{"id":558,"date":"2020-10-08T21:57:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T21:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=558"},"modified":"2020-10-08T22:13:36","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T22:13:36","slug":"colonialist-attitudes-in-jane-eyre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2020\/10\/08\/colonialist-attitudes-in-jane-eyre\/","title":{"rendered":"Colonialist Attitudes in “Jane Eyre”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Jane Eyre<\/em>, Bertha Mason serves as an unintentional antagonist since she is the major hindrance to Jane and Rochester\u2019s marriage. Bertha’s mental illness and power are implied to be a result of her upbringing in the West Indies, reflected in the colonialist descriptions of this landscape.<\/p>\n

In chapter 24, Rochester\u2019s description of his marriage to Bertha demonstrates how the text characterizes Bertha and the West Indies as a source of moral corruption and entrapment. Rochester states, \u201cit was a fiery West Indian night; one of the description that frequently precede the hurricanes of those climates\u2026the air was like sulfur streams\u2014 I could find no refreshment anywhere\u201d (Bronte 433). This description of a \u201cfiery,\u201d sulfuric environment convey images of a toxic, overpowering atmosphere. The eminent hurricane expresses the \u2018instability\u2019 of the West Indies. Rochester cannot find \u201crefreshment,\u201d and therefore escape from this uncomfortable, foreign setting. The environment of the West Indies is comparable to a hellish landscape, reflected in Bertha\u2019s moral and mental degradation.<\/p>\n

The hellish description of the West Indies is mirrored in Bertha\u2019s actions. Rochester recalls that Bertha \u201cthrew her last bloody glance over a world quivering with the ferment of tempest\u2026 my ears were filled with the curses the maniac still shrieked out; wherein she momentarily mingled my name with such a tone of demon-hate\u2026no professed harlot ever had a fouler vocabulary than she\u201d (Bronte 434). The violent landscape described as a \u201cferment of tempest\u201d is reflected in Bertha\u2019s loss of mental control, leading to disturbed behavior. She is dehumanized as a \u201cmaniac\u201d and \u201cdemon\u201d with \u201cbloody eyes,\u201d creating an image of a monster rather than a woman. Bertha is also compared to a \u201charlot,\u201d or prostitute, which reinforces her sinful nature connected to her sexuality. Therefore, Bertha is both mentally ill and uncontrollably immoral, which is implied to be a product of her surroundings.<\/p>\n

These images of an unmanageable, hellish landscape combined with Bertha\u2019s \u2018insanity\u2019 portray the West Indies as a site of\u00a0 moral degradation. Rochester, since he is a foreigner, is able to \u2018escape,’ yet is still tempted to succumb to sin through suicide. However, he is also permanently trapped by his experiences there through his marriage to Bertha. The portrayal of the West Indies as an overpowering force simultaneously removes Rochester\u2019s blame for his situation and reinforces colonialist attitudes of\u00a0 \u201ccivilizing\u201d other cultures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Jane Eyre, Bertha Mason serves as an unintentional antagonist since she is the major hindrance to Jane and Rochester\u2019s marriage. Bertha’s mental illness and power are implied to be a result of her upbringing in the West Indies, reflected in the colonialist descriptions of this landscape. In chapter 24, Rochester\u2019s description of his marriage … Continue reading Colonialist Attitudes in “Jane Eyre”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3607,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138877],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3607"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}