Personification of Oppression in Jane Eyre At first glance and under scrutiny, the character of Jane Eyre reflects a slightly expanded Cinderella character. But Jane Eyre's personality and life go much deeper than a superfluous "rags to riches" story. His identity is as complex as literature can convey, and his characteristics manifest through several subtle parallels. These parallels refer to objects and nature, but more importantly to a particular individual in the novel. Seemingly the exact opposite of the character's placid nature, the maniacal Bertha Mason actually personifies an inner part of Jane, the part of her personality that longs to live free but goes mad under the oppression of society, and particularly that of Mr. Rochester. Jane's doppelgänger, or counterpart, really doubles Miss Eyre's stifled life. Throughout her young life, Jane Eyre lives under some form of tyranny. Whether she spends her days as an abused and unwanted child, an abused pupil, or a submissive teacher or governess, she never feels truly free. Even though she outwardly accepts her lot in life, she often wonders why she has to endure her pain and why the people in her life always oppress her. Locked in the red room, she wonders why she is "always suffering, always intimidated, always accused, always condemned" (Brontë 46), and consequently answers herself that her treatment is unfair. This sudden realization "prompted some strange expedient to escape the unbearable oppression" (47). Unfortunately, Jane cannot escape oppression, but can only alter its form by moving from place to place, always stifled by the society around her. Bertha Mason's life embodies oppressive...... middle of paper......this freedom, fleeing Thornfield and returning to equal footing with her beloved Rochester, the oppressed maniac within her dies, " as dead as the stones on which his brain and blood were scattered" (453). Charlotte Brontë successfully expresses mental distress and her hidden madness due to oppression by Bertha, the madwoman upstairs. Doubles share a somewhat similar fate in life and represent each other's progress towards freedom. Brontë provides insight into this doppelgänger effect through her use of language, mirrors, and physical proximity. Clearly, Bertha is a vehicle by which Jane's internal conflicts come to life, but a larger question remains: whether Jane is the same kind of vehicle for Charlotte Brontë herself. Works Cited Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1847. New York: Penguin Books, 1985.