Why and how are Jane and Bertha's diffrences important?

    A simple answer to this could be just that their differences were to illustrate  both Bronte and Rhys's views on the roles of woman during their time periods. But the literal role was to make Bertha a counter part to Jane. What really was the purpose Bronte had in mind by doing so? Of course, it created the dynamic of the angel and the madwoman, but I thought it also helped to glorify Jane's character. In Jane Eyre we are only introduced to Jane's back story and when Bertha is introduced there is very little information given. The reader just labels her as the crazy hidden wife of Rochester whom is in the way of Jane and Rochester's marriage. But after also hearing about Antoinette's back story that action seems kind of cruel to the reader. I personally went back and realized Bertha was more of a victim rather than a simple obstacle in Jane's story.I think the clear purpose Bronte had in mind was to use Bertha as a tool to amplify Jane's goodness and to also use her to contribute to Jane's hardships. After getting a little background on Betha's life story a large fraction of the empathy I felt towards Jane moved towards Antoinette. Antoinette had just a difficult life as Jane but her character prevented her from fighting back. The events of her life such as her mothers death had removed all the hope from her life. She states how her mother's "real death" had been far before "the death everyone knew about". This lead Bertha to have a severe mistrust towards god and everyone around her. Bertha had a more severe and depressed view on life she essentially believed her life had no purpose unlike Jane who believed if she kept going and worked hard she would eventually gain what she wanted in life. These were just two extreme views of how woman in their societal roles could have felt. Most woman were not to either of these extremes but really somewhere in the middle.


So what do you guys think the purpose of the exaggerated portrayals of Jane vs. Betha is? Do u think Bronte used Bertha as just a characteristic tool to create a foil with Jane or do you think she might of at least had some pity towards Betha and what do you think now after knowing the potential background story of Antoinette?