Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Zuzana Violová

A Comparative Analysis of Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

Supervisor: prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. 2017

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

Acknowledgment

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A., for her guidance, support and valuable advice.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………...... 5

2. Literary Context ……………………………………………………………………. 8

2.1. Charlotte Brontë and Jane Eyre ……………………………………………………….. 9

2.2. Jean Rhys and Wide Sargasso Sea ……...…………………………………………….. 13

3. Analysis of Jane Eyre ……………………………………………………………... 17

3.1. Jane’s Path to Womanhood …………………………………………………………... 18

3.2. Jane Eyre, the Heroin ………………………………………………………………… 22

4. Analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea …………………………………………………… 29

4.1. Antoinette’s Path to Womanhood ……………………………………………………. 30

4.2. From Antoinette to Bertha……………………………………………………………. 33

5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… 37

Works Cited ……………………………………………………...... 41

Resumé (English) ……………………………………………………………………... 43

Resumé (Czech) ………………………………………………………………………. 44

1. Introduction

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea are novels that are based on significant female characters who are exposed to strong male dominance.

Jane Eyre, a highly praised novel of the Victorian era published in 1847, unfolds a story of an orphaned girl’s journey from childhood to maturity, whose immense persistence and patience had made her one of the most remarkable literary characters known to this day. On top of that, Brontë’s intriguing writing immediately draws its readers in and the popularity the novel has been still gaining to this day is earned rightfully. Wide

Sargasso Sea was published in 1966 as a response to Brontë’s novel and therefore it is often marked as a ‘prequel’, a novel whose narrative precedes that of the previous work

(Merriam-Webster). The novel tells a story about Brontë’s character, Bertha Mason, the first wife of Mr. Rochester. Nevertheless, Wide Sargasso Sea can be read independently of Jane Eyre and be still appreciated for its quality, regardless of its connection to the classic novel.

Jean Rhys, influenced by Brontë’s work and intrigued deeply by Rochester’s first wife, took Bertha’s character and transformed her to her motherland, Jamaica.

Although the novel is not based on the original character by Jean Rhys, Francis

Wyndham, an editor who wrote the introduction to the first edition of Wide Sargasso

Sea argues that the novel ‘exist in its own right, quite independent of Jane Eyre’ because ‘[Rhys’] personal knowledge of the West Indies, and her reading of their history’ creates something entirely new and original’ (Wyndham 12). However these two novels may differ in content, they do provide essentially the same message in spirit.

They contribute not only to feminist movements but mainly to the womanhood itself by representing their main characters Antoinette and Jane in opposition to their male oppressor, Edward Rochester with whom they are both romantically related.

Both novels are written by female writers. Such a position alone may have caused difficulties during the times when they were active. Charlotte Brontë, a novelist of the 19th century was writing during the time when the printing market was dominated by male authors. It was more than impossible to succeed for a female writer and Brontë knew that very well. Gilbert and Gubar discuss the traditional concepts of writing in the

19th century where male writers considered themselves naturally gifted with a talent for writing. A pen was represented as a phallic tool and therefore men believed that they were naturally predestined for literary talent and writing (Gilbert & Gubar 8). Who knows if Brontë would have succeeded had she not created a male pen name? Rhys, too, met many obstacles during her active years that were mostly rooted in her relationships with men but the period of the 20th century was nevertheless more appreciative than the

Victorian period.

Their personal experience was a bottomless source of inspiration that helped to create realistic and unidealized portraits of women heavily influenced by patriarchal society. In the case of these novels, the crucial character that signifies the male dominance is Edward Rochester who appears in both of them. The writers portray their main female characters differently and there lies a source of inspiration for this diploma thesis. The aim of this work is to analyze Antoinette’s and Jane’s distinct approach to the relationship with Rochester. Antoinette, who falls in love with Rochester, is gradually crushed by his restrictive tendencies of behaviour and she becomes a victim of arranged marriage. On the other hand, Jane, who starts a relationship with Rochester willingly, does not let him influence her with his behavior. She does not accept his attempts to dominate her in their relationship and after the great disappointment, she leaves him in order to achieve independence. The thesis furtherly comments on the element of self-identity of both Jane and Antoinette. This view is specifically rooted in

6 their childhood experience that formed separately under distinct conditions. While Jane grows up as an orphan in England, Antoinette is reared in a fatherless family, in the exotic Caribbean during the period that followed shortly after the Emancipation Act was declared.

