It was a discoloured face—it was a savage face. I wish I could forget the roll of the red eyes and the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments!
Chapter 25 · Jane Eyre
Context
Continuing her description of the intruder, Jane recounts the woman's face as she saw it reflected in the mirror. She emphasizes the disturbing features: discolored skin, swollen lips, and bloodshot eyes.
Analysis
The repetition of 'face' in the opening clauses—'a discoloured face... a savage face'—hammers the image into the reader's mind through anaphora, while 'savage' racializes and dehumanizes the figure. Jane's wish 'I could forget' signals that this is a sight that has violated her, yet she proceeds to itemize the features in precise detail, suggesting that trauma has etched the image into her memory. The phrase 'fearful blackened inflation' uses medical language ('inflation' suggests swelling or disease) to pathologize Bertha's appearance, aligning Gothic horror with bodily abnormality.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Jane's description of Bertha reveals the racism and ableism embedded in Victorian Gothic—Brontë codes madness and racial Otherness as monstrous, positioning Bertha as the nightmare version of the domestic wife Jane is supposed to become.