Jane Eyre is also entrapped by her social status and gender. Bertha Mason, though, is not the only woman confined by social norms and marriage. In Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, we see the consequences of marriage for Antoinette who is entrapped by society’s strict social norms and her greedy husband’s flawed expectations. We also meet her new English husband-never named but obviously meant to be Rochester. In her re-telling, Rhys introduces us to the real Bertha whose given name is Antoinette Mason. Through Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys, a twentieth century Dominican-born writer, provides the long-awaited answers to these critical questions. Who this woman is and how she became this way are questions that have plagued interested Charlotte Brontë readers since Jane Eyre’s publication in 1847. The demonic savage laughter that haunts Thornfield Hall belongs to Bertha Mason, the madwoman in the attic who, for most of Jane Eyre, remains faceless and nameless.
The century separating Brontë and Rhys produces the very different tellings of the mad woman in the attic, Bertha Mason. Social and economic factors restricted the status of Victorian women whereas physical confinement was used to control women who did not conform to the behavioral rules. Bertha’s story in both novels demonstrates that hurried marriages meant to secure women’s futures often lead to unhappy or even dangerous situations for women.
These two women must confront similar forms of confinement such as social, economic, and physical. However, upon further examination they are two sides of the same coin trying to survive in a patriarchal society. At first glance Jane Eyre and Bertha (Antoinette) Mason are completely different conveying separate pathways for Victorian women. Together these two novels present a better understanding of Bertha Mason. In addition, Rhys examines how women’s status was affected by race. The companion novel Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys does the same by giving a backstory to Bertha (Antoinette) Mason, a character Brontë gave very little page space.
Abstract: Through her novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë uses the characters Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason to shine a light on the hardships of Victorian women and challenge gender inequality.
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