Free Essay

Wide Sargasso Sea

In: English and Literature

Submitted By selgo01
Words 1262
Pages 6
Post-colonial Fiction Essay Assignment 2012
Topic: How does Wide Sargasso Sea revise or alter the way one reads Jane Eyre? Your answer should include reference to contrasting narrative techniques employed by the two authors.
Jane Eyre, written in 1847 by Charlotte Bronte, and Wide Sargasso Sea, written in 1966 by Jean Rhys, are two different novels, written in different eras and different backgrounds, thus are strongly related. In general terms, Wide Sargasso Sea can be considered to be a modernist revision of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre; it acts as its sequence. “Bertha” in Jane Eyre is “Antoinette” in Wide Sargasso Sea. However, after reading both novels, we perceive them in a completely different way, as the mainly the character of Bertha-Antoinette is dramatically shifted and is given a previously unheard voice.
Wide Sargasso Sea acts like a polyphonic novel in contrast with Jane Eyre which functions as a monophonic one. It is a post-colonial modernist narrative, in where we get a post-colonial point of view. It breaks all voices and perspectives together in which Antoinette has the role of a 19th century heroine in colonial Era. In effect, Wide Sargasso Sea challenges the point of view which we perceive from Jane Eyre since there is a different point of view than in Bronte’s novel.
Briefly, Rhys' novel is a retelling of Bronte’s novel where Rhys particularly pays attention to the negative effects that the culture of the Caribbean went through, due to the European colonization. Actually, Post-colonial writing revises European historical details, by giving accounts using different perspectives of the colonized peoples. In this novel specifically, Rhys manages to give voice to the previous Bronte’s Creole madwoman, now known as Antoinette. By imagining Antoinette's history before being locked in the attic, a terrible fate that Bronte led her to, Rhys questions the racially pejorative characterization of her literary ancestor and accuses colonialism. On top of this, Antoinette's anonymous English husband (Brontë's Rochester) represents the powerful colonizer.
Jean Rhys wished to alter the way someone saw Bertha in Bronte’s novel; he wanted to rename her, give her a name and a unique identity which lacked in Jane Eyre. Bronte creates a character which is rarely referenced in the novel and when it is in some parts of the novel, it is given a negative image. Jane Eyre is characterized from its title page as an “Autobiography”. Throughout the whole narrative, Jane is the only narrator and we perceive and witness situation, in the way that she wants us to. We see things from her single point of view, subjectively, unable to read other people’s lives or learn their way of thinking. The reader somehow feels enclosed or imprisoned in the narrator’s world. We get to know Bertha as the “madwoman in the attic”. A minor, two-dimensional, gothic caricature, a half-Creole and half-English woman, raised in Jamaica and who Mr. Rochester locked her for ages in the attic, claiming her madness. Unfortunately, the reader only has the chance to get to know Bertha, through Rochester’s and Jane’s voice as they are the ones who give information about her. Bertha is a voiceless woman and the reader cannot judge or decide if all the things he learns about her are valid without knowing her side of the story.
Characteristically, in Bronte’s novel we get Bertha’s image through Mr. Rochester words: “This is my wife. Your sister, Mason. Look at her. She is mad! So was her mother. So was her grandmother. Three generations of violent lunacy. I wasn't told about that, was I, Mason? All I was told about was that my father had made a suitable match, one that would prop up his dwindling fortune and give your family the Rochester name! I did what I was TOLD! And Bertha was kept away from me, until the wedding was cleverly done. Everyone got what they wanted... except me. Even she is better off here than she would be in a lunatic asylum, but I have spent the last fifteen years in TORMENT!”(Bronte, 337). This passage indicates that Bertha’s madness led to Rochester’s misery all those years.
On the contrary in Rhys’ novel there is a passage in which Christophine and Rochester have a conversation and Christophine says to Rochester: “Richard Mason is no brother to her. You think you fool me? You want her money but you don’t want her. It is in your mind to pretend she is mad. I know it. The doctors say what you tell them to say.” (Rhys, 132). Characteristically, here we get an image of reality, as Christophine reveals Rochester’s authentic intentions to Antoinette: he got married to her for her money, and he thought her to be a mad woman, leading her to a real madness therefore.
The two authors use contrastive narrative techniques to structure and form their novels. In both novels, by the first person narration the reader shares the narrator’s experience and identifies more straightforwardly with the character. Jane Eyre uses a single first person narrator, Jane, which is the only character who narrates throughout the whole novel and therefore Bertha is not in position to express her thoughts about the story. In the contrary, Wide Sargasso Sea alternates the first person narration either with Antoinette or Mr. Rochester and we get the perspective of Grace in some parts. However, Rhys correctly chose to use multiple narration in order for the reader to perceive things not for a single perspective and finally to read directly to Antoinette’s thoughts and feelings. Rhys changes the perspective on Jane Eyre by expressing the viewpoints of the different characters and approaches differently the first-person narrative technique previously used by Bronte.
Although in Jane Eyre Bertha has no identity and no power whatsoever, we see that Wide Sargasso Sea is kindly as a “rebellion” of Bertha, in which Bertha, now known as Antoinette has a shaped personality and character. Antoinette in Wide Sargasso Sea is the renamed Bertha where she is the central heroine; a three-dimensional individual, with a life and a personality. In Jane Eyre, Bertha is described by Jane as a mad entity, a terrifying stereotype and a dangerous madwoman who is given no voice and worth. She is marginalized by everyone throughout the whole narrative, whereas everybody alienates and avoids her, as they face her as a wild beast. Wide Sargasso Sea presents an alternative view of Bertha, a woman who finally has voice to tell her story and is portrayed as a character with intense feelings and an interesting and fascinating life story. Rhys chose to convey to the readers a woman who despite her inferior position in Jane Eyre becomes a rebel who in contrast with her personality in Jane Eyre, has power and worth.
Concluding, one can realize that regardless the different eras and different backgrounds which both novels were written; they have common aspects and can be compared. Rhys correctly chose to rewrite a sequence of Jane Eyre, as the reader finally gets Antoinette’s perspective which could not accomplish in Bronte’s novel. Therefore, after someone reads Rhys’ narrative, he/she forms a completely different idea about Antoinette’s character and personality.

