Creole and the English blood

With fiction playing a role in British imagination and culture, it is imperative to study Bronte’s reasons for mentioning the Orient and the Creole. Through certain characters and conversations, Bronte depicts how England engaged with the concept of the ‘otherness’ by the influence of colonial discourse on its Victorian society. 

‘A figure ran backwards and forwards. What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it groveled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched growled like some strange, wild animal: but it was covered with clothing, and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, his its head and face.’

Though Bertha Mason was a white woman whose family had chosen to settle in Creole, the fact that they lived Creole results in the novel presenting Bertha as a black woman, or rather as a white woman turned black because of her association with Creole. England had much to fear from Creole as it was essentially still British; it had the British name and could easily pervade British society. The reader is first introduced to Bertha through Jane’s eyes and it is interesting to see how animalistic her view of Bertha was. Bertha’s lock up on the third floor of Thornfield and the animalistic description given to her by Jane suggests England’s association with slavery in the colonies. It is interesting to see how openly Bronte makes such remarks, for Jane Austen merely mentioned slavery in subtle undertones.

Similar depictions of the creole are made by Mr. Rochester through his experiences of living in Jamaica:

‘A fresh wind from Europe blew over the ocean and rushed through the open casement: the storm broke, streamed thundered, blazed, and the air grew pure. I then framed and fixed a resolution’ … ‘the sweet wind from Europe was still whispering in the refreshed leaves.’

The creole is presented as a wild and disturbed place, as definitely inferior to England. Mr. Rochester entered into a vicious contract through Creole, he attempted to domesticize her by bringing her to England and he failed. This is perhaps a hint that the colony will never be able to rise above by travelling to Britain. The views which the British held about the Creole and its people are symbolic to the views the British men held of the women of their society. Creole can be seen as a threat to the British woman for through Bertha’s character it is evident that English blood can be tainted (Bertha’s madness).