An examination of Bertha's role in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre in the context of feminism and patriarchy.

Jane, Bertha, Mr. Rochester and Evil. "It drew aside the window-curtain and looked out; perhaps it saw dawn approaching, for taking the candle, it retreated to the door. Just at my bedside the figure stopped: fiery eyes glared upon me--she thrust up her candle close to my face, and extinguished it under my eyes. I was aware her lurid visage flamed over mine, and I lost consciousness." In this passage Jane tells the story of …

…to Mr. Rochester at once. The passage as a whole nearly parallels the life of the relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester; beginning innocently, leading to terror, and disappearing temporarily until the evil has vanished. Each word in this passage is complex and can have much read into it, is well chosen and far from superficial. At the end of the novel Jane and Mr. Rochester marry and both can literally see the light again.