In the first chapter, the novels are set into literary context and at the same time, the chapter provides an insight into the process of development of each novel separately. On top of that, the content is based on autobiographical portraits of the writers and therefore includes facts about personal lives and explains the influence of the authors on their characters Jane and Antoinette/Bertha. The third and fourth chapters offer separate analyses of Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea that are the core of the thesis and focus on the distinctive experience of Jane and Antoinette with male dominance, especially Rochester’s, and shows how they both cope with the patriarchal constraint accordingly.

2. Literary Context

This chapter concentrates on the origin of Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea with a brief introduction to Charlotte Brontë’s and Jean Rhys’ work. The sources for the content of the novels are autobiographical and therefore the subchapters discuss individually each writer’s personal life as well. It begins in their childhood and gradually gets to the point in their life when they were already established as successful novelists. Also, another important factor is that both novelists reflected in their work their own personal experience. Since the aim to sum up anyone’s life in a few paragraphs is an impossible task, there is used only information crucial for the purposes of this work

To provide clarity, each subchapter is divided into two parts. The first subchapter deals with the personal life of Charlotte Brontë - her roots, motherless childhood and being a successful novelist. The latter is centered on the development of

Jane Eyre, its publishing, and reception. The chapter dedicated to Jean Rhys discusses her background in the first part and the process of developing the story of Wide

Sargasso Sea in the second part. The background of both writers is important for clearer insight into the literary context, but mainly for a clear apprehension of the characters of

Jane and Antoinette because they were based on the real experience of their authors.

2.1. Charlotte Brontë and Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë was born on 21 April 1816 in Thornton, England to Patrick

Brontë, an Irish priest, and Maria Brontë. She was the third of six children. At the time when Charlotte was born, the Brontë family lived at the parsonage in Thorton. In 1820, they moved to Haworth where the family settled. Charlotte’s mother got ill and died in

September 1821, at age thirty-eight. Aunt Elizabeth, Maria’s sister, had been living with the family for a few years so she could take care of the children. However kind-hearted and affectionate towards the children she was, they were her sister’s children after all and she chose to ‘adopt an unsentimental, rather withholding demeanor’ (Harman 42).

And because Charlotte was at the time of her mother’s death only five years old, her memories of her were ‘very scant’ (38). Charlotte’s motherless childhood greatly affected her work. As Harman explains: ‘Brontë’s heroines are all motherless, adrift and starving for parental love‘ (38).

In August 1824, Charlotte started to attend The Clergy Daughters’ School at

Cowan Bridge with her three sisters. The school was run by a local landowner and philanthropist. ‘The regime he instigated at school was deliberately Spartan one of early rising, long prayers, spare facilities, plain food and outdoor exercise, based on familiar charity-school models’ (45). With the addition of coldness and dampness in rooms, many distinctive illnesses quickly spread amongst the children. Charlotte’s sister

Elizabeth and Maria had died suddenly in 1825. Due to the tragic events, Patrick Brontë decided to withdraw the remaining girls, Charlotte and Emily, from the school.

Charlotte transferred the arduous and tragic conditions of school into Jane Eyre, particularly to the portrayal of Lowood school. Furthermore, it is in fact ‘the very first novel to use a first-person child narrator’, according to Claire Harman (55).

