Saleheen 1 Mohammed Saleheen English 220 Section 45 Professor Paparella Monday/Thursday 9:45-11:00 The Other and Identity in Jane

Eyre In Orientalism, Edward Said argues that for a person to have an identity, s/he must construct an Other off of which that identity is based. In Jane Eyre, we see the process of that Otherization occur as Jane tries to achieve independence and formulate her own identity. Using descriptive writing and characterization, Bronte juxtaposes physical appearance and mental substance to successfully construct that Other in Bertha Mason. By analyzing Jane Eyre through a Hegelian lens, we can see how this Otherization plays out. As the story progresses, we come to see how through the Jane-Bertha relationship, marginalization plays a pivotal role in the way we view ourselves as individuals, and as a society. The notion of the Other has been developed by a number of philosophers and political theorists over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Georg Friedrich Willhelm Hegel introduces the concept as part of the process of self-cognizance/consciousness. I have selfconsciousness not in myself but in the other, explains Hegel, I am satisfied and have peace with myself only in this other and I AM only because I have [this] peace. (Desmond 415). Political and Social theorist Edward Said grounds this notion of the Other into political reality in his groundbreaking work Orientalism: The construction of identity involves the construction of opposites and others whose actuality is always subject to their differences from us. (332). The construction of the other is vital for a person construct their own identity. If we take a closer look at the relationship between the characters in Jane Eyre, we can see the politics of Otherization in action.

Saleheen 2 The essential aspect of an autobiography is that it is written from the point of view of the narrator; the author/narrator occupies the subject position in the narrative world that s/he constructs (or that is constructed around them). This creates a contradiction in Jane Eyre because the subject has already been Otherized. In Victorian Era England, Man is the default subject of society. As a working-class woman, Jane is ostracized and oppressed by her rich aunt, her oppressive headmaster, and ultimately by her employer and lover, Edward Rochester. It is with Rochester that Jane feels alienated by being a woman. We can see it in the language she originally used to address Rochester: Master and Sir denote her lower position, and she does not even approach equal standing with him until much later in the novel (Ch. 14). The nature of Rochester and Janes sexual relationship also serves to marginalize and Otherize her. As Gilbert elaborates in her Feminist criticism of Jane Eyre, Rochester has specific and guilty sexual knowledge which makes him in some sense her [Janes] superior The prince is inevitably Cinderellas superior because it is he who will initiate her into the mysteries of the flesh. (485). This superior role inherently makes Rochester the teacher, the master, the actor and the agent. His sexual robustness is contrasted to Janes purity and innocence; she is Othered on sexual (and by extension, existential) terms. This situation proves difficult for Jane because she cannot bear to simply remain the Other. To achieve the independence she craves, Jane must acquire/construct her own Other from which she may construct her identity. Jane achieves this identity through her confrontation and subsequent Otherization of Bertha, Rochesters mad, captive ex-spouse. Because Jane and Bertha are both deemed others due to their genders, Jane must seek out new criteria with which to marginalize her mad counter-part. One of the criterion on which Berthas Otherization rests is that of physical appearance. Jane describes Bertha features as

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fearful and ghastly a discoloured face it was a savage face. I wish I could forget the roll of the red eyes and the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments! This [ghost] was purple: the lips were swelled and dark; the brow furrowed: the black eyebrows widely raised over the bloodshot eyes (242)

The idea behind this description is not that Bertha is simply dark-skinned, but that this is a ghastly and savage look to have. There is a focus on the fact that Bertha is an anomaly, an aberration; one which cannot simply be explained by natural phenomena, hence the references to vampire and goblin (242-243). This characterization of Bertha as the abnormal is pivotal for Janes identity construction. While Jane is by no means beautiful, she remains well within the realm of the normal. In fact, it is this supremely average character, this Governess, disconnected, poor and plain (137), that is posited over and founded off of this wild and ungovernable Bertha. Another antagonism we find between Jane and Bertha is the conflict between rationality and madness. Since the Enlightenment, Rationalism has been the hallmark of Western Civilization. Whether we look at how the West projects irrationality on other groups of people (as Said does in Orientalism) or at how it deals with its own irrational (as Foucault does in Madness and Civilization) we see that the Rational is the norm. Throughout the book, Jane is a perfect example of a rational creature. In her row with Rochester, she demonstrates her ability to keep a cool head. As Rochester becomes more and more frenzied, Jane continues to respond with short, well-formulated, logical responses (Ch. 27) One may take Janes clever and poignant speech, her quaint, quiet, grave, and simple demeanor, her ability to rap out a round rejoinder (112), and compare it to the vicious snatching and growling of Bertha Mason (250). No passage illustrates the Otherized relationship of Jane and Bertha more than the following:
That is my wife and this is what I wished to have this young girl, who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell, looking collectedly at the gambols of a demon look at the difference! Compare these clear eyes with the red balls yonder this face with that mask this form with that bulk (251)

