Chapter 26.1

Question 1

Voice narrative / perspective:

Answer 1

• Mostly spoken dialogue, Rochester revealing his secret.
• Also internal monologue used to describe the attack and Bertha’s features:
  “I recognised well that purple face - those bloated features”,
  this relates to post colonial reading as readers nowadays would consider this racism, but at the time it was normalised to racially other people of colour.

Question 2

Character:

Answer 2

• The Jane of Gateshead is contrasted with Bertha.
• After she attacks, Bertha is
  “bound to a chair”, rope, as is Jane in the Red Room in Gateshead.
• This could reflect what Jane’s future could’ve been, if not for learning from her friend Helen.
• She learned to suppress her “hysteria”, something Bertha does not - making her a “madwoman”.
• Rochester compares Jane with Bertha: “Compare these eyes with the red balls yonder”,
  this is significant as it shows if Jane did not change her ways she could have ended up the same - excluded from society as a whole.

Question 3

Structure:

Answer 3

• The link between the two women, Jane and Bertha, as Jane was trapped in the Red Room for her hysteria Bertha was too confined to her husband’s attic.
• Both were considered “mad” and unfit for society: “fierce ragout”.
  All the clues we as readers were given climaxes as Jane finally finds out Mr Rcohester’s big secret: a hidden wife.
  “Those bloated features”, Jane recognises Bertha from when she snuck into her room - dots are connecting.

Question 4

Genre:

Answer 4

• Elements of the gothic as there is a lexical field of both a wild beast and the devil: “clothed hyena”, “gambols of a demon”, “Go to the devil!”
• This is a way of dehumanising Bertha for her being a “maniac”.
• Theme of God vs Devil, represented by the comparison of Jane vs Bertha:
  “this young girl, who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell.”
• This is also opposing a traditional female character, not a damsel in distress but facing danger head-to-head with little reaction.

Question 5

Context:

Answer 5

“Hysteria” and “madwomen”, those who did not conform to gender stereotypes / roles were deemed insane, especially those who were too passionate.
- “hysteria” was deemed an illness of the uterus, being too overly emotional.
- Rochester quotes Matthew 7:1-5 (KJV): “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again”.
- This is another example of men (like Mr Brocklehurst) using this form of Christianity to justify their own actions. - This is in comparison to women like Helen and Jane.
- “Villianising” black characters, showing the internalised Victorian racism.