After leaving school, children were tutored at home by their father. Apart from reading, learning and doing various chores, children were most of the time left on their own (57). During this period, Charlotte could experience for the first time the division between gender roles in their household, which was nothing unusual for the Victorian era. As Helen Moglen elaborates on this matter, she points at the unequal distribution of tasks that must have been done at home (Moglen 34). Unlike Branwell, the only son,

9 daughters were obliged to do as much in housekeeping tasks as in studying. Elizabeth

Gaskell in her biography of Charlotte Brontë claims the following: ‘Books were, indeed, a very common sight in that kitchen; the girls were taught by their father theoretically, and by their aunt, practically, that to take an active part in all household work was, in their position, woman’s simple duty’ (Gaskell 91).

Charlotte’s sense of imagination and talent for writing developed gradually.

Starting approximately at ten, when she used to write stories about the toys that children shared in the household (Harman 62) or two years later when she started to chronicle the events of the Brontë’s family. After her father’s sudden decline in health, Charlotte had to be sent to Roe Head School in 1831, as he was not able to administrate the parsonage and thus was unable to support his children (69). After her brother Branwell wanted to pursue his career as a painter in London, the budget of the family was so tight that Charlotte accepted a teaching position at Roe Head in 1835. Although she dreaded the idea of becoming a teacher, she had to overcome this feeling. Her family, especially her sister Emily, whose school fees must have been paid from Charlotte’s wages, relied on her income (94). Being a teacher was difficult for Charlotte. Gradually, her health deteriorated and led her to the point where her fragile mental and physical condition did not allow her to continue in teaching. Charlotte transferred her experience to Jane Eyre, particularly to the episode, where Jane deals with her collapse from hunger and exhaustion outside Moor House (119).

Between years 1839 and 1841, Brontë worked as a governess in several families.

Because she and her sisters decided to establish their own school, Charlotte and Emily moved to Brussels in 1842 to acquire education suitable enough for the school they wanted to set up (148). There she fell in love with her French teacher and one of the masters at the school she attended, Monsieur Heger. Because he was married, Brontë

10 found herself in an unfortunate situation. However, that did not affect their professional relationship. Although she found occasional hints of his affection for her, she had never acted upon them. Struggling to endure these feelings in silence, she remained sober and had not any expectations of him whatsoever (4). Suspicious Madame Heger put Brontë under pressure and with the addition of father’s reported problem with alcoholism, she left Brussels and went home to Hawthorne in 1844 (193). Brontë wrote a draft of ‘The

Master’ (later The Professor) based on these unhappy events in Brussels that consisted of a fragment of the story at the back of the novel with a description of ‘a large house called Gateshead’ (qtd. in Harman 189). The reference to Gateshead is an initial hint of

Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre.

Brontë, ‘a poet of suffering’, dwelt on her bottomless sorrow that stemmed from her motherless childhood and reflected these feelings in her novel (247). During the initial phase of writing, Brontë suffered from the fever which was reportedly caused by her mental recurrence to the past (247). The aim to create a ‘deliberately unbeautiful’ female character was supposed to point out she was entitled to love just like any other traditionally appealing female character. As she was in the middle of the writing process, the Brontë household had to meet with some struggles. In the house were now living six adults, including Brontë’s father, siblings and a servant, without any proper income. With the addition of Branwell’s debts and his disturbing behavior, the events were far from peaceful. At some point, he reportedly set his bed on fire, which is similar to the scene from Jane Eyre, where Bertha sets Rochester’s bed on fire. Brontë thus used her novel as a sanctuary, a soothing place, where to hide from difficulties and find solace (251).

Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre under a pseudonym Currer Bell. She had chosen a ‘deliberately androgynous-sounding name’ because she was aware of the

‘misogynistic bias’ of the print culture at the time (228). The process of writing

Brontë’s most successful novel started paradoxically after her very first disappointment in her early writing career in 1846 – the publisher had sent her back the manuscript of her first novel The Professor, refusing to print it. Unwilling to give up, she tried it with the same novel again and sent the manuscript to another publisher, George Smith in

1847. Although, he had refused the novel just like the others in publishing trade for commercial reasons, his reply to the author was filled with appreciation of good work which encouraged Jane. Less than a month later, she sent him already finished the manuscript of Jane Eyre (255). After Smith had received the manuscript in the morning, he began to read immediately. But he was so impressed with the novel that he could not have put it down until reaching the end. Right after that, Smith wanted the novel to go into print (256). Readers, as well as critics, praised the book. However, there were also negative reviews. One of the most memorable ones was written by Elizabeth Rigby and her review offered very traditionalist, Victorian approach to Jane Eyre. Rigby described the novel that is ‘combining such genuine power with such horrid taste’ (Rigby 501).

Charlotte Brontë, renowned for writing one of the most remarkable novels in literary history who ‘established herself as one of the earliest feminist thinkers’, had to at first overcome many initial obstacles not only in her personal life but also as a female writer in the Victorian period too (Dutta 2311). The personal issues had emerged already in the early stage of her childhood when her mother had died. The Brontë family had been stricken with death, misfortune and even poverty, but bonds remained always very tight. To succeed in male-dominated writing circles had not been easy.

Against all odds, she managed to achieve success with her first published novel Jane

Eyre about an orphan’s journey to independence that remains popular to this day.

2.2 Jean Rhys and Wide Sargasso Sea

Although Jean Rhys wrote many considerably important novels during her career, Wide Sargasso Sea became the most debated and successful one. The world- wide recognition of the novel was caused by the direct relation of the story to Charlotte

Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Nevertheless, Rhys’s work established itself well as a stand-alone novel and rightly deserves its own place in literary history. The novel was published in

1966 after a long and difficult process of writing. Despite the initial obstacles, when

Rhys had to undergo several life-changing moments, she finished it successfully. This chapter will provide a brief insight into the author’s life and the development of the novel itself. The chapter is divided into two sections: the first section provides the background of the author herself and her work and the second part is solely focused on the origin of Wide Sargasso Sea.

Jean Rhys was born on 24 August 1890 as Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams in

Roseau, Dominica, the West Indies to a Creole mother of Scottish and Irish descent and to a Welsh doctor father. Most of the society was Catholic and spoke French patois at the time. Her family raised her as an Anglican. Although the slavery had been abolished in 1834, the remnants of it were still palpable in the atmosphere during the time of her upbringing (Savory 4). Her memories from childhood had later great influence on the development of Wide Sargasso Sea where she included her experience from the interaction with former slaves and the Creole society. Moving out of the West Indies was a radical change in the young girl’s life. She came to England with her aunt in 1907 so she could attend a school in Cambridge. There, she spent only one term. Then she chose to pursue her acting dream and started to attend Academy of Dramatic Arts where she could study only thanks to her father is financial support. After his death in 1908, she had left the Academy for good and began to work as a chorus girl in a theatrical

13 group (Mellown 459). In general, England left her ‘depressed’ and alienated from books as this world was new to her (Savory 15).

She started to write when she moved to Paris with her husband where she met

Ford Madox Ford, an English writer, and editor. Ford renewed her love for books, introduced her to French literature and eventually encouraged her in pursuing a writing career (Savory 16). Unlike England, France had been culturally closer to a Creole who was brought up in French-speaking society in the West Indies. However, it was already discussed in works of many literary scholars that Rhys often explored the constant feeling of displacement. In other words, Rhys had never found the place to call home.

Helen Carr calls it a ‘sense of homelessness’ (Carr 20). This sense was based on the fact that Rhys left the land where she was born very young and was not able to become attached to a single place. In Europe, she traveled a lot and never stayed at one place for long. Helen Carr explains that ‘as a Creole, Jean Rhys was culturally mixed, marginal to the metropolitan world, hybrid, always a foreigner even in her native land. She became a migrant, unsettled, on the move, with no roots to return to, no base point, a foreigner everywhere’ (27). Wide Sargasso Sea thus becomes an essential example of this topic.