Works-cited * Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Stevie Davies. England: Penguin Classics, 2006. * Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. England: Penguin Classics, 2000. * Trish M.”Bertha' in Charlotte Bronte’s 'Jane Eyre' and Jean Rhys’s 'Wide Sargasso Sea' - Comparison and Analysis”. Hubpages, inc. 2 April 2012. <http://trish-m.hubpages.com/hub/Bertha-in-Jane-Eyre-and-Wide-Sargasso-Sea>.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Alienation and Feminism in Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre

...spread physically on the map, they bring their culture and values abroad. While two different cultures coincide, a lot of problems are revealed. Alienation and feminism are two prominent themes during the colonial period. Both problems are revealed through novels Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea and Bronte’s Jane Eyre with Rhys’s focus on the cultural and racial difference whereas Bronte’s focus on economic power and moral strength of female. Fanon in the “Wretched of the Earth” says that the only solution for the colonized people is through violence. This radical idea underlies premises which draws from the social norms during the time period. Fanon says “The colonial world is a world cut in two” (38, Fanon). When colonizers come to the colony, they deem their culture better than the indigenous one and their goal is to put their values above the local ones. Hence it draws a clear line between the colonizer and colonized people. Because of the stark dichotomy, there is always tension in the colonies. It is only through the eyes of characters who stand in between the dichotomy and the through the different reaction as they maneuver between different classes that shows the problem during colonization. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Ryes rewrites Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre. Instead of describing her through other people’s eyes, she gives Bertha her own voice; she has a history and goes through different emotions. It is a text which represents the issue of alienation, feminism and the representation...

Words: 1818 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Patriarchal Oppression and Cultural Discrimination in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

...Patriarchal Oppression and Cultural Discrimination in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different” (Coco Chanel) “We may have all come in different ships but we’re in the same boat now” (Martin Luther King, Jr.) “Share our similarities, celebrate our differences” (Morgan Scott Peck) These quotations, which were uttered in the 20th century, have in common that to be different is regarded not only as tolerable but also as something that should be pursued. Also, they reflect the process of increasing tolerance towards females and foreigners, which in many countries has taken place during the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, with the result that, today, these two groups are widely, although by far not entirely, regarded as equal. However, only two centuries ago, people who were different or ‘other’ were considered subordinate or even frightening, and in the 19th century, this was true for both females and people from the orient or colonized people (Barry 134, 193). In Jane Eyre (JE), published in 1847, and in Wide Sargasso Sea (WSS), the prequel or paraquel of JE that was written about one hundred years later and published in 1966, the two female protagonists, Jane, a female orphan, and Antoinette, a female Creole, struggle against displacement and patriarchal oppression and, in Antoinette’s case, also against imperialistic domination. In JE, the reader learns that Jane can handle this pressure whereas Antoinette/Bertha1...

