Patricia L. Herrick
 
 

By contemporary Victorian standards, of which Rochester and Jane are representatives, Bertha Rochester is insane. This fact is irrefutable due to the irrational, dangerous, and depraved behavior she exhibits in the text as well as placing her within the Victorian definition of "insane." The causes of her madness though are questionable. Rochester would have us believe that her insanity was inherent in her family and it was her moral depravity which caused her madness to surface. Yet Bronte suggests that perhaps she did not become insane on her own--that the imposition of Victorian ideals of female behavior, and her confinement by Rochester is the true instigator of her mental illness. By examining Jane's own experiences in her childhood we see how Bronte presents confinement and exile as a possible cause for an agitated mental state which madness can be inferred. Most convincingly, while Rochester may represent the common opinions on madness, we, the reader, are never given clear evidence of true mental illness before her confinement--only a refusal to conform to Victorian standards for women.

The figure of the "madwoman in the attic" is a popular device in Victorian literature. Bertha Rochester in Jane Eyre is the stereotypical representation of this character type. As a plot device she is effective: she adds mystery and a stunning story twist; she is the instigator of several thrilling events, including several murderous attempts; and finally, she is the cause of Rochester's disfigurement and poverty which allows him to be dependent on and equal to Jane. The reader is not given much direct information about the symptoms of Bertha's mental disorder though. Our only facts come from Jane, Rochester, and a nameless host at the inn from whom Jane learns of Bertha's death and Rochester's disfigurement. We witness Bertha's destructive and violent tendencies--burning Rochester's bed and, ultimately, Thornfield; destroying Jane's veil; attacking Mason; and "haunting" the house with her mysterious laugh. These acts are notthe cause of her illness but merely symptoms. To try to diagnose Bertha's illness in modern terms would be nearly impossible; we can must use Victorian psychiatric terminology to understand her diagnosis and her treatment.

Victorian psychiatry held that the beginnings of insanity was hereditary and was passed on through mothers (Showalter 67). As a true representative of his era, this is the first criteron which Rochester uses in his diagnosis of Bertha's insanity. He states that his honeymoon with Bertha ended when he learned that his mother-in-law was "'mad, and shut up in a lunatic asylum"' (308; ch. 27). As Showalter states, "Bronte's account echoes the beliefs of Victorian psychiatry about the transmission of madness: since the reproductive system was the source of mental illness in women, women were the prime carriers of madness" (67). Women were seen as especially susceptible to madness which is linked to their menstrual cycle. Doctors believed that either "an abnormal quantity or quality of the blood, according to this theory, could affect the brain" (56). It should be noted that Bertha's violent escapades are on nights when the moon is "blood-red" (227; ch. 25) or "broad and red" (302; ch. 27) while at other times she is quiet and calm. Her reproductive cycle, and her femininity is also seen to be a contribution to her insanity.

Rochester admits that there was nothing wrong with Bertha, per se, when he married her, telling Jane, "this was no lie. I found her a fine woman, in the style of Blanche Ingram; tall, dark, majestic. . . All the men in her circle seemed to admire her and envy me"' (307; ch. 27). But he continues to describe Bertha's condition in the vaguest of terms as "corse and trite," woman who exhibits "outbreaks of . . . violent and unreasonable temper" (308; ch. 27). These symptoms are, without question, purely subjective. What is "trite" to one may be very important to another. Bertha is diagnosed as insane by Rochester because he is imposing Victorian ideals about how wives should behave. They should be quiet, subservient, meek, and complementary to their husbands; from Rochester's description of her, it can be assumed that she was not the typical English wife.

Victorian psychiatry held that madness could stem from moral causes; be it jealousy, grief, alcoholism, or overstimulated sexuality. Rochester states that "her excesses had prematurely developed the germs of insanity" (309; ch.27). It was the excess of anything that Victorians abhorred. It cannot be refuted that when the reader encounters Bertha she is in fact insane--she is violent, incoherent, and animalistic. But Bronte does not fully accept Rochester's reason for her madness, even though it fits with contemporary Victorian psychology. By drawing comparisons between Jane and Bertha we see that the real root of Bertha's madness is Rochester himself, and thus, Victorian ideas of morality.