Rhys drew an inspiration from her colorful life. All her novels carry autobiographical elements and Wide Sargasso Sea is not an exception. The process behind the development of the novel happened to be unexpectedly difficult so it took eventually years to be finally published. The initial attempt to create the novel is dated to the time after the release of Good Morning Midnight in 1939 when she received a copy of Jane Eyre from her second husband (Smith 8). In addition, in 1936, Rhys was still recovering from her first visit of the West Indies in thirty years. During the visit, her memories suddenly came to life and resonated within her. So, when she read Jane

Eyre, Brontë’s novel reminded her of her past and evoked in her a reason to write the

14 story of Bertha Mason. Although she basically disappeared out of the literary world around 1939 she did not stop writing. During the Second World War Rhys wrote approximately a half of the planned version named Le Revenant. Nonetheless, she burnt it after a quarrel with her husband and the story was forgotten for a while (Smith 8).

She decided to step out of the shadows in 1957 when the BBC advertised for information about Jean Rhys. She answered and then got acquainted with Francis

Whyndham, a literary editor and great admirer of Rhys’ work. After he found out about her upcoming novel, he offered her help with preparations for the release (Athill 8). As

Angela Smith claims in the introduction to Wide Sargasso Sea, the writing process was particularly difficult for Rhys because she was ‘feeling insignificant in comparison with

Brontë’s canonical position’ (Smith 8). There had occurred other events which complicated the process. Before the novel was finished, Rhys struggled with health issues. She had a heart attack and her husband fell seriously ill. Since the health problems weakened her to a degree where she could not bring herself to write at all, she had to focus solely on her health. She worked on the on the novel only gradually.

Therefore, the release had been postponed until October 1966 (Smith 14).

Considering the fact that the initial impulse to write this novel may be dated back to 1939, it took Rhys basically more than twenty-five years to create and publish the novel altogether. She raised much ‘feminist interest’ in the story after the release

(Savory 14). However, Wide Sargasso Sea is a novel that can be understood and read through many distinctive approaches – feminist, post-colonial, modernist. But what defines the novel most precisely is the reflection of author’s life in the story. According to Rhys’s editor Diana Athill, ‘all her writing, she used to say, started out from something that had happened, and her first concern was to get it down as accurately as

15 possible’ (Athill 4). The idea, that in Wide Sargasso Sea she put her life into it literally, carries a remarkable legacy that may influence further generations.

3. Analysis of Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë in her novel tells a story about an orphaned girl Jane Eyre that is stuck between her dreams and the harsh reality of everyday life at Gateshead where she is continually oppressed by her relatives, Aunt Reed and her son John. When her

Aunt sends her to Lowood school, she meets oppression in another form, in Mr.

Brocklehurst whose character represents Christian constraint. Jane is thus confronted with the force of patriarchal society very early. When she later works as a governess at

Thornfield for master Edward Rochester, she falls in love with him and experiences patriarchal influence from a different perspective because she is now adult female who chooses to resist the oppression and find her independence. Only independence can secure that Jane is freed from her former oppressors. The only way to achieve her goal lies in her own power and effort as she cannot rely on anyone.

In order to achieve her independence, she must undergo a complex process of liberation at two stages. The first stage is included in the first subchapter and develops the idea that the initial despotic behaviour of Aunt Reed, John Reed, and Mr.

Brocklehurst is responsible for Jane’s strong rebellion and resistance. At this stage, she achieves the liberation through effort and hard work at a school which causes that Jane grows into educated and reasonable young woman. The second subchapter discusses the second stage of Jane’s liberation from Rochester’s harmful dominancy in the relationship. The liberational process of this stage is based on her free will to refuse his dominance and leave Thornfield to pursue her independence.

3.1. Jane Eyre’s Path to Womanhood

Jane Eyre struggles since early childhood. Although she has a roof over her head, a place she could call home, the Gateshead is far from being the secure sanctuary that an orphaned child like her needs. Because her parents died of typhus, she is moved to Gateshead Hall, to the family of her mother’s brother, Mr. Reed of whom she does not have any recollection since he had died when Jane was an infant. Mr. Reed had imposed on his wife the promise of bringing up Jane as her own children. However, that does not come even close to the harsh reality of Jane’s life at Gateshead because Mrs.

