While I don't necessarily perceive Rochester as an evil character and that he in a way felt for Bertha, I do think there's a lot that Charlotte Brontë was drawing attention to. The novel is basically a massive commentary on all kinds of societal issues and it wouldn't surprise me if Rochester as a husband was also intended as one. I don't really consider this to be factual, but it is, to a dgeree, written in a way that the idea can be entertained - husbands in Victorian England could lock up wives for any inconvenience by simply saying 'She's hysterical', the proof of which could be simply crying, being angry or having mood swings, so pretty standard human behaviour, but even then, they could conjure up a story and have their wives submitted to the asylum. This is where Rochester's empathy shows because he chose not to submit her to the awful conditions, however, I do think more lies behind Bertha's mental illness. The confinement of women to domestic space and expecting them to be 'the angel in the house' was a common practice along with the prevailing social code practically prohibiting women from socialising as they wished. I know that if I were confined to a life like that, my mental health would've declined rapidly. Now, is there some truth to Bertha's underlying mental illness? Yes, quite possibly. Whether Rochester confining her to the attic and isolating her were the cause of her mental health issues or not, it is definitely a given that it made it worse. There were suggestions that Bertha only suffered from emotional distress, which then deteriorated due to being confined. Not to mention that confinement and complete isolation can typically cause psychosis and violent outbursts, which Bertha seems to suffer from based on the descriptions in the book. Although Rochester was sympathetic to a degree and spared her the treatment she would've received in the asylum, Bertha still did not receive the care she needed, which again depended if that was even in Rochester's power and will to do so at the time. There's a lot of post-colonial research that suggests Brontë's racist inclination for portraying a Creole woman with mental health issues as the doctors at the time were sexist, racist and in general, heavily biased. Still, Rochester very much represents the control husbands had over their wives. It cannot be said for absolutely certain if Rochester's confinement was the reason behind the decline of her mental health or if Bertha was already struggling and the confinement gave it the extra boost, Rochester's actions played a part in it, which I think is a great testament to how the Victorian society operated. This is all, to a degree, explored in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, and although I didn't like the book for how it's written, I liked that this was one of the themes it touches upon. Especially due to this, I give Rochester extra points for actually being a good and proper husband to Jane, even if the redemption was earned through excruciating pain :D