There is a character that the readers cannot ignore, it's one of the most powerful and moving passages of the whole book, it is Bertha Mason. The readers learns of her past not from her perspective but only through the description of her unhappy husband, Edward Mr. Rochester. But her presence haunts it even when she's not there and she's such an interesting figure because in some ways she's like Jane - there's lots of parallels between the two of them. Maria the Writer illustrates the fact that Bertha is a 21st century woman trapped in a 1900 Victorian society. She is independent because she chooses to rebel against the male standards of femininity by reserving her right to choose what she deems right for her life. The men in her stories label her negatively because she refuses to submit to their “angel in the house mentality.” Bertha proves, in her own words, that the “madwoman” theory does not portray her accurately. Her actions seem beyond that of an “angel” because she refuses to accept a lifestyle not conducive to her beliefs. Author, Wilson Harris, believes Bertha’s captivity “is no less than a hidden surrender of life…”

Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar published The Madwoman in the Attic, a now classic text of early feminist literary criticism (1978). “General Speaking, Bertha Mason, who is the insane wife of Mr. Rochester, the counterpart of Jane, is nothing more than one of several trials that Jane must face and overcome; the final test following struggles with her vindictive Aunt Reed and the hypocritical  headmaster of Lowood boarding school, Mr. Brocklehurst.”