Words: 7999 - Pages: 32

Free Essay

Antoinette as a Victim of Black Racism

...PdF: AJ2BP_CRRECritical Reading 19th December 2014 Antoinette as a Victim of Black Racism The aim of this paper is to present evidence that Wide Sargasso Sea is a reproduction of reality by showing examples of black racism taken from the book. It shows the reality of Antoinette as a fiction character perceived as a victim of black racism. Although most readers of Wide Sargasso Sea have considered racism as one of the topics closer examination shows that the book gives examples of a specific kind called black racism (Nibras Jawad, 591). This paper uses elements from the book, and aspects from the reality that support the idea that the book includes black racism as one of the topics. For example, exclusion of Antoinette caused by black community because she is the daughter of a white Creole woman and a former slave-owner of English descent in Jamaica. This is showed in the book when black people use disparaging words like white cockroaches to call her. The phrase "white cockroach" was applied in a song saying that nobody wants her (Jean Rhys, 20). According to a research from Eastern University of Philadelphia phenomenon of racism is a result of the combination of discrimination, prejudices and ignorance. (Caleb Rosado). Racism has been a topic of inspiration for many writers. This is the case of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. The writer tells aspects that she could have experienced since Jean Rhys was born in 1890 on the island of Dominica in the West Indies to a Welsh...

Words: 1053 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Alice Walker

...Beteckning: Humanities and Social Sciences Double Oppression in the Color Purple and Wide Sargasso Sea. A Comparison between the main characters Celie and Antoinette/Bertha. Ingela Lundin 2008 C-essay English Literature Supervisor: Dr Maria Mårdberg Examinator: Dr Helena Wahlström Table of Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Purpose and main questions ............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Method and material......................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Theoretical approach ........................................................................................................ 2 1.4 Previous research – an overview ...................................................................................... 3 1.5 Introducing the novels ...................................................................................................... 4 2. A comparison of the double oppression in the two protagonists’ marriages.................. 6 2.1 The diminishing and isolation of Celie and Antoinette/Bertha........................................ 6 2.2 The upholding of the white man’s norm ........................................................................ 14 Conclusion..........................................................

Words: 10734 - Pages: 43

Premium Essay

Hide the Crazy Woman

...literary personalities have suffered from mental breakdowns. Very often writers themselves have written through their own “madness” and produced mad characters as a result. This is particularly true of many of the leading figures in Modernism, who all seem to have had some odd character traits. But even before Modernism the madman/woman was a very popular figure in literature. Just think of Shakespeare’s famous plays, where we encounter lunatics en masse. One of the most famous madwomen in English literature is Bertha, the locked up wife of Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre. In this paper I will look at Victorian madness in general and at the figure Bertha more closely. Furthermore I will also look, from a somewhat feminist perspective, at Wide Sargasso Sea, a novel in which Jean Rhys takes up the figure of Bertha again. I shall try to explain this rewriting of a canonical text in a postcolonial context. Historical Madness Early in the Victorian period the madness seems to be lurking in the shadows – especially in gothic fiction, but then madness was very much on everybody’s mind in those days. The Lunatics Act of 1845 required that all counties should have mental asylums, and this led to an enormous increase of mental patients admitted to public care.[1] Before that it was not unusual for husbands to “shut up” their madwomen behind locked doors[2], and confining them to the attic or the madhouse might indeed have been a convenient way to dispose of unwanted wives and daughters...

Words: 4156 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

The Concept of the Outsider in Literature

...In this case, the text would then be considered an exposition of the character’s experience from their position in society rather than the author’s attempt of trying to integrate their character into society through their work. Furthermore, the author themselves may be considered an Outsider through their own status in society; they command their readers to be Outsiders themselves within the novel. As well as to read and observe the narrative in order to emulate the same feeling within themselves, within the reader or to have a specific impact on the issues surrounding humanity at the time. The contrast in the ways in which the portrayal of an Outsider can develop arose within the study of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea as the novels highlighted the different facets of characters that are regarded to as outsiders. Throughout my exploration of this subject, I was exposed to a number of different works in literature in a variety of genres and forms, as well as looking at the critical...

