LITERATURE QUESTIONS
THE GOTHIC NOVEL
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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She is sexually deviant.
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She exemplifies unfeminine anger.
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She is not submissive.
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She is understood to be mad.
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Detailed explanation-1: -The sexual repression, social isolation and emotional trauma that Bertha undergoes after being betrayed and cheated on by Rochester are shown by Jean Rhys in Wide Sargasso Sea as reasons responsible for Bertha’s (supposed) madness.
Detailed explanation-2: -Her name is Bertha Mason and she is a character in Jane Eyre, a novel written by Charlotte Bronte. In the novel, Mason was the former wife of Edward Rochester and she was kept locked up in the attic because she was ‘mad’.
Detailed explanation-3: -Madness appears throughout Jane Eyre. Two characters go mad and commit suicide while the main characters, Jane and Mr. Rochester, both have their moments of madness. Jane seemingly goes mad in the beginning of the novel when she is shut into the Red Room, and Rochester¹s temper can be unpredictable and dangerous.
Detailed explanation-4: -She is described in animalistic terms, and she is not shown speaking for herself in human language. Bertha is not treated as a human character in her own right and is treated instead as more of an instrument through which European characters (Jane and Rochester) are developed.