Spanish Town, Jamaica

In Jane Eyre, the characterisation of Bertha also reveals the Victorian perception of whiteness.  Bertha Mason was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, and this is where Rochester meets her, marries her, and lives with her at the beginning of their marriage. Bertha is revealed to be the daughter of a Creole woman, meaning that Bertha likely had some African or native Jamaican ancestry.  The characterization of Bertha through Jane’s eyes then becomes more complex.  As well as serving as a mysterious and terrifying figure in the novel, she is described as large in stature with dark features and her actions are described as animalistic and savage.  Through Jane’s narrative, then, we can see that race was seen not only as something hereditary, but something that affects one’s nature and does not go away simply from becoming wealthy or moving to the English countryside.  Bertha is locked away as a result of her madness, which is assumed to be inherited by her mother, as was her race.