Words: 7231 - Pages: 29

Free Essay

Jane Eyre

...Violence is a core part of the attraction of the narrative, examine the ways in which the writers explore the theme of violence. Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys uses violence in several scenes throughout the novel. The violence in the novel is not fatal to everyone, it is just used to catch the reader’s eye, it creates suspense and strong curiosity. This novel consists of many emotional aspects. In both ‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ a number of characters undergo various acts of violence. This violence is presented in a number of different ways, these being mental, physical and social violence. Throughout the first four chapters Jane is both emotionally and physically tormented by Ms Reed, John Reed and Bessie. ‘you are a dependent’ Jane is mad to feel belittled and an outcast, she does not only take emotional abuse from John Reed but John is known to take frequent blows at Jane without a moment’s thought and takes somewhat pleasure in doing so. For Jane’s response to John she was punished ‘four hands were immediately laid upon me’ showing the harsh brutality Jane undergoes under the command of Ms Reed as she is places in the ‘red room’. ‘Penetrating rain’ symbolises Ms Reed and how piecing of a character she is. The neglect Jane faces is very similar to that Antoinette faces with her own mother. Emotionally her mother is absent she is merely there physically ‘flung me from her’ her mother was not at all emotionally attached to her but was very much so to her brother...

Words: 611 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea- Romantic Love

...presentation of romantic love in “Jane Eyre” making wider reference to “Wide Sargasso Sea” “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte, published in 1847, has one key theme which is love. However it also contains Gothic conventions throughout which prevents the novel from being merely an archetypal romance. The novel is about a young woman who is isolated from people. However, when she gets a job working for Mr Rochester she falls in love with him. Later it is revealed that he's married to a woman, who is portrayed as being mad. In contrast, the romantic love in "Wide Sargasso Sea" written in 1966 is presented in a different way. Although Antoinette initially has a hopeful attitude to romantic love in Wide Sargasso Sea, the attitude of the man, especially in section two reveals that he only marries her for her money. Ellen Michetetii says “the heart and soul of ‘Jane Eyre’ is the passionate love between Jane and her employer.” "Romance" is defined in the Chambers dictionary as "expressive and pleasurable feeling from an emotional attraction towards another person associated with love". Leslie Gelbman says a romance must make the “romantic relationship between the hero and heroine… the core of the book”. This is what “Jane Eyre” does. Similarly “Wide Sargasso Sea” focuses on a single relationship the one between “the man” and Antoinette; however, although the relationship in “Jane Eyre” is reciprocal, in “Wide Sargasso Sea” Antoinette’s love is not returned. Rhys based Antoinette on the character...

Words: 1690 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Bermuda Triangle Research Paper

...When flying to Miami Beach, the flight to the beach would usually take seventy-five minutes, however, it only took them thirty-four minutes traveling through the grey sky. (Wagner). In January, 1971, Bruce Gernon came across another mysterious encounter. Where he exited the tunnel vortex before, him and his girlfriend flew in that area. He all of a sudden noticed a bright orange star coming towards them. At first a planet came to his mind; it kept getting bigger and bigger. It ended up getting right in front of them in a time span of ten seconds. He describe it as three hundred feet wide and ninety feet thick. Trying to get away from this bright amber, metallic object, Gernon thought a hard collision was approaching. But when he looked behind, the object perished; it ended up being the last time he saw it (Gernon and Macgregor 142). Furthermore, after Gernon wrote about his experiences during the night flight incident, he received a message about a UFO. The man said, “When the UFO was in front of you, it disappeared behind you, that was the point at which you were taken. Tests were run and then you were released. They try hard to put people back where they found them” (Gernon and Macgregor...

Words: 519 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Devil's Triangle In Bermuda And Puerto Rico

...Though Gaddis first came up with the phrase, a much more famous name propelled in into international popularity a decade later. Charles Berlitz also had a strong interest in the paranormal. He believed not only that Atlantis was real, but also that it was connected to the triangle in some way, a theory he proposed in his bestselling 1974 book “The Bermuda Triangle”. The mystery has since been promoted in thousands of books, magazines, television shows, and websites. Also known as the Devil’s Triangle, the Bermuda Triangle consists of a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is defined by points in Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico. It stretches across less than a thousand miles on any one side.The abnormalities on the sea were first noted in 1950 by Edward Jones in the...

