How Rochester Perceives Bertha
Rochester locks his wife in the attic without any assistance or considerate care and tries marrying Jane. Notably, Rochester perceives Bertha as responsible for her situation and sees her as an insane woman from a mad family. He understands Bertha as a mad woman but fails to realize that Bertha is battling a progressive psychiatric illness. Rochester categorizes Bertha as an angry woman from a mad family, and he tells Jane, “Bertha came from a mad family, with a mum who was a drunkard and a madwoman, but also that like an obedient kid, she imitated her parent in both points inferring a degree of choice” (Brontë, 2018). He justifies his actions by locking Bertha up because she was popular for her beauty, was the town’s pride, and was hunted by several suitors. However, Rochester’s reason for locking Bertha up was because of her forwardness as a female.
In the Victorian era, women were to remain angels of the house, and men were to define their identity for them. As a result, Rochester locks up Bertha with the excuse that she is insane and cannot allow her to roam freely without the anxiety of harming others or herself. When Jane confronts him, Rochester responds, “To tell me that I had already a wife is empty mockery: you know now that I had but a hideous demon. I was wrong to attempt to deceive you; but… I feared instilling prejudice” (Brontë, 2018). Here, Rochester is not remorseful about hiding Bertha from Jane, which he claims should not be a problem as his wife is mad.
Essentially, Bertha is depicted as an animal caged by Rochester, without the rights or senses of a human. She has no say in whatever is done to her and is disciplined severely when she tries to react or get any attention from Rochester. Therefore, there is no proper explanation for his thinking about caging her. He only insists that Bertha is mad and cannot be freed and says he married Bertha because she was in love with her, and he believed she was “pure, charming, modest and wise” (Brontë, 2018). In addition, it was not until after their wedding that he learned that Bertha was a person with alcohol use disorder battling severe mental disorders. Unfortunately, Jane does not agree with this explanation. Therefore, Jane’s existence or leaving Rochester is not because she is angry or hates Rochester but because she is anxious about becoming enslaved and being his mistress. Bertha leaving Rochester proves that she needs her freedom and she can stay without him and eventually own herself again.
References
Brontë, C. (2018). Jane eyre. In Medicine and Literature (pp. 53-72). CRC Press.
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Question 
How Rochester Perceives Bertha
How does he perceive Bertha? How does he understand her or fail to understand her? What categories does he use in his portrayal of Bertha to Jane? How does he rationalize his actions? Does he explain his decision to imprison Bertha in the attic? How does he explain his thinking to Jane? Does Jane accept his explanation? What do you make of Jane’s decision to leave him?
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (Norton, ISBN 0393975428)