Rochester admits that after learning about Bertha's family medical history (an insane mother and an idiot brother) he starts to treat her differently:

These were vile discoveries; but, except for the treachery of concealment, I should have made them no subject of reproach to my wife: even when I found her nature totally alien to mine; her tastes obnoxious to me; her caste of mind common, low, narrow, and singularly incapable of being led to anything higher, expanded to anything larger . . . even then I restrained myself . . . I repressed the deep antipathy I felt. (308; ch. 27)

It could be assumed, without any specific text evidence, that Bertha was in love with Rochester but he aggressively spurns her love, friendship, or companionship as is shown by his total revulsion of her character as quoted earlier (308; ch. 27). She becomes more and more aggressive in her desire for Rochester which Victorians in turn interpret as "intemperate and unchaste" (309; ch. 27). Rochester brings doctors to see Bertha and "since the medical men had pronounced her mad, she had of course been shut up" (310; ch. 27). This chain of events fit perfectly with the Victorian definition of moral insanity. Her sexual desires and excesses break Victorian taboos, and only those who are insane would violate these laws. Factually, a doctor would have been brought in to declare insanity and an acceptable treatment for upper class "lunatics" was to shut them up in an attic or ship them to the continent. It is only behind locked doors that Bertha becomes the animalistic lunatic who violently attacks and destroys. This confinement is a direct parallel of Jane's confinement at Gateshead.

After one of Jane's childhood arguments with John Reed, she is punished by being locked in the red-room. While there, she becomes afraid. Jane describes the mental process she experienced in confinement: "shaken as my nerves were by agitation . . . My heart beat thick, my head grew hot; a sound filled my ears, which I deemed the rushing of wings . . . I was oppressed, suffocated: endurance broke down" (19; ch. 2). These feelings cause Jane to scream and call out. When help arrives, Mrs. Reed abhors her actions which she describes as "violence" (20; ch. 2). The parallels between Jane's and Bertha's confinements are confirmed when Mrs. Reed, on her death bed, describes Jane as "incomprehensible" (233; ch. 21), remembers that "she talked to me once like something mad" (233; ch. 21). Both Jane and Bertha are guilty of not conforming to the traditional roles they are expected to fill in society. Puberty was an especially trying time for Victorian girls due to their "growing awareness of this social dependence and constraint, the realization of her immobility and disadvantage as compared with her brothers, and other boys, may well have precipitated an emotional crisis" (Showalter 57). Jane's childhood experience in the red room is a metaphorical example of this confinement which she tries to rebel against.

Jane does not fit Mrs. Reed's qualifications as a perfect daughter, and Bertha does not fit into Rochester's definition of an ideal wife. Both Mrs. Reed and Rochester hold preconceived notions of guilt over Jane and Bertha, respectively, which taint their judgement of madness or sanity. Madness is easier to assign than hatred because connotes the existence of a relationship; madness merely renders the insane subhuman. Often animal imagery is used to describe Jane in her youth and Bertha such as "clothed hyena," "wild beast," and "demon" (ch. 26, 27). These terms disassociate th> Transfer interrupted!
ng insane.

Jane understands the misunderstandings that can lead to a diagnosis of madness because of her experiences at Gateshead and so she sympathizes with Bertha stating that Rochester is "inexorable for that unfortunate lady: you speak of her with hate, with vindictive antipathy. It is cruel, she cannot help being mad" (301; ch. 27). Bronte is making a statement here about female insanity. She is speaking against the common practice of locking a woman up, isolated and confined. Both Jane and Bertha are forced with confinement, but Jane is able to succeed and be defined as "sane" because she is able to adapt to the system. Whether Bertha was ever truly mad is never known because Rochester locks her up and thus contributes to her madness. Rochester's behavior is socially acceptable by the Victorians and yet Jane criticizes him because she can see that perhaps her moral foibles were correctable as were hers. Yet, because Jane is also part of the Victorian belief system of morals she cannot help but agree and contribute to hiding Bertha in the attic through her silence and inaction.