History & The Arts
When Edward met Bertha: Mental Health, Colonialism, Race and Patriarchy in Jane Eyre
...course’ she had been ‘shut up’ as she had been declared ‘mad’. Hearing the story of his sufferings, Jane has every pity for her ‘hero’. However, he has quite a track record himself. There is clearly one rule for rich, white, male Edward, and quite another for Bertha Mason. Edward is a man and he has money and power. It is his narrative which Jane relates, as...