Madness Stemmed from Patriarchy in Jane Eyre

Julia McGrath

El 4080-WB1: Extraordinary Bodies Disability in Literature

Professor Torrell

30 October 2018

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Did disabilities back in the 19th century put men at an advantage? Were women wrongfully accused of mental illness because they were not fit for the role of an English woman? Charlotte Bronte's "​Jane Eyre​" dates back to a time where disabilities were more noted but frowned upon. Jane, the main character and Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester's wife, experience and witness disability and how they are prisoners locked up and abused. These two characters represent the madness of disability as two perceived masculine acting women, living in a patriarchal English world. Madness is caused from living in a world where only men and their voice matter. Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason were imprisoned for being different and not living up to the societal checklist of the perfect woman.

Out of place personality traits were an oddity. As a young girl, Jane Eyre lived with her distant relatives, the Reeds. She was an orphan, and experienced emotional trauma when called names and beat up. This is displayed when her cousin John hurts her for borrowing one of his books. She calls him disturbing names, "a wicked and cruel boy. You are like a murderer...like the Roman emperors!" (13). She insults him based on how she is treated, and on his appearance alone. John Reed is a large, chubby boy, and because of that, he is perceived as aggressive and harmful. Later on, Jane is locked up in the red room, where Mr. Reed died. Bessie, the servant, tells her that "if you don't sit still, you must be tied down" (15). Because Jane refused to comply she was viewed as unladylike. she was threatened to be held down, where she couldn't defend herself.

Jane's patriarchal treatment puts her at a lower level than her male counterparts. Chih-Ping Chen proved this in her article "Am I a Monster?: Jane Eye Among The Shadow Of Freaks". Chen describes how a world run by men is a disadvantage to women, especially women that are an anomaly compared to other females. Jane's reading habits and her dismissal to John Reed, her cousin, force her to be locked in the red room. Chen reflects this behavior and why it is important, "her reading encodes a subversive rebellion against male authority in ownership and in interpreting the world" (7). Men are custom to be smart. Jane overpowers John's intelligence. John was not described as smart, so having a ten-year-old girl who can read books at his level is intimidating and embarrassing.

The madness in Jane is that her abuse is psychological. She is physically and emotionally perverse, and later says to herself, "all said I was wicked, and perhaps I might be" (19). As a young girl, she believed that she was the reason that the Reed's treated her terribly. It was not until later that she realized it was their choice to treat her that way. She was different from the other girls in the household, and since she was much smaller than girls her age, she was looked at as dainty. This is shown in Chen's article "Am I a Monster?: Jane Eye Among The Shadow Of Freaks" when she points out that "in her encounters with patriarchal authorities---her emotional and physical abuse by 'Master' John in her adopted family, her disciplinary exposure by Rev. Brocklehurst...her gender 'education' under Rochester at Thornfield...[she sees herself as]...as an anomalous body" (6). Being trapped and suffocated by male reverence took a toll with how she saw herself. As she grew older, she was less hot-headed. She numbed herself to fit the role of the "perfect" woman in order to not be abused again.

Jane's disability represents how women are treated in an English patriarchal world. Being well read, smart, and opinionated were all personality traits that a woman during the 1800's wasn't supposed to attribute because they were seen as manly characteristics. Jane was abused because she did not understand that she is not supposed to have the personality traits that she

possessed. The girls in the book were rude to each other but quiet with men. Jane treated everyone how they treated her, and even today in the 21st century, an outspoken woman is considered a disrespectful one. She learned to mute herself for survival, it is her coping mechanism. Seeing Bertha locked up because of Mr. Rochester and becoming violent drove her away from male dependency out of fear for permanent imprisonment.

Mr. Rochester treating Jane as disabled created her madness as she saw herself through Bertha. She left town before being imprisoned once again by someone who claimed to love her and has to take care of her. She came back when Mr. Rochester becomes blind from Bertha who burned the Thornfield house. Mr. Rochester being physically disabled takes away her madness and is shifted to him as he has to deal with being trapped in his body. He had no control over Jane at the end, and she proceeded to use this as an advantage by leaving Mr. Rochester no choice but to be dependent on her.

Lastly, Bertha Mason depicts how being locked up and keeping feelings cooped up contributes to madness. Bertha is the first wife of Mr. Rochester; the maniac who lives on the third floor. She was babysat by a servant named a drunk named Grace Poole, which allowed Bertha to escape and pull deadly pranks at Thornfield house. Mr. Rochester made everyone believe that Grace was behind biting Mr. Mason, setting fire to his room, and ripping Jane's white veil. He created madness by having everyone scared of Grace in order to make sure that they don't find Bertha trapped in the room upstairs. He was ashamed of Bertha and makes this clear after his wedding is on hold. Bertha is best described as, "...beast or human being...it grovelled, seemingly on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal" (338). The madness in this quote is that Bertha had been locked up for ten years in her room on the third floor, and because of this, she's lost her sanity. She was described this way purposefully; what happens when someone is locked up for years'. She was given a grotesque description, to prove that she is not a dainty, little, gentle female, and because of this, she is depicted as "the lunatic" (338).