Reed treats Jane nothing like her own child. She is unnecessarily strict with her, disrespectful and has no mercy. So are her children, particularly young John Reed for whom Jane becomes an aim of mental and even physical abuse. As for the staff of the household, Bessie and Miss Abbot have to treat Jane in accordance with Mrs. Reed’s directions. That is why they treat Jane as someone who is ‘less than servant’ (Brontë 6).

John Reed is the only physically aggressive male she deals with. Because she is obliged to respect him as a ‘young master’, she endures his oppression in silence (6).

Continually bullied by him, Jane lives in a constant fear: ‘every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh on my bones shrank when he came near’ (4). The pressure continually builds up inside her until something snaps in her the moment John Reed attacks her. He throws a book at her and after she speaks out against him, he yanks her by the hair. Suddenly she feels ‘resistance to the illegitimate power of John Reed‘ (Pell

399). She is brave enough to speak out against him and strike back which results in

Jane’s unjust punishment – being locked up in the red-room by Mrs. Reed. Red-room is another form of patriarchal control because the metaphorical presence of Mr. Reed in the room is represented by the furniture and various possessions that are still in the room (Gilbert & Gubar 340). Furthermore, it was one of the last wishes of Mr. Reed to

18 take care of Jane as if it was Ms. Reed’s own child. Thus, he had full control over Jane’s future fate without knowing the effects.

Red-room is a symbol for Jane’s childhood oppression. It is a room of death because late Master Reed had died in there. Being imprisoned in this chamber, she undergoes a radical change of herself. Omnipresent red colour reflects Jane’s state of mind since the anger and despair over injustice start to culminate in her: ‘all my brain was in tumult, and all my heart in insurrection’ (Brontë 10). Her mind and self are going through a transformation that results in more rebellious and stronger Jane. Hsin Ying

Chi suggests that this change is represented by the mirror in the room that ‘imprisons’

Jane furthermore since she ‘refuses to identify herself with the reflection as she refuses to be imprisoned by either looking-glass or the red-room’ (Chi 99). She does not recognize herself in the mirror because what she sees, ‘the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear’, are only remnants of her spirit under influence of Gateshead (Brontë 8). She is aware that the mirror parallels the awful reality where she does not know herself at all.

She gradually becomes a literal prisoner in the house that is supposed to be her home and sanctuary.

Loveless, and oppressed she is taught very quickly that an orphaned girl cannot rely on anyone in such hostile place and should stand her ground. That is why after the horrible experience in the red-room makes her bolder than before. What she utterly detests, is the injustice that was imposed on her which awakens passion and rebellion in

Jane. That is why, before her departure to from Gateshead, she confronts Mrs. Reed and speaks out loud everything that had culminated inside of her in the red-room. Victorians often interpreted Jane’s passion and strength as behaviour that does not go with accordance to Christianism and therefore she became an object of criticism. Elizabeth

Rigby is one of them: ‘She has inherited in fullest measure the worst sin of our fallen nature – the sin of pride. Jane Eyre is proud, and therefore she is ungrateful too (Rigby

505). For Mrs. Reed who feels same about Jane, she is alarmed by her sudden rebellious behaviour. Only after Jane accuses Mrs. Reed of injustice and ill-treating she feels

‘sense of freedom…and triumph’, and is capable of moving on to the new life at

Lowood School while leaving the old world of oppression behind (Brontë 32).

