Madness represented in Literature

“Madness” has been mentioned and touched upon in every text we have read this semester, and it is mentioned in almost any text you can find. The only difference is, bringing it to light. A lot of times when reading a text, the mental illnesses or disabilities are overlooked and mentioned to be something else. This coincides with the idea of Ophelia, Hamlet, Antoinette (Bertha), and Jane. Some stories end tragically, but no one mentions the idea of why? The situations at hand are mentioned, but no one ever questions the mental aspect and how this might have played in part. This is especially notable in Jane Eyre. No one questions why Bertha is locked in her room, and when they see the state she is in, no one wonders if there are outlying problems. Instead of helping Bertha, Rochester would much rather keep her locked away, and pretended as though she didn’t exist. If Rochester had helped his wife and cared for her, instead of blatantly avoiding her, she could’ve possibly been spared such a tragic ending. This goes along with Wide Sargasso Sea and shows the beginnings of Rochester’s abuse of Bertha. Not to say that all mental health is overlooked in texts, it is definitely only touched upon as the “unfix-able problem” in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, rather than something that a person is going through that if cared for correctly, wouldn’t have spared that person from their tragic fate.