The Character Of Bertha In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

There is a limited amount of information that an individual can take in at a time that will cause them to overlook other important facts. Each person only have their own set of eyes, so they can only see events unfold in their own perspective and make judgements that are one sided. Multiple views of an event is needed before making a finally conclusion that is fair to the people that are involved. This fact showed up in the Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, when Antoinette (a.k.a Bertha) told Rochester that “There is always the other side, always” (Rhys 77). In Jane Eyre readers are given details about Antoinette through the perspective of Jane, and Mr. Rochester. Through what Mr. Rochester said about Bertha and Jane’s description of her as a “clothed hyena” (Brontë 250), readers will develop a negative impression of Bertha. Readers are not given any of Bertha’s thoughts, and like an animal, which Jane calls her a hyena, she has no voice throughout the entire novel. When Brontë created the character, Bertha, she probably only …show more content…
They both lacked parental love, Jane’s parents died when she was young, and Bertha’s mother did not care for her. They lived in an era that is dominated by male figures, but unlike Bertha, Jane’s strong nature allowed her to have equality in the relationship with Rochester. Brontë did a great job in showing that people that are oppressed by authority should stand up for themselves and voice their opinion in her novel. Readers can see early on in Jane Eyre that the little girl Jane suffers injustice when she got punished for something that is not her fault. In the eyes of Mrs. Reed everything that Jane did was considered faulty. Jane could not hold back her anger anymore after Mrs. Reed accused her of being a deceitful girl in front of Mr. Brocklehurst. She fought back against Mrs. Reed’s accusation with a strong