Jane Eyre and Frankenstein

Jane Eyre and Frankenstein are both stories about a confined figure who threatens the story the protagonist would prefer to tell. Bertha Mason is hidden so Rochester can court Jane. The creature is abandoned so Victor can escape the sight of what he made. In each case the secret returns as violence — a wedding halted, a brother murdered — because concealment was doing the work of morality.

The sympathy is distributed differently. Brontë lets Jane narrate; Bertha is seen in flashes and explained by Rochester, so the novel asks us to feel Jane’s dilemma more than Bertha’s history. Shelley gives the creature a full narrative in the middle of Victor’s confession. Eloquence is the point: the being called monster can argue. Jane’s book asks whether a governess may claim equality with her employer. Frankenstein asks whether a creator may claim the right to look away.

Both also warn a listener. Jane’s autobiography is a testimony of conscience; Walton’s letters are a testimony of ambition that might still be refused. Domestic closure is available to Jane after the attic is empty and she holds her own fortune. It is not available to Victor. That difference is why the comparison is worth a page: “the madwoman” and “the monster” are often taught as separate symbols, and they are clearer as two answers to one problem — what do you owe the person whose existence inconveniences your desire?

Start from the cross-book hub Isolation and otherness, then read Bertha’s question page beside the creature’s narrative chapters.