Inside the story
Meet Bertha Mason
Bertha Antoinetta Mason is Mr. Rochester’s first wife, a Creole heiress from Jamaica whose severe mental illness has led to violent behavior. At the outset, she is kept hidden in the attic of Thornfield Hall under Grace Poole’s guard, while Rochester presents himself as an unmarried master of the house.
On the page
A large, corpulent woman with a bloated, discoloured purple face, swollen features, bloodshot eyes, and a mass of thick, shaggy, grizzled dark hair falling wildly about her visage; moves like a beast on all fours.