Although Jane’s idea of getting an education at Lowood school is one of the ways how to escape the malevolent treatment of the Reeds, she has to overcome several obstacles. One of them is rooted in Mr. Brocklehurst, the head of Lowood school whose general idea of the education of poor and orphaned girls at his institution lies in the strict religious constraint. He is another male character Jane meets under unpleasant circumstances. She meets him for the first time at Gateshead in breakfast-room where she is called by Mrs. Reed. After she enters the room, she sees clearly that Aunt Reed is present in the room, but she is not alone. There stands also a strange ‘a black pillar…the straight, narrow, sable-clad shape standing erect on the rug: the grim face at the top was like a carved mask, placed above the shaft by way of capital’ (Brontë 27). Implying thus his dominant and authoritative presence in the room, ‘he turned his head slowly towards where I stood’ (27). His approach to a little girl is intimidating and threatening. After he listens to Aunt Reed’s complaints about Jane’s behaviour and wrongly accuses her of being a liar, Mr. Brocklehurst assures her, that his institution is right for such ‘a naughty child addicted to falsehood and deceit (30). Because he is fed with all the lies about her by Mrs. Reed, she is afraid that he might destroy her reputation of a good pupil at

Lowood. He thus holds power over her progress and is responsible for the insufficiency in adequate clothing and nutrition. In the speech he delivers to teachers and pupils, he does what Jane dreads the most. He intentionally accuses Jane in front of everyone that

20 she is a lying evil child that needs to be avoided and left alone. After Jane’s experience in the red-room, this is only another form of her imprisonment established by Mr.

Brocklehurst: ‘avoid her…exclude her…shut her out’ (64).

Despite her oppressors, there are characters of the narrative that on the contrary play completely different roles. Helen Burns, Jane’s best friend at Lowood and Miss

Temple, the superintendent of Lowood are Jane’s guides and mentors. Helen Burns, who is older than Jane gives her a valuable advice on how to cope with oppression and injustice that were imposed on her. Helen herself knows how it is to be punished for the mistakes she makes occasionally as she is often scolded by Miss Scatchered. But according to Helen, it is important to treat Jane’s enemies with love: ‘bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you’ (54). Miss Temple is possibly Jane’s female role model, the substitute mother for she is the one who feeds the children when they are hungry and gives the words of encouragement when they need it. But what is the most important, she brings Jane a sense of justice for she makes a definite end to the conjunctures that Brocklehurst made about Jane previously. Miss Temple decides to write to Mr. Lloyd, an apothecary who examines Jane after the fit in the red-room and is familiar with her past situation at Gateshead. Miss Temple even does not need any proof to believe Jane’s story; she treats Jane as an honest and trustworthy girl even before the truth is revealed by the reply from Mr. Lloyd. And as a real mother would do, Miss

Temple treats Jane and Helen to tea and a cake in her chamber with fire, creating thus a sense of homely cosiness and safety. As Gilbert and Gubar suggest, Miss Temple represents not only a ‘true mother’ but also ‘fairy godmother’ who feeds and embraces hungry and loveless Jane (Gilbert & Gubar 345).

Oppression at Gateshead and Lowood school are represented through the despotic behaviour of Mrs. Reed, her son John, and Mr. Brocklehurst. At Gateshead,

Jane is led toward mad fit inside the red-room where she is locked against her will – imprisoned child thus prepares for a difficult fight against her oppressors. Jane escapes from Gateshead’s oppression through passion and rebellion which Mrs. Reed or Mr.

Brocklehurst misread as madness and deceit. The oppression at Lowood in the form of coldness, hunger and Mr. Brocklehurst she must overcome through consistent learning and hard work to give the honest impression about her qualities because that is the only way to refute the false accusations of being a liar and misbehaved girl. Through education, she paves the road from the oppression to deliberation.

3.2. Jane Eyre, the Heroine

The concept of Jane’s protection of self naturally derives from her encounters with male characters. During her childhood, she faces young John Reed, then late Mr.

