There is no shortage of conclusions to be made about Bronte’s character. Within Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, one of the most thought-provoking characters is Bertha, a symbol of femininity and commentary on mental health treatment within the victorian era. This attention to a character has carried into almost every adaptation of Jane Eyre in some form or another. With each writer is trying to vilify, sympathize, or combine the two to hold the same level of interest that Bronte first generated with Bertha. In Jasper Fforde’s Eyre Affair, a story set in a world where literature is at the forefront of human innovation, Fforde immerses the reader into a depth of literary allusions that often provide implicit commentary (primarily humorous) on many of the excellent English works over the best centuries. When addressing the character of Bertha, Fforde seems to walk the line, both centering Bertha as mentally ill and trying to make her a hero by saving Thursday and Rochester from Hades. Having Bertha use silver Scissors, in a fit of “madness,” to thwart Acheron Hades Fforde places Bertha into the conversation as a redemptive hero.

Silver has been connected to the supernatural since early civilization. The lore suggests that the metal has protective properties against evil spirits due to its reflective nature and the idea of your true self being reflected. If you were evil, you would be unable to handle your reflection (James Ross Jewelers). Scissors have been around since 400 B.C, but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that scissors made out of silver became popularized at the height of the victorian period. Mostly belonging to the wealthy citizens of the time, silver scissors were used as grape shears, a tool for cutting grapes from the stem to serve to guests for dessert. Sheering grapes in front of guests was seen as proper etiquette for that era, as they would know that no one's hands had touched their food. Later designs even had devices used for catching the grapes after cutting them (Smith). 

Given the history of silver scissors, Fforde makes the character of Bertha all the more interesting because if she were genuinely evil or thought herself to be acting out of malice, she would be unable to wield the scissors in her battle with Acheron due to the metals “supernatural” properties. In addition, given the use of silver scissors in the victorian age, it makes little sense as to why Bertha would have them in the first place. Since they were used as a tool to showcase their wealth and social class in front of peers, Bertha being in isolation, would not need them as she would have minimal contact with the outside world. However, the circumstances of her fight with Acheron could showcase that Bertha’s madness resulted from social isolation. It is only by rejoining society using a simple tool like silver scissors that she gets better and allows to act with agency.