“What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it grovelled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing; and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face.”
Brontë, Jane Eyre, on Bertha Mason
Brontë seems to be portraying Bertha as a monster in the physical sense, but this is not the only monstrous thing in this section of the novel. Jane’s description of Bertha reflects how people once viewed the mentally ill, though it’s important to note that Jane Eyre was written around the time that public opinion on this subject was changing. According to the Westminster Review “the ‘disposition of the public’ towards the mentally ill was becoming ‘more enlightened and benevolent‘” and “that patients in mental asylums ought to be given ‘the benefit of a cheerful look-out on a pleasing prospect'” (Atherton, “The figure of Bertha Mason“). This makes Jane’s reaction to seeing Bertha strange, possibly to indicate that judgement is the true monster, not Mrs. Rochester.
