Character Analysis
Mr. Mason, a wealthy planter and Annette's second husband, is mainly in the novel to anticipate Rochester. Like Rochester, Mr. Mason doesn't comprehend racial relations on the island, and dismisses Annette's warnings as unfounded. While he does not marry Annette for her money (because she has none), Mr. Mason also finds that, like Rochester, his attraction to his wife quickly sours when he discovers – or decides, depending on how you look at it – that she's mentally ill and has her confined under inhumane conditions. Mr. Mason may or may not have genuinely cared for Antoinette's security, but his belief that a woman is best off under the care of an English gentleman backfires, tragically.