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Essay / Jane Eyre Research Paper - 643
According to Gilbert and Gubar, literary critics, proposed three ways for women to escape Victorian life: madness, starvation, and flight. Gilbert and Gubar used Bronte's Jane Eyre to draw the types of women's escape. None of these lifestyles are ideal. These three escapes are used throughout the book. The escape in Jane Eyre is seen through the character of Céline Varens. Céline was a dancer and lover from Rochester, as well as the mother of Adèle. Rochester's relationship with Céline ended after Rochester discovered that he was not Céline's only lover. Céline, in the three looks of Victorian women, is flight. Céline was manipulative, flaky, in addition to the “pretty face”, she was only temporary. The woman in the attic, later revealed to be Bertha Mason, represents the madness of Victorian society. Bertha is Rochester's wife and suffers from madness like her mother. Bertha is locked in a room, she is isolated and in a cage. She is initially identified as Grace Pool when she escapes from the third floor room. Jane explains: “The laughter was as tragic, as supernatural, as any I have ever heard; and, if it were not noon and no ghostly circumstances accompanied this curious cachinnation, and neither the scene nor the season favored fear, I would have had a superstitious fear” (Bronte