Mr. Rochester explains that Bertha's mother and younger brother were mentally ill and locked up, and because of that, Bertha is crazy also. He did like her at one point. She was described as beautiful, different from the description that Jane had given her. Jane gave her a grotesque description to show how Rochester's ignorance made Bertha go insane to the point where she looked like a crazy lady. However, this all changed when Mr. Rochester explained that Bertha was from Jamaica and had a temper. He explains that he "found her nature wholly alien to mine...her cast of mind common, low, narrow, incapable of being led to anything higher...her violent and unreasonable temper...her absurd, contradictory, exacting orders...the degrading agonies which must attend a man bound to a wife at once intemperate and unchaste" (353). He did not approve of her being different and imprisoned her for it.

Bertha's old beauty and short temper made her unwomanly, and according to Mr. Rochester, because she was pretty, she was unchaste. He accuses Bertha of sleeping around when he had three mistresses while she was locked up, before settling with Jane. He almost married Jane, forgetting about the locked up woman on the third floor. The madness in this is that Mr. Rochester hates Bertha for being outspoken and because she is pretty, she is not loyal or a good person. She came from Jamaica where the culture is different. He is using his status as a man to dehumanize her for not being a stereotypical English woman. She isn't one; she is biracial, and grew up differently from him, calling her stupid and narrow-minded for that.

Rochester displays Bertha as a show in order to dehumanize her and make himself superior. This commentary relates to Chen's article, "the patriarch in the figure of a show...establishes...the 'crime' of a woman. Her...disobedience...justifies his power to punish her" (Chen, 6). Punishing Bertha allows Rochester to be a social climber, and he uses his status in society to be too "powerful" to touch. Locking people up in a room was not acceptable for the mentally ill during this time, it was considered wrong since knowledge of the mentally ill was more open; people were aware. Rochester shows her as a display because he knows that nobody, not even the men, will stop him from abusing his wife.

Later on, Bertha defies all odds of the stereotypical woman and attacks Mr. Rochester. She "grappled his throat viciously, and laid her teeth to his cheek...she was a big woman, almost equalling her husband" (Jane Eyre, 338). Betha showcases a mentally insane person by her demeanor toward her husband. Since she is almost as big as Mr. Rochester, she is not perceived as womanly enough. Jane juxtaposes her, as Miss. Eyre is not considered handsome, but small. This is why Mr. Rochester opted for Jane, she is not pretty so she will not sleep with other men. She is small, so that means that she will not be able to fight him back. Mr. Rochester hates a female that is as strong as he is because it takes away his masculinity. He wants a small average looking woman that he can control because as a man, he is supposed to be strong. He is supposed to be in charge, not a woman.

Rochester's pick over Jane is elucidated as he has easy access to her child-like figure. Jane is the opposite of Bertha, as explained by Chen on page three of her article. Chen states, "Bertha's 'enfreakment', her deviant womanhood defined by Rochester and her body...display embodies the gender hierarchy that oppresses Jane as the cultural and social other." Jane was Mr. Rochester's arm, he showed her off as the smart, obedient, quiet wife; the good wife. On the other hand, Bertha was his circus. He showed Bertha off like she was his own business. She was aggressive, emotional, short-tempered; the bad wife. She displayed disability through her mistreatment, which gave Rochester another excuse to keep her locked up. Him playing victim gave him remote access of control, and he knew that no one would stop him from keeping Bertha locked up.

The overall message about disability conveyed in the novel is that disability can happen to anyone. Bertha and Jane experience this differently, as Jane is locked up but runs away from a place to place. Bertha takes the initiative as she is shunned in a room for ten long years, no one knowing of her existence. The novel reinforces disability in both a positive and negative way. Jane is positive because she transformed from being true to herself and escaped negative views of her traits. However, the novel also points negative attributes about disabilities consuming the best of people, like Bertha, who stayed true to herself and paid the price by being locked away and resulting in death. Studying disability is important because it limelights the treatment of others who are different, and it showcases their views of life and how they live. Lastly, what is gained by studying disability is that it is not always a physical flaw. Sometimes, the disabilities are metaphorical and revealing how people perceive their own faults.

Furthermore, disability is connected to gender expectations because when women act out of place (not quiet, submissive, dependent) they are seen as weird and unusual. This is problematic because gender roles put men on a pedestal. It creates tension between both genders, and makes women and young girls feel that their feelings and thoughts do not matter. The idea of only a man's proposal for something crucial is sexism; not allowing women to do things that men are able to do is misogyny, and blaming women for men's choices is victim blaming. Women are suffers disguising themselves in a stepford world. They cannot show their emotions and cannot be leaders. Women are also viewed as entertainers to society, their sole purpose is to please men and look nice.

Madness in Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" stems from women living in a world where only men and their voice matter, the women (like Jane and Bertha) who act out of place are labeled as bad and deemed to be "mad". This is problematic because locking up a woman's voice is supposed to silence her to appeal to patriarchy. Men are supposed to be outspoken, and the women who take away their voice are not fit to be a woman. Jane's madness of mental illness is to run away from her problems, only coming back when those who were cruel were dead or disabled on their own. Bertha, on the other hand, committed suicide to reach another world away from misogyny. Men could not deal with being the opposite gender, vitally trapped.

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Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. ​Jane Eyre. 1​ 847. Penguins Classics, 2006 040.

Chen, Ping-Chih. "Am I a Monster?: Jane Eye Among The Shadow Of Freaks." Volume 34, number 4, Winter 2002. University of Texas, pp. 1-16 or pp. 368-378 EBSCO Publishing.

https://bboldwestbury.sln.suny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-367004-dt-content-rid-1719021_1/courses/2 01809-OLD-EL-4080-WBL/chen%20am%20i%20monster.pdf​ ​Accessed 9/25-10/1/18.