Madwoman In The Attic Jane Eyre

The madwoman in the attic the most well known and problematic character in jane eyre is rochester s first wife who is almost always referred to by her maiden name of bertha mason.

Madwoman in the attic jane eyre.

The madwoman in the attic from jane eyre is actually based on real history. Bertha mason full name bertha antoinetta mason is a fictional character in charlotte brontë s 1847 novel jane eyre she is described as the violently insane first wife of edward rochester who moved her to thornfield hall and locked her in a room on the third floor. Gilbert and gubar draw their title from charlotte brontë s jane eyre in which rochester s wife née bertha mason is kept secretly locked in an attic apartment by her husband. Jane hates rochester dolling her up like a princess so.

The 1966 parallel novel wide sargasso sea by jean rhys serves as a prequel to brontë s novel. The madwoman in the attic. Charlotte brontë s fictional character the mentally ill bertha mason is locked in the attic for ten years. 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.

In the madwoman in the attic they cast bertha as a passionate untrammelled woman who acts out jane s darkest most secret desires. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from shmoop and verify that you are over the age of 13. If you ve read jane eyre before you are no doubt familiar. Jane eyre is a progressive book in many senses far ahead of its time it is even deemed feminist.

Rochester into a stereotypical byronic hero. 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. As she lived in a time when women were not encouraged to write charlotte bronte wrote under the pseudonym currer bell to avoid being ostracized by society and to avoid being badly received by the audience because the book was written by a woman. Attic that inspired jane eyre s madwoman in the attic bertha open for public tours.

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.