Words: 578 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Paper

...research done to solve the ongoing mystery of the "black hole". The Bermuda Triangle is a triangle-shaped area that covers about 1,140,000 sq. km. between Bermuda, the coast of southern Florida, and Puerto Rico. The sinister reputation of the Bermuda Triangle may be traceable to reports beginning in the late fifteenth-century by navigator, Christopher Columbus concerning the Sargasso Sea (Myth or Reality). The Sargasso Sea is an oval shaped patch of the North Atlantic Ocean several hundred miles across, stretching well into the Bermuda Triangle. In the Sargasso Sea, the water is normally calm, with little wind and current (Oxdale). The Sargasso Sea, being very calm, is ironic because of the numerous storms that the Bermuda Triangle encounters. The Caribbean islands are within the Triangle's area as well, making a destination hot spot for majority of travelers. "The Devil's Triangle" is claimed to be one of the two places on this earth where a magnetic compass points true north. There have been reports of hundreds of missing people including ships that were lost at sea near the Bermuda Triangle. Some people venture out without knowing the complete danger of the Triangle. For example, a...

Words: 1155 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Supernatural In Macbeth

...divine, magical, or ghostly being.” As well as William Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys utilize the supernatural in their books Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, respectively, to affect the amount of power each character has the ability to attain. No matter the gain or loss of power, the supernatural...

Words: 1141 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Jane Eyre Research Paper

...Edward Rochester is her employer. Throughout the novel, Jane learns that Rochester’s wife, Bertha, is a “mad woman” who is imprisoned in the attic of the house. Bertha, a white creole from Jamaica, is only perceived as evil, vicious and crazy in Jane Eyre. However, her past is never mentioned so the readers only feel pity for Rochester. This lead to Jean Rhys writing Wide Sargasso Sea. Rhys wanted to defend Rochester’s wife and share her story to the world. Her novel sparked new perceptions of feminism. Rhys was born in 1890 on the Caribbean Island of the Dominica to a Welsh father and “white Creole” mother. Although, she lived in England for a large amount of time, she never considered herself to be English and was a major critic of their culture. These aspects of Rhys’s life also motivated her to write the...

Words: 1485 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Postcolonial Theory & Literature

...Fanon—Black Skin, White Masks (1952), The Wretched of the Earth (1961) Edward Said—Orientalism (1978) Notable Theorist: Homi Bhabha—The Location of Culture (1994) Gayatri Spivak—“Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988) Writing Back—Some Examples of Postcolonial Literature: Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin in The Empire Writes Back: Theory, and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (1989) express that the“…crucial function of language as a medium of power demands that post-colonial writing define itself by seizing the language of the centre and replacing it in a discourse fully adapted to the colonized place” (38). Naguib Mahfouz—Palace Walk (1956) Chinua Achebe—Things Fall Apart (1958) V.S. Naipaul—Mystic Masseur (1959) Jean Rhys—Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) Gabriel García Márquez—One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) Salman Rushdie—Midnight’s Children (1981) Isabel Allende—The House of the Spirits (1982) J.M Coetzee—Foe (1986) Arundhati Roy—The God of Small Things (1997) Peter Carey—Jack Maggs (1997) Further Reading: Peter Childs—Post-Colonial Theory and English Literature: A Reader (1999) Edward Said—Culture and Imperialism (1993) Gayatri Spivak—“Three Women’s Texts...

Words: 283 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Jamaican Cinema

...Ben May Film 1006: Post-War World Cinema 15/5/09 Critical Essay: Jamaican Cinema (focus – The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, Jamaica, 1971) ‘Representing Jamaican culture on the screen, how The Harder They Come triggered the development of Jamaican cinema.’ The Harder They Come was the first movie made in Jamaica, directed by a Jamaican and with a Jamaican theme. The film opened the country’s eyes to the creation of film and the industry that surrounds it. It also gave the world (particularly the West) its first filmic taste of the cultural, social and historical issues of 20th century Jamaica. It was not only successful in the eyes of its audience but also in the eyes of film critics worldwide. Geoff Parker writes “Indisputably the greatest Jamaican film ever made, The Harder They Come is also one of the finest films yet made about the third world.” (2001). At first glance Perry Henzell appears to be using a narrative to document Jamaican roots Reggae music (especially that of Jimmy Cliff); but although The Harder They Come went a long way towards creating a huge global Reggae following the film had many other underlying issues. Even though most critics (Cham, Parker, Yearwood and others) discuss the film as the one that popularised Reggae music in the West it is the task here to illustrate that The Harder They Come brought Jamaican society and its culture into cinematic visibility. Cinema in Jamaica had only a western...

Words: 2433 - Pages: 10