In this novel rochester s first wife bertha mason has gone mad and is kept locked in an attic.
Rochesters mad women in the attic.
Originally read as the novel s.
For example bertha mason could represent the horror of victorian marriage.
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.
Jane hates rochester dolling her up like a princess so.
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.
The incident of the madwoman in the attic is probably the most famous in jane eyre and it has given rise to innumerable interpretations and symbolic readings.
In the 1847 novel jane eyre charlotte bronte creates one of the most controversial characters in all of english literature.
Rochester claims to have imprisoned her because she is mad but it is easy to imagine an opposite.
The madwoman in the attic takes its title from the iconic early victorian novel jane eyre.
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 née bertha mason is kept secretly locked in an attic apartment by her husband.
The madwoman in the attic bertha mason.
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.
Bertha antoinetta mason edward rochester s clandestine first wife was an essential component to the plot and character development in jane eyre rochester discloses the identity of the woman locked in the attic of his thornfield hall as his wife after a thwarted attempt to marry jane eyre.
Eventually the madwoman bertha mason commits suicide and jane marries mr rochester.
The 1966 parallel novel wide sargasso sea by jean rhys serves as a prequel to brontë s novel.
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.
