During the Victorian Era, there was a change in the views towards mental illness as people began to realize the conditions and treatments towards patients of the mental institutions. Jane Eyre follows the story of a girl who is living through the social discriminations of the Victorian Era and observes the way the mentally ill were treated. In most cases, judging someone’s mental health was closely related to gender and where they stood on the social scale. Charlotte Bronte’s accurate yet insensitive portrayal of how mental illness was viewed in the Victorian Era is shown through the depiction of the character Bertha Mason in the novel Jane Eyre. Victorian Era mental patients were first treated with ignorance and anger. As society became aware of this terrible treatment, the
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Bertha is described in a way that makes her seem inhuman: “…What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it groveled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing; and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face.” (Bronte 250) The description of Bertha reveals that she was not getting the help she needed like an official mental patient does due to being locked in the attic of Thornfield Hall. Bronte’s depiction of mental illness is also seen as racist, due to Bertha being the daughter of a Creole. Mr. Rochester states: “Bertha Mason is mad . . .she came of a mad family; --idiots and maniacs through three generations! Her mother, the Creole, was both a mad woman and a drunkard… Bertha, like a dutiful child, copied her parent in both points… (Bronte 249) “Lunatic” and “alcoholic” were both common stereotypes amongst Creoles. These stereotypes are suggesting that Bertha followed in the footsteps of her “mad” mother, causing her mental
Bertha is described in a way that makes her seem inhuman: “…What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it groveled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing; and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face.” (Bronte 250) The description of Bertha reveals that she was not getting the help she needed like an official mental patient does due to being locked in the attic of Thornfield Hall. Bronte’s depiction of mental illness is also seen as racist, due to Bertha being the daughter of a Creole. Mr. Rochester states: “Bertha Mason is mad . . .she came of a mad family; --idiots and maniacs through three generations! Her mother, the Creole, was both a mad woman and a drunkard… Bertha, like a dutiful child, copied her parent in both points… (Bronte 249) “Lunatic” and “alcoholic” were both common stereotypes amongst Creoles. These stereotypes are suggesting that Bertha followed in the footsteps of her “mad” mother, causing her mental