The madwoman in the attic has been reivindicated by both postcolonialists and feminists as a

symbol of patriarchal oppression and social injustice. According to Gayatri Chakravorty

Spivak, in her influential essay, Three womens texts and a critique of imperialism, it is
impossible to approach nineteenth-century British literature without bearing in mind that
Imperialism, constituted a crucial part of the cultural representation of England to the
English.

Spivak belongs to the so-called second-wave of feminist theoreticians writing mainly in the
1970s and 80s comprised by authors such as Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer and Kate Millet,
whose Sexual Politics (1970) is the best known work of this period. Gilbert and Gubars work
reviewed in my previous post was written within this time frame, as was Elaine Showalters
influential and inspiring work on women novelists in A Literature of Their Own (1978), more
recently revised in her article, Twenty Years on: A Literature of Their Own Revisited
Their views can be summarized in Barbara Johnsons famous quote, the question of gender
is a question of language. The feminist approach is based on the assumption that that
gender difference is located in and transferred through language. And subsequently, the
language used to transmit culture through literature, was high on their targets for criticism.
However, Feminist Literary Criticism was soon to join forces with Postcolonial Criticism.
Spivak was one of the first academics who related to the rise of feminisms among women of
color in the area of Postcolonial Studies by examining the effects of political independence
upon subaltern, or subproletarian women, in third world countries.

In the above mentioned article, Spivak has taken Charlotte Brontes novel and Jean Rhyss
1960s writing back or reinterpretation of the events prior to Jane Eyres appearance at
Thornfield Hall, as her starting point for a literary reinterpretation of Patriarchy and
Colonialism in their diverse representations of the mad Creole (in Rochesters words).

Firstly, I would like make it clear, as Spivak did herself, that this is in no way a criticism of
the author, Charlotte Bronte, whose intentions we cannot fully gauge, but of the characters
she recreated and we are free to reinterpret. In any case, it is my opinion, that Bronte was
well aware of Rochesters lack of character; after all she portrayed him in with all his faults.
She was however subtle enough to show him through the blind eyes of his beloved Jane
Eyre, but that does not mean that her eyes are truthful. Jane is not a reliable narrator with
respect to Rochester: she is a woman blindly in love. The reader, on the other hand need not
be blindly in love with him, too. Although many have succumbed to his spell, Rochester is
the real villain in Jane Eyre.

The figure of Bertha Mason is, according to Spivak, produced by the rise of imperialism. She
is a white Jamaican Creole, who is portrayed both by Jane and Rochester (through Janes
reinterpretation of Rochesters words), on the frontier between the human and the animal.
This is Janes famous description of her when she first saw her in her prison-attic at
Thornfield Hall, after the interrupted wedding to Rochester:
The maniac bellowed: she parted her shaggy locks from her visage, and gazed wildly at her
visitors. I recognized well that purple face,those bloated features.

Rochesters description of her is no less pejorative. He refers to her as: The lunatic is both
cunning and malignant;, and What a pigmy intellect she had, and what giant propensities!,
and Bertha Mason is mad; and she came of a mad family; idiots and maniacs through three
generations? Her mother, the Creole, was both a madwoman and a drunkard!

Forty years after Jane Eyre was published, Jean Rhys, was born on the Caribbean Island of
Dominica, where she read the novel as a child, she was moved by Bertha Mason: I thought
Id try to write her a life. Wide Sargasso Sea, published in 1965, is Berthas life from her
childhood to her death.

Spivaks essay reminds us that in Ovids Metamorphoses, Narcissus madness is disclosed

when he recognizes his other as his self: iste ego sum. in WSS Bertha Antoinette sees her
other self in the mirror: I went into the hall again with the tall candle in my hand. It was then
that I saw her the ghost. The woman with streaming hair. She was surrounded by a gilt
frame but I knew her (WSS, p. 154). The gilt frame encloses a mirror in whose reflection
bertha sees her other self. But who is this other self? Is it Bertha or is it Jane Eyre? After this
dream vision, Bertha finally understands her mission at Thornfield Hall: now at last I know
why I was brought here and what I have to do (WSS, pp. 155-56), and she burns down the
house and takes her life, ironically so that her other self (Jane Eyre) can become the heroine
of Brontes novel and marry Mr. Rochester.

Bertha was originally created in Jane Eyre as a secondary, yet essential character within the
novel. Any reinterpretation of this character must be based on surfacing the subtext of the
original novel. That is, of unearthing the subtleties of her story. Bertha never speaks, she was
metaphorically gagged, until Jean Rhys wrote her story and reminded us that everyone has
the right to be heard albeit belatedly, in the 20th century, in spite of being denied a voice in
the 19th century. Bertha cannot move or be seen, because she is literally confined in a
windowless room. Unseen and Unheard. She is an invisible, voiceless, and imprisoned human
being, and yet in spite of this Rochester has been hailed as the hero of the novel for over 160
years!

Well, its time to question Berthas madness and listen to what she had to say. Its time to see
her, hear her, and let her have a life! Jean Rhys started the ball rolling with her prequel WSS,
and Ive picked up the ball and kept it rolling with a sequel. My novel, All Hallows at Eyre
Hall, (to be published very shortly on Amazon. Theres a preview on another page on this
blog!), takes up the story twenty-three years after Berthas death. However, she is powerfully
present throughout my novel, from page one. I have given Bertha a very strong voice. Ive
given her a daughter to speak up for her and claim her dues, and Ive also reconciled her with
Jane Eyre Rochester, who has grown up and out of love, so she can see Bertha as she really
was, not as Rochester wanted her to be seen.