Saleheen 4 It is this antagonism between the plain and insane that really makes Bertha the Other. Berthas inhumanity, her wild savagery, her madness is based off of Janes own quietude, calm and composure. This focus on rationality and madness dehumanizes Bertha to a demon, while elevating Janes status to a person equivalent to a man (the original subject). On the third story of Rochesters mansion, behind a covered door, in a dark room, we first encounter Bertha Mason:
In the deep shade, at the further end of the room, a figure ran backwards and forwards it groveled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing; and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face. (251)

This scene, filled with dehumanizing language, initiates the process of Otherization in Jane Eyre. The image of the free Jane meeting the caged Bertha is a significant one. Two radically different consciousnesses are coming into contact with each other for the first time, and are undergoing fundamental change in the process. To understand this process, we will turn to GWF Hegels analysis of the Other in his work, The Phenomenology of the Mind. To demonstrate how a consciousness achieves self-awareness, Hegel uses the analogy of the Master-Slave Dialectic. In this analogy, Hegel recounts the story of the first two people who encounter each other (not historically, but in an abstract fashion). They represent an idealized form of pure consciousnesses. They are both alarmed, because previously they believed that they were the only people who populated that area (they were pure-consciousness). These people become locked in a life-and-death struggle to master each other. One becomes the master and the other becomes the slave; both recognize each other through the other: the master sees the slave as an object and through it reaches *self-consciousness*. SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS, according to Hegel, exists in itself and for itself and by the fact that it exists for another selfconsciousness; that is to say, it is only by being acknowledged or recognized For Hegel, all

Saleheen 5 beings exist in mediation. This process occurs through sublation: "something becomes its other; this other is itself something; therefore it likewise becomes an other, and so on ad infinitum" (93 Encyclopedia) The negation to the consciousness, the Other, must negate itself so that one can reach a higher, synthesized consciousness. We can see this synthesis occurring in Jane Eyre. Jane and Bertha in the attic is the moment of engagement1: the two consciousnesses have met and are beginning the process of change. We can read the engagement from Janes point of view. Their relationship, the life-anddeath struggle between them is facilitated by and through Rochester; they only recognize each other through their relation to him (Bertha as ex-wife and Jane as bride-to-be). By virtue of Jane being free and Bertha being bound to a chair, we realize that Jane is the Master and Bertha is the Slave. We see Jane instantly objectifying and dehumanizing Bertha: a figure beast or human-being some strange wild animal the clothed hyena the maniac (250). Through Bertha, Jane is aware that she is no longer the only person (pure-consciousness is negated) in Rochesters life: she cannot believe that she almost married this man who had an-Other wife. At this time, Jane flees Thornfield for Marsh End. While Jane is away, Bertha perishes in a fire of her own doing. In this climax, the negation (to Janes pure-consciousness) has negated itself and dialectic has concluded itself. But it is too simple to say that this self-negation is what propelled Jane into self-consciousness. We must remember that this dialectic, between Jane and Bertha, is complicated by the presence of Rochester, the original subject, the original Master. We must stretch the parameters of Hegels theory to accommodate the events in Jane Eyre. Jane and Rochesters relationship, their dialectic, is the one fundamentally transformed by Berthas self-

We must consider Jane and Bertha here not as their physical selves, but as abstractions of their spirit/consciousnesses. We have to understand their existence as the interplay between abstract literary elements and concrete events within the novel. Only then can we gain a better understanding of the Other.
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Saleheen 6 immolation: Jane transcends her position of the Other and the Slave (in relation to Rochester) through the injuries Rochester receives from Berthas fire (365). The conclusion of one dialectic has led to a shift in the other. After the fire, Jane and Rochesters relationship reaches that of equal footing (Ch. 37-38), the equality that she had been searching for all her life. It was only through the injuries that Rochester suffered, the negation2 of himself as the master, that Jane was able to become fully self-actualized. In Jane Eyre, we see how the construction of one identity requires the marginalization of another. Through the conflict of contrasting physical and mental characteristics, self-cognizance is achieved. This understanding of the Other, and the implications it has for the relationships between Jane and Bertha, allow for a radical reinterpretation of the text. As we witness the triumphant ascent of Jane Eyre, we must also now observe the somber and unmourned destruction of Bertha Mason. We must ask ourselves, are we complicit in Berthas othering? This calls into question who the true protagonists and antagonists are, both in the text and in our everyday lives.

It is important to note here that negation does not mean complete destruction but rather the becoming of something else. Rochester going blind is a negation of the earlier, fully-abled Rochester. From this point, another negation is possible, as we see with Rochesters slow healing process (Ch. 38).
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Saleheen 7 WORKS CITED Bront, Charlotte, and Richard J. Dunn. Jane Eyre: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1971. Print. Desmond, William. Hegel's God: A Counterfeit Double? Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate, 2003. Print. Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization; a History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. New York: Pantheon, 1965. Print. Gilbert, Sandra, and Richard J. Dunn. "A Dialogue of Self and Soul: Plain Jane's Progress."Jane Eyre: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1971. N. pag. Print. Hegel, George W. F. "Lordship and Bondage." The Phenomenology of the Mind. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Marxist Internet Database. Web. 8 May 2013. <http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/ph/phbb.htm>. Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Vintage, 1979. Print.