The woman writer and the nineteenth century literary imagination in the 700 page text gilbert and gubar use the figure of bertha mason as the so called madwoman in the attic to make an argument about perceptions toward female literary characters during the time period.
Rochest mad women attic.
One of the most fascinating characters in literature is the mysterious mad woman confined to an attic in jane eyre.
According to the book antoinette s insanity and drunkenness are the result of rochester s misguided belief that madness is in her blood and that she was part of the scheme to have him married blindly.
The real life attic that was the inspiration for a section of jane eyre where mentally ill character bertha mason is confined before she commits suicide is now open to the public.
In 1979 sandra gilbert and susan gubar made a breakthrough in feminist criticism with their work the madwoman in the attic.
The first and most important point to make about her is that within the time span of the novel she is unable to give an account of herself.
The woman writer and the nineteenth century literary imagination is a 1979 book by sandra gilbert and susan gubar in which they examine victorian literature from a feminist perspective.
I have read and re read jane eyre many times and i m embarrassed to admit that i had never paid much attention to this spectre of a woman lurking in the shadows until much later in life.
The madwoman in the attic.
However one obstacle remains in their odd relation rochester s first wife bertha mason.
In the novel we follow the life of bronte s heroine jane eyre and love for the proud and resilient edward rochester.
The madwoman in the attic the most well known and problematic character in jane eyre is rochester s first wife who is almost always referred to by her maiden name of bertha mason.
Bertha mason rochester s first wife was a beautiful creole woman from jamaica who rochester married years ago before she had a mental breakdown and naturally had to be locked in the attic.
It is considered a landmark of feminist.
One like jane curtailed over the years to fit into the conventional victorian angel of the house the other bertha suffering her confinement and being eventually pushed towards madness madwoman in the attic two terms used by sandra gilbert and susan gubar in a reading of jane eyre their very famous.
The mad women in the attic charlotte bronte published jane eyre in 1847 some 50 or so years before jean rhys was alive.
The book purports to tell antoinette s side of the story as well as rochester s and to account for how she ended up alone and raving in the attic of thornfield hall.
The woman writer and the nineteenth century literary imagination by sandra gilbert and susan gubar was first published in 1979.
