Jane Eyre Bertha Character Analysis

First of all, Bronte depicts Antoinette as a character who loses her sanity and becomes a violent ‘beast’. In Jane Eyre, the first impression of Bertha emerges when Jane hears a “demoniac laugh – low, suppressed and deep” and some moaning from Bertha (Brontë 164). The moaning indicates that Bertha functions more like a wild animal than an ordinary human being. Brontë portrays her like a savage creature instead of a human. Jane also hears “a snarling and snatching sound, almost like a dog quarreling” from the attic where Rochester locks Bertha (Brontë 231). The sound Jane hears makes Bertha more like a wild beast that does not know what it is doing. It is not only the sound Bertha makes that illustrates her madness, but also her violent actions. The madwoman violently tears Jane’s veil the night before Jane’s expected happy wedding with Mr. Rochester. After witnessing the whole process, Jane says to Rochester that Bertha is one of “the foul German spectre – a vampyre” (Brontë 312).
The novel’s description of Bertha’s appearance when she looks at herself in the mirror further establishes a beast-like image. She has red eyes, whose color is like blood, dark lips and a swollen purple face. In addition to her animal-like laugh, violent action of tearing the veil, and strange appearance, she demonstrates a more …show more content…
When Antoinette loves him wholly and asks him “Don’t you love me at all?” Rochester replies “No, I do not…Not at this moment” (Rhys 148). Opposite to love, Rochester hates Antoinette. He describes his hatred by saying, “I hated the mountains and the hills, the rivers and the rain. Above all I hated her. For she belonged to the magic and the loveliness. She had left me thirsty and all my life would be thirst and longing for what I had lost before I found it” (Rhys 172). His refusal to respond to Antoinette’s love further disrupts her mental