Even Rochester recognizes Jane’s imprisonment. In one of his discussions with her he says, " I see . . . a bird through the close-set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud high" (111; ch. 14). Jane is caged in close-set bars of society, but what is ironic is that Rochester is a part of this society that does not let the vivid, restless, and passionate Janebird out.
As the story progresses Bertha continues to act as an outline for the emotion that Jane does not allow herself to express. After finding out after Rochester’s immoral past, Jane says that she still respects him. That night Bertha, Jane’s double, tries to set fire to Rochester (Gilbert 361). This is an insane reaction to the emotion that Jane must be repressing about her true feeling towards Rochester’s actions. During this scene Jane gets a glimpse of Bertha and describes her as "goblin like" and the "devil." This is interesting since it is later discovered that Bertha’s lovemadness comes from the fact that she has a moral madness (Small 165). Victorians of course saw immoral, passionate women as monsters and that is how Jane sees Bertha. It is also slightly reminiscent of the fact that Jane had once saw herself as a supernatural being in the mirror in the red room. After Rochester fools Jane in the guise of a gypsy Bertha once again is about to lash out for Jane (Gilbert 361). Bertha attacks Mason that night and is described in terms such as "a tigress," and Mason compares her to a vampire, saying "she sucked the blood; she said she’d drain my heart" (214; ch. 20). Bertha is once again reduced to Medusa-like terms. She is the immoral woman who has become a monster. The name "tigress" is much like Jane being called a "mad cat" at the beginning of the book. Bertha is acting out in the bestial way that Jane used to allow herself to act out in. Bertha, like a tigress to a mad cat, is a larger version of Jane’s bestial nature.
While Jane...