Meg's Class Summary

We began class with yet another exciting (and yet not quite as popular as Thursday’s) Reward Quiz. Dr. Foss began the lesson with a lead-in from last class—that is, the subject of Bertha Mason, her treatment and animalistic characterization. Later in the class, we discussed another character who appears in the third installment of the novel, St. John Rivers, particularly in relation to other characters in the novel, such as Jane and Rosamund Oliver. Throughout our discussion, it became apparent that in Jane Eyre, four of the central characters, Jane, Rochester, Bertha Mason, and St. John Rivers, are able to function as foils to one another. The differences in their characterizations, as well as the endings they receive, allow Brontë to expose specific issues that Victorian society was beginning to question, such as disability, gender, and standing institutions such as the church and religion.

We first discussed Bertha Mason; there were several in the class who found Mason’s descriptions within the novel alarming. Bertha Mason is perhaps one of the most memorable women in Jane Eyre, succeeded only by the protagonist, Jane. But where Jane is a chaste and desired (at least by Rochester) woman, Bertha Mason’s appearances in the novel characterize her as subhuman at best. She has a “savage” (329) face with “red eyes and fearful black lineaments” (329). Mason also “bellow(s)” (340) and wears a “shroud” (329) rather than actual garments. Furthermore, the novel states that Mason, whether before or during her marriage, is not chaste; she drinks heavily as well. This is in stark contrast with Jane, who is “quiet, grave, and simple” (149) or “elfin” (310). Jane, perfectly sane, is often likened to a nun. Brontë’s treatment of Mason reflects some of the attitudes towards the mentally ill at the time; Mason is animalistic and her prison is hellish—containing little more than firelight and chains. The imagery here implies that not only is the disabled woman subhuman or beastly, she is also fairly evil as well—at least in comparison with Jane, who outwardly displays all the good qualities of domesticity. Although Foss mentioned in class that Brontë later regretted characterizing Mason so brutally, the fact that at first she did not hesitate to make Mason’s monstrosity her main character point rather than giving her a sympathetic view perhaps says something about both the writer and her audience’s perceptions of the mentally disabled, particularly with such phrases as “pygmy intellect” (353), which again imply a subhuman nature. Because Mason does not dwell within a feminine or domestic sphere at all, whereas Jane does also speaks to the gender ideals of the time, implying that the woman who oversteps her boundary will be marked as “other” or “abnormal” by her peers and condemned.

Mason can also be foiled with Rochester. Although Rochester is only marked as idiosyncratic, one can argue that he is also mentally disabled. Although Rochester’s speech and actions—he shakes Jane violently and speaks erratically (“But Jane will give me her love: yes—nobly, generously” (350))—can be argued as a man in distress, they are nonetheless symptoms of a distressed mind. Furthermore, Rochester acts in other odd ways, for example, dressing as a gypsy in order to pursue Jane. Bertha Mason’s main faults, however—her promiscuity and alcoholism—can also be argued as symptoms of a distressed mind. Because Rochester has power and is male, society merely disregards his issues while at the same time condemning Bertha. The book also handles the ends of their respective disabilities as well. While Rochester eventually regains his sight, a wife, and a son, Bertha Mason is condemned to jump off the roof and die.

Later in the class, we discussed St. John Rivers; my small group was not particularly pleased with St. John; we had several choice words for him. St. John Rivers also functions as a foil for Jane as well, highlighting both the intended docile nature of the Victorian as well as the revolution against God and government that was beginning to occur. One first sees this between Jane and St. John. Both are similar in their devotion to God and both are quiet and work hard. Yet St. John adheres to the strict class system imposed on British society as well as his intense devotion to religion. Rather than be with Rosamund, a gentlewoman that he is in love with, St. John instead chooses to admire her quietly from afar, believing that “twelve months’ rapture would succeed a lifetime of regret” (434). St. John strives only for his heavenly reward, but slowly turns into “marble” (527). Jane, on the other hand, has her own ideas about religion and spirituality, and instead refuses to marry St. John out of complicity. She eventually chooses Rochester, rebelling against class and the disapproval of British society. St. John consistently suggests death; not only is he stone but his choice to go to India results in his death. Jane’s choice, however, produces a new son and the healing of blindness and so implies life and renewal.

In Jane Eyre, Jane, Rochester, Bertha Mason, and St. John are various foils of one another. Through their differences in nature and ultimate paths, the novel suggests both discriminations in disability and gender, as well as the need to break away from the traditional molds in British society, such as religion. Because of this, Jane Eyre is a rather remarkable novel; on the surface, it masquerades as the simple, gothic story of a governess. However, its underlying revolutionary nature makes it one of the first novels of the period to expose and display the shifting mentalities of the Victorian populace.