Femininity In A Rose For Emily And Bronte's Jane Eyre

Female Monsters: Departure from Femininity

Eve Sedgwick writes in her seminal work The Coherence of Gothic Conventions, that in Gothic literature, character doubles are often representative of a self that is “massively blocked off from something to which it ought normally to have access” (13). In both Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily and Bronte’s Jane Eyre monsters exist in the form of an other, separate, but still tied to that character. In A Rose for Emily, Emily Grierson acts as her own double; appearing as a “poor” unmarried woman to her inquisitive, judgmental town, while in reality being someone quite nefarious. In Jane Eyre, Bronte portrays two characters; Jane who increasingly adopts and upholds the notions of proper femininity as an upper

class, white, Victorian woman, and conversely, Bertha Mason, a symbol of black femininity, who deviates from the expectations of Victorian womanhood. The Gothic tradition combines unspeakable horror with critique of current society. In the 1800s and 1900s, work of this genre confronted cultural anxieties of social class and femininity. The doubles depicted in these works confront the idea of femininity and disregard the expectations of society, such that characters who reinforce traditional values ascribed to women are countered by these outsider characters who deviate from a typical feminine status, ultimately suggesting that the farther women differ from that ascribed ideal of femininity, the more they are seen as monsters. The monstrous doubles serve as a reminder that somewhere hidden in the conventional, ideal of domestic society, there lays a backstory, an otherness that must be confronted.
As a young girl, Jane Eyre is far from the archetypical Victorian child. She is described as an insult to piety; she is subversive, argumentative, and pronounced to be “thrilled with ungovernable excitement” (Brontë 43). This is a trait that follows her throughout her life, as Jane’s inner dialogue depicts a constant battle against the expectations of Victorian society. As a child Jane is a fiery character, clamorous and hotheaded. This is illustrated in her discussion with Helen Burns at Lowood:
And if I were in your place I should dislike her; I should resist her. If she stuck me with that Rod, I should get it from her hand; I should break it under her nose. (Brontë 67)
However, as Jane ages, she learns to stifle this fierce tendency as she continually attempts to fit into the Victorian mould.

As Jane allows the reader to be privy to her innermost thoughts, she illustrates a self that cannot be accessed, a sort of ungovernable otherness that is blocked by her outer persona. Gilbert and Gubar write in The Madwoman in the Attic that maddened doubles function as asocial surrogates for docile selves (xi). Bertha Mason, on the other hand is the uncontrollable other of Jane’s compliant exterior, and functions as Jane’s surrogate. To be considered a proper lady at this time, women were expected to be passive and doll-like. What Jane cannot express as a woman trying to fit into the mould, Bertha embodies without constraint (Gilbert and Gubar, 319). Bertha is the picture of passion, she is femininity out of control, she is mad with ungovernable excitement. Bertha is the gothic lunatic, who functions as the more demure heroine’s double, breaking from the constraints of society. Bertha’s subversive behavior, as well as foreign race, represents a woman who is atypical of the society that surrounds her. Therefore, Bertha is seen as unmanageable, and villainized for outwardly expressing her inner rage. Emily Grierson disregards convention in Faulkner’s short work in ways that depict her as a monstrous female as well. Parallel to the plight of Bertha Mason, Emily is in everyway, also trapped in the architecture of a patriarchal society, bound by a noble

