as the so called madwoman in the attic to make an argument about perceptions toward female literary characters during the time period. The first and most important point to make about her is that within the time span of the novel she is unable to give an account of herself.