Bertha Mason, Insane Asylums, and Jane Eyre
Like so many women of the Victorian Era, Bertha Mason of Jane Eyre does not get a voice. Bertha Mason’s character is physically in the pages of Jane Eyre and in fact, one of the biggest characters of the novel. The only vocalization of Bertha Mason that readers get is an eerie and bone chilling laugh. Bertha Mason is the wife of Mr. Rochester. Bertha Mason has one of the saddest stories in Jane Eyre. Bertha a native of Jamaica and was forced into a marriage to Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester brought Bertha back to his native England. However, before even leaving Jamaica, Mr. Rochester notices something is off about his wife and learns that mental instability runs in the family. Mr. Rochester is stuck and so is Bertha. When Bertha and Mr. Rochester returns to England and his estate, Bertha, is sent to spend her days in the attic. Unfortunately for both Bertha and Mr. Rochester they are both stuck in this marriage. But is it wrong of Mr. Rochester to lock Bertha in the attic, while Mr. Rochester goes gallivanting throughout Europe? The mentally unstable have a long history in Europe. After giving brief history of insane asylums and divorce laws of the Victorian Era in England, you can decide for yourself if locking up Bertha was the best option.
In modern times when we think of insane asylums we think of people locked in cold cells, electric shock therapy, straightjackets, medication and unhealthy living conditions. But the Victorian Era’s insane asylums weren’t too far off of what we think of today. The Victorian Era was a time of growth, class/ society, and morals. When someone did not show high morals or were considered an outsider they faced criticism from society. In an article by Western University they say that:
In Victorian society, the home and family were viewed as the source of order, stability, and morality. Urban-industrial culture meant that an increasing number of people were living outside the structure of the traditional home, which called morality into question by accepted Victorian standards…. The temptations encountered in an urban setting could easily corrupt the supposedly morally weak, and lead to alcoholism, drug addiction, and promiscuity, which were common reasons for commitment to the asylum.
Any behavior from a person what wasn’t viewed as being acceptable in the Victorian Era is grounds for being able to put someone into an asylum.
What’s worse than a loved one or the government putting you in an asylum was the asylum itself. According to the Science Museum insane asylums used, “straightjackets, seclusion, and sedative drugs on unruly patients.” What’s even worse than people trying to help the unstable is people that really don’t know much about mental illness. It is widely known that during the Victorian Era (and before) the practice of psychology and psychiatry wasn’t really practiced beforehand and they themselves didn’t really know how to treat and cure the patients in the asylums. According to Western University, “physician understood that patients suffering from mental illness deemed hereditary could not be cured because their condition was inherited rather than acquired.” That being said, Bertha’s mother was known to have some sort of mental illness and instability. In the terms from the physicians Bertha would never be cured of her mental illness because it was passed on to her heretically by her mother.
L. Forbes Winslow writes that:
Such and such strength of dungeon, so much length of chain, such and such allowance of straw, of bread and of water, and there was an end of it. If the poor wretch raged, they tortured him; if he pined, he might if it pleased him, pine to death. The asylum was like that place of horror over the door of which the Italian poet wrote that those who entered were to abandon even hope (Victorian Web). Insane asylums were not the best places for anyone to live in during the Victorian Era. There was no electric heat for the winters or air conditioning in the summer. According to Winslow, patients slept on straw (like animals) and received very little food. No person should ever have to live like that.
Divorce laws during the Victorian Era were just as bad as the asylums. In Jane Eyre we read that Mr. Rochester cannot divorce Bertha. The only people that could really get a divorce during this time are the extremely wealthy. Even the wealthy didn’t want to get divorced (not in all cases) because the divorce would become publicized and talked about. During the Victorian Era (and before) women were viewed as property and women had very little rights. Women could not own property. Women were essentially there to bare children, raise the children, and run the household. I took English Novel 1750-1850 a couple of semesters ago and we read Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. One of the problems that Helen Graham faced in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was she wanted to leave her husband and take their son with her. However, even though Helen was the mother she didn’t have a right to take her son. Women and children were property and the rights of the men. It wouldn’t be until 1873 that women would be able to have custody of children after a divorce (Wikipedia). Insanity was not recognized as grounds for divorce until 1937 (long after Bertha and Mr. Rochester’s time).
As a modern day reader of Jane Eyre, the idea of locking your wife in the attic because of insanity seems inhuman. As a Victorian Era reader reading about locking your wife in the attic seems more humane than sending her to an insane asylum. Both Mr. Rochester and Bertha were in a terrible situation but the situation could have been a lot worse if Bertha were in an insane asylum. At least Bertha was treated with more humanity than she would have got in an asylum.
“Mental Institutions.” Brought to Life: Exploring the History of Medicine. Science Museum- UK, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
UWO Public Hisorty Students. “Restoring Perspective: Life and Treatment at the London Asylum.” Western University, 2008-2009. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
“Women in the Victorian Era.” Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.