Betha: Jane Eyre (2011)
Betha, formally Mrs. Rochester, is a tragic character known mainly in the story as “the madwoman in the attic”. She is a beautiful young woman said to be half-creole and half-English. Which already makes her place in society a little shaky, as being mixed does not allow her to be from one culture or another. She is shown in the 2011 film to be completely deranged and willing to physically assault the man that she was in supposedly love with. It is said that her family has a long history of madness and is implied that she has inherited it, but is also implied that Rochester locked her up there due to some behaviours she was exhibiting, such as drinking and being promiscuous. This seems to imply that she was going against the gender norms expected from the “Victorian housewife” and other societal stereotypes at the time. These would include that women were not supposed to be working, drinking, or have behave in an overly sexual manor, as women were only expected to stay at home, caring for their children and husbands. In a way, she serves as a kind of warning for Jane, as the kind of pain Bertha has endured and the fate she has been resigned to could be a way of showing what could become of Jane should she choose to pursue this life with Rochester. By the end of the film, she has destroyed the house by setting it on fire, ultimately dying in the blaze. It almost seems that this fate for her was inevitable, as there was no allowance for divorce at the time and as marriage often tells us “till death do us part”. It is unfortunate that Bertha had no other escape, but in her death, other things fall into place.
Jane Eyre (2011) – BBC Films
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