The two unknown strangers are like representations of something bad lurking in the background, “two shadows only moved in a remote corner,”, in a normal wedding strangers wouldn’t just show up without their presence being questioned, and you that they must have a reason for being there; the connotations of darkness let you know that whatever their reason, its bad for Jane and Rochester. Phrases like ‘stranger danger’ lead you to believe that people you don’t know have a chance of being a threat to you.
Charlotte Bronte describes Rochester as rock rather than a groom in love, to convey his emotions, “how like quarried marble was his pale, firm, massive front at this moment,” what you can connote from this is that he is steeling himself, trying to remain strong because his past has caught up with him and is about to take away his future. He is also trying to stay strong because in Victorian times men didn’t just collapse in the face of a crisis, women did, but men had to seem like they had it all under control to comfort them. In addition, the harder he holds onto Jane, he has a better chance of not losing her.
Bronte continues with the symbol of rock and its physical qualities relating to the behaviour of Mr Rochester further on, “his whole face was colourless rock; his eyes both spark and flint,” the colourless part tells you that he is emotionless or is hiding what he really feels because showing that he feels guilt or regret tells Jane he’s done something wrong, sadness tells her that they may not be able to get married, and anger might push her away or scare her as it would for a normal Victorian woman. The description of his eyes brings images of fire to your head, which emphasizes that as much as he’s trying to hide it he does feel something very intense and he is taking everything very seriously.
Bronte also presents Rochester as forceful through her use of imperatives, “produce him,” and “I again demand” show that Rochester has the authority to command people wherever he goes because of his socio-economic status, and that he is trying to seize and maintain control of the situation by directing who speaks and what they say.
Jane’s upbringing lacked love, those who would’ve been there for her, to pick her up when she fell died, so she spent her whole life picking herself up and being strong for herself, because of it when bad things happen to her, her reaction isn’t typical, “I was collected, and in do danger of swooning,” Bronte shows Jane as the strong woman she has become, any normal Victorian woman would not have been able to watch their dreams fall apart without fainting or going into shock. Although most typical Victorian women may have crumbled in distress, what the etiquette of the time called for is for a Lady to remain composed and quiet even when they felt intense emotion, in that sense Jane acted as she typically should.
Bertha is described by Bronte as everything a Victorian woman shouldn’t be, “The maniac bellowed; she parted her shaggy locks from her visage, and gazed wildly at her visitors,” Victorian women were meant to have their hair tied away from their faces, make little noise; only speaking when spoken to, and be completely calm, Bertha is the opposite, and in those times not being what you were supposed to be made you wrong, evil, or crazy. Jane contrasts because she tries her hardest to remain the Victorian ideal, and sometimes does so without trying, her hair is constantly up, she never speaks unless spoken to, and accepts who her master is and does what she’s told; making her tame, rather than wildly following her own will.
Bertha is dehumanized by Bronte, “on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal,” she is constantly referred to as it and Bertha doesn’t seem to use any real language, making her seem less like a human, therefore making it easier to believe its tolerable to lock her up. There were barely any animal rights in those times so a caged animal was acceptable, her rights as a human didn’t occur to them because they believed that you had to act and look like their view of what is human to be considered one. Bronte describes Bertha as “the clothed hyena” this metaphor puts emphasis on her being not like a hyena, but so like a hyena that she practically is one, and that dressing like a human doesn’t make her any less of an animal, it also stresses how no-one can communicate with her.
Bronte emphasizes the bleakness of Bertha and her situation by using various images of darkness, “the low, black door,” “In a room without a window,” the darkness can symbolize many things; it can be representative of how Bertha is the one that ruins the happiness of Jane and Rochester, making her the villain, the dark evil character who does no good for anyone. It can also signify how dark her life is, in comparison to her upbringing in the bright sun, her life turned from good to bad, and black can often symbolize feelings of anger and sadness, which is what Bertha must feel, being locked away from the world.
Rochester barely understands Bertha, though he thinks he does, “Bertha Mason is mad; she came from a mad family; idiots and maniacs through 3 generations?” Rochester assumes that her madness was down to her roots; the family trend of insanity, information which was withheld from him before he chose to marry her, and the assumption of the British that living in the hot Caribbean turns you mad. He thought that it was inevitable that she would’ve turned mad, but no-one told him, and he was tricked into marrying her, so he holds some contempt for her and her family for leaving him ‘stuck’ with her for their own personal gain, but her violent mental illness is maybe only partially down to the genes she inherited and nothing to do with growing up in a hot country, but rather being snatched away from her home and being forced to live in a different and a strange society. Rochester also mentions “Her Mother, the Creole, was both a madwoman and a drunkard!”” as if it’s important the having some black in your family dictates lunacy in your future, still not understanding Bertha’s position. Bertha may represent how Victorian women suffer, taken from their homes as wives, forced to do as instructed and not being able to express themselves so their feelings are locked up deep within, and Bertha is the embodiment of that.
Charlotte Bronte uses a range of techniques to present to Wedding of Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester in chapter 26, and all the preceding chapters built up to what was going to happen and gave the reader clues to how Jane would act, and how Rochester’s behaviour is normally. Bronte didn’t convey the wedding conventionally to make the reader anxious and suspicious about how it was going to end. Bertha was presented to the reader through animal imagery, and adjectives to describe madness, darkness and blasphemy, representing Bertha as more than just a madwoman, but a symbol of how Victorian women felt inwardly. All three characters were represented as unconventional to the Victorian ideal, Rochester through his wedding ceremony, Bertha through her insanity, and Jane through her actions and reactions.
