What is the name of the madwoman in the attic in Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre'?

The madwoman in the attic in Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre' is Bertha Mason. She is Edward Rochester's wife, secretly confined in an attic room at Thornfield Hall while Jane works there as governess to Rochester's ward, Adèle.

Bertha's existence is concealed from Jane until a series of disturbing incidents exposes the secret: strange laughter echoes through the house, Rochester's bed is set alight, and Richard Mason is attacked. Grace Poole, a servant, is employed to watch Bertha, which is why readers sometimes mistake the two women for each other.

Rochester explains that he married Bertha in Jamaica before learning the full extent of her mental illness. His account is shaped by his own guilt and prejudice, and modern readings often examine the colonial, racial, and gender politics surrounding her portrayal. Bertha is also central to the novel's Gothic atmosphere and its questions about imprisonment and autonomy.

The phrase “madwoman in the attic” became especially influential after Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar used it as the title of their 1979 feminist study of Victorian women writers.