1. The Madwoman in the Attic
And other media tropes

2. The Idea Usually someone with a mental or severe physical disability
Will not fit in with society
Locked away, hidden in the attic (or basement)
Usually comes from corrupted stock – ignorant hicks, for instance
Usually inbred
Smarter ones have peep-holes

3. Origins Victorian female literature, specifically Jane Eyre
Depicting women as crazy = easy enemy, unsympathetic
Assumed readers would all agree… Oops…
The Madwoman in the Attic became a feminist theory mantra.

4. Basic Plotline I The main character is an outsider
Protagonist wonders what kind of bizarre secret is being kept.
These characters tend to be generic “The Dragon,” the mini-boss for the Big Bad, or they're “the Grotesque,” sympathetic victims.
When done well, this can be an effective shock because it so aptly encapsulates the frightening insularity of the “Town with a Dark Secret” trope.
Example: Sloth from The Goonies

5. Example: Ax Crazy
Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks. And when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one. —
American Nursery Rhyme * For the record, Ms. Borden was acquitted, but never lived it down anyway.

6. Basic Plotline II
The creature has been abandoned (usually the caretaker has died).
New owners move in, are watched.
Personify the fear of the unknown, the new.
Example: a Haunted House (e.g., Grimauld Place in Harry Potter)

7. Example: The Grotesque
"You are deformed. And you are ugly. And these are crimes for which the world shows little pity." — Frollo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame

8. Trope Examples
Literature: Zelda in Pet Semetary, Bertha Mason (obvs), Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Phantom of the Opera, the Hunchback of Notre Dame
Television: “Home” episode on The X-Files, Caleb character on Desperate Housewives, Beauregard and the ghosts in American Horror Story

9. Why it Matters
As Virginia Woolf said, women writers must “kill the aesthetic ideal through which they themselves have been ‘killed’ into art.”
What does this mean? How does it affect Jane Eyre?

10. Discussion Questions How are readers expected to react to Bertha? Why?
Is she sympathetic? What has she done? What has been done to her? Does she seem as bad as Rochester suggests? How does this affect our perception of Bertha?
Does Rochester treat her fairly? Why or why not?
Prepare a paragraph analyzing Bertha’s characterization.
Supply thoughtful, well-chosen evidence for your thesis.