'Jane Eyre' (1847), the novel of Charlotte Bronte, is one of the most iconic love stories of all time. It is mainly about the love between Mr.Rochester and Jane Eyre. But, there is another character who has been considered as the ' mad woman in the attic'- Bertha Mason; the first wife of Mr.Rochester.
Bertha is the great tragedy of Rochester's life. She is the catalyst that proves Rochester's ultimate redemption and Jane's moral virtue. Bertha has considered as the image of terror, sickness and malice. The story is picturising Bertha Mason as an image of horror and as a tragic figure. She is considered as one of the most controversial characters of all time.
In Victorian era, mental illness was taken as a token of a familial taint, a sort of curse on the bloodline. Bertha Mason's madness is a sign of an inward corruption, a cancer that has eaten through her body, mind, spirit and bloodline.
The complete figure of Bertha as a tragedy has changed in Jean Rhys' "Wide Sargasso Sea". Bertha Mason in the twentieth century has earned her own redemption of sorts, particularly following in this novel. It is widely considered the first postcolonial novel. The novel presents a far more sympathetic and infinitely more human image of Rochester's wife, who was, according to the novel, born Antoinette Cosway on the island of Jamaica. Through this novel, the character of Bertha Mason as a tragedy got salvation.
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