obligation to both her father and her town. As a young woman, Emily Grierson behaves and is viewed as an upright, demure lady. She is obedient to her father, and complacent in his overbearingness. As the story progresses however, Emily diverts further away from this depiction. First, Emily is confronted with the death of her father, making her an unmarried woman living alone. The townspeople then observe that Miss Grierson cuts off her hair, cropping it short, further separating her from the ideal of societal femininity. The town is then further shocked when Emily, who is still viewed as a wealthy, southern woman, begins her courtship with a northern day-labourer, someone who the town deems inappropriate for a woman of her social standing, and thus beings the town’s conception of the disintegration of “poor Emily”. Emily Grierson succumbs to the pressures of society and commits a horrific act, the murder of Homer. The townspeople in a sense have created a double for Emily; they invent a woman who is so fraught with discontent for failing to abide by their standards, that she even contemplates suicide. Ironically, the voyeuristic town does not suspect Emily’s gruesome act, as they only see the Miss Grierson whom they have created.
Both of the women labeled as monsters in these works commit horrific acts, and both use them as a means of escape from a society in which they are outsiders. Bertha Mason’s last act, in congruence with her ferocious behaviour, is to set Thornfield Hall on fire, blinding Mr. Rochester in the process, and then to jump to her own death. By burning down Thornfield Hall, Bertha is destroying a house hiding the perverse tradition of primogeniture. Similarly, Emily Grierson commits an equally violent act; however, her personal death is not as violent as the fiery death of Bertha Mason. Emily seems to die in the manner of her outward persona, quietly and peacefully in her heavy walnut bed. This seemingly genteel death however is all the more horrific upon the revelation by the town that her monstrous act has already been committed; the murder of her lover. Both women succumb to their death in accordance with what is expected of them, making even their final acts a picture of society’s constraint on their person. As Gilbert and Gubar suggest, these women are circumventing male power, and by doing so become a monster-woman who emerges from the façade of a pure lady (322-323). In the one case, Bertha Mason is the embodiment of what Jane would be, had she not learned to control her temper, and ungovernable excitement and emerges, with almost excessive monstrous characteristics, as her double to embody the fiery interior Jane Eyre possesses. In the other case, Emily Grierson’s monstrous side materializes, finally letting the town in on her “secret” life.
The town in which Grierson resides is ghoulishly intrigued with her life, and shocked to discover this unconscionable, aforementioned act.

There is however more reason for this than just a thirst for gossip. Emily Grierson embodies her society’s discomfort with their own value system, and her continued disregard of social progress is an uncomfortable reminder of things past. With her “big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies” (Faulkner 1), Emily, like the house she lives in, is incongruous with the gasoline pumps and modern landscapes of the town. She lives as a ghostly, gothic phantom, a reminder of the town’s own communal horrors. Thus, the town’s ability to move away from the last vestiges of the old south and its history of slavery is blocked by Emily Grierson. Emily’s presence thereby prevents her society from progressing in perceived socially acceptable steps. Emily is the town pariah, obstructive to the town’s desire for progress. Emily becomes a monster not only by her ghastly act, but also in the eyes of the town by preventing any healing from their southern guilt. Monsters in the same way do not wish for their subjects to forget, but rather to inflict harm. Similarly, Bertha Mason blocks Jane Eyre from achieving her socially acceptable path. Jane must marry Rochester in order to achieve the title of a proper Victorian woman. This however, is not possible since Rochester is already married to

Bertha, unbeknownst to Jane. Through this, Bertha is seen as unholy as her presence prevents the proper progression of events. The blame is not placed on Rochester for trying to marry Jane Eyre, but on the woman who has been labeled insane. Jane’s ability to achieve happiness and to be accepted by society as a married woman is blocked by Bertha, just as Emily’s town cannot move on to find acceptability and happiness, while she stands as a reminder of the past. Emily serves as an uncomfortable reminder of past indiscretions. Similarly, Bertha is the madwoman in the attic, a haunting spirit looming over Jane Eyre, both preventing progression for their respective haunted subjects.
Bertha Mason and Emily Grierson represent an otherness that diverges from the ideal of femininity. These women represent a dissimilarity that cannot be exhibited in domestic society, and by failing to abide by rules that govern the ideal of femininity, are labeled as monsters. Through the gothic tradition, Bertha and Emily are not solely represented as odd eccentrics, but rather dangerous, wicked characters who, though products of their time and situation, are lurking to destroy what is wholesome and upstanding.