The appalling mistreatment of mentally ill individuals demonstrated in Jane Eyre and Ruth Hall demonstrates many of the ideas and themes we have studied this semester. Women had strict expectations placed upon them, and stepping outside of those expectations often had disastrous results. They were expected to be chaste, obedient, and morally sound as a way to keep them controlled. Men feared when women pushed back against these because it lessened their power over them, so they locked them in mental institutions where they could be controlled. Fears of women exploring their sexuality and not serving as moral compasses enabled women to be locked away more frequently than men. Misconceptions about their reproductive systems also prevented women from receiving proper medical attention. These fears bled into women’s own understandings of mental health, letting their own internalized misogyny prevent them from empathizing with others suffering from mental health. This is apparent in both Jane Eyre’s treatment of Bertha and Ruth Hall’s treatment of the women in the asylum.