In Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, the author juxtaposes representations of the femininity of Bertha Mason and the main character to defend Brontë's ideal conceptualization of independent women. Coventry Patmore, a 19th century English poet, in his collection of poems entitled The Angel in the House, offers his abstraction of a supposedly idealized relationship between men and women, with a particular emphasis on women's responsibilities associated with romantic bonds. In “The Wife’s Tragedy,” Patmore asserts that “the man must be content; but to please him / That is a woman’s pleasure” (1-2). During the first few lines of the poem, Patmore establishes her argument that women are obligated to respond to the whims of men and that all women are so deeply dedicated. When Rochester informs Jane of the circumstances surrounding his marriage to Bertha, he inadvertently reveals that Bertha's family was so desperate to marry her off to a man of suitable status and wealth, Bertha did not necessarily have much choice in her choice. future husband. Bertha's family allowed Rochester and Bertha little time to spend alone and the audience learns that Bertha gradually showed symptoms of insanity over the first four years of her marriage to Rochester, suggesting that these characteristics are not appeared only after their union. This lack of time for the couple to interact privately was perhaps the result of the Masons' indifference to Bertha's attachment to her husband, rather than Rochester's assumption that he s This was a manipulative move aimed at covering up any flaws. When Rochester confines Bertha to a hidden room on the third floor of Thornfield, she gains only brief moments of freedom when Grace Poole, Bertha's caretaker, falls into a drunken stupor. Rochester locks Bertha as tightly in her secluded room as Jane is continually locked in her subordinate life, and even in the literal prison of the Red Room. In this way, Brontë can view Bertha's mania as an exaggerated distortion of Jane, if she continues to face a similar problem. Instead of a married Bertha fulfilling the feminine standards of a "household angel", Bertha's circumstances transform her into a "household demon". the house” in his violent attacks and physical appearance. As Rochester approaches Bertha during her admission for her first marriage, "the madwoman [Bertha] leapt up and grabbed his throat viciously and set her teeth on his cheek" (Bronte 381). Soon after, Rochester explains to his audience that “Such is the only marital embrace he must know—such are the affections that should comfort [his] hours of leisure” (Bronte 381). In the second quote, Rochester admits to desiring a wife who would perform some of the tasks that Patmore describes as a woman's responsibility. By expressing his desire to have a woman to hold him and amuse him with feelings in his free time, readers can then infer that Rochester expected Bertha to meet many of the same restrictive expectations espoused by Patmore . In Patmore's view, this type of relationship would result in "passionate duty, love burns higher, / As grass grows higher around a stone" (Patmore 23-24). According to this depiction, the duty a woman faces in her relationship fans the flames of her love for her husband. However, Bronte's characterization of Bertha as bestial with her many