Bronte Wife In Attic

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.

Bronte wife in attic.

The woman writer and the nineteenth century literary. 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. And his wife is locked in the attic.

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. Bertha mason rochester s first wife was a beautiful creole woman from jamaica who rochester married years ago before she had a mental breakdown and. However bertha s position as the madwoman in the attic also speaks to larger social questions of femininity and authorship during the victorian period. The 1966 parallel novel wide sargasso sea by jean rhys serves as a prequel to brontë s novel.