Reed, or more precisely the ghost of him, and finally, she meets Mr. Brocklehurst. All of them invoke in Jane dread, fear and respect. To Jane’s disadvantage she is not in a position to revolt against them and when she does, she gets punished. In other words, from her early childhood experience, she learned that to speak against male authority is associated with restriction and punishment. As a grown woman, she is employed at

Thornfield as a governess of a young girl Adele, the daughter of Rochester’s former mistress from France. Although he claims she is not his child, he remains under his protection and financial support. Jane’s solemn purpose is to educate the girl but the place opens an entirely new chapter in her life. Rochester is the man of her life who loves Jane but at the same time, he is the man she needs to protect herself from.

Introduction to Edward Rochester’s character, the master of Thornfield, is portrayed romantically, as if out of fantasy. Jane meets him on the way to post a letter on behalf of Mrs. Fairfax, a housekeeper of Thornfield. The dramatic encounter is

22 reinforced by the pale moon on the rise and quiet evening on the Hay Lane. Rochester appears suddenly out of nowhere. His imposing entree delivers with him an epitome of masculinity and intimidation. Jane’s fear deepens when she recollects Bessie’s scary tales about Gytrash, a spirit with the resemblance of a black dog or a horse that haunts lonely travellers. The moment she finds out it is ‘only a male’ rider who falls off the horse, she feels ‘no fear of him’ (113). Because he intentionally conceals his true identity, Jane arrives back to the house oblivious to the fact that the rider she met is the master of Thornfield who has just arrived before her. But his little trickery does not confuse Jane and she remains stoic and rather unaffected during the first discussion they have a few days later after the encounter on the Hay Lane.

Rochester is apparently deeply affected by Jane which later develops in the deep romantic relationship between them. They have a chance to gradually get to know each other. Their relationship bears the traits of equality between man and a woman right from the start because their meeting in the Hay Lane results in Rochester’s fall from the horse. Hurting his ankle, Jane comes to his rescue and offers him to lean on her shoulder. Rochester is persuaded that Jane ‘bewitched his horse’ and is in possession of powers that may have caused his fall (122). Rochester himself directly signals that he intends to treat Jane as his equal when they talk one evening by the fire when he says: ‘I don’t wish to treat you like an inferior: that is, I claim only such superiority as must result from twenty years’ difference in age and century’s advance in experience’ (134).

Gilbert and Gubar also recognize a sense of equality between Rochester and Jane because of his openness about his past, particularly about his sexual relationship with

Adele’s mother, a French opera-dancer Celine Varens (Gilbert & Gubar 352). Rochester even takes a position of the one who is concerned about Jane’s moral opinion of him now when he enlightens her with Adele’s background story. There are other signs of

23 equality that imply Jane’s strong will under difficult circumstances. She saves

Rochester’s life when Bertha sets his bed on fire. Fearless Jane successfully extinguishes the fire and wakes Rochester up. Additionally, he often calls Jane his

‘friend’ which carries a sense of parity between them and regards thus their position being on equal levels (Brontë 205). But the ultimate achievement of their equality is expressed in probably the most significant conversation of the entire novel which is their declaration of love. Jane and Rochester are taking walk together when they stop by the big chestnut tree, having a conversation about their future. Rochester hints at the possibility that he gets married to Miss Ingram, to which Jane reacts with firm decision to leave Thornfield at once:

Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an

automaton? – a machine without feelings?...Do you think, because I am poor,

obscure, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! – I have as

much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some

beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as

it is now for me to leave you….it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if

both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal, - as we

are! (255)

He explains that he intentionally misled Jane about the marriage to Miss Ingram and responses with the declaration of his love and emphasising their parity in a relationship:

‘My bride is here, because my equal is here, and my likeness’ (257). After Jane agrees to marry him, the couple returns to the house because of the change of the weather. The chestnut tree, as a symbol of their love, is struck by lightning during the night after the proposal with ‘half of it split away’ and therefore foreshadows the inevitable split of

Jane and Rochester in the close future (259).

As their relationship gradually develops, Rochester starts to undermine the sense of equality between him and Jane. He prepares a little play that takes place during the visit of a few Rochester’s guest is his gypsy fortune-teller disguise. On the one side, the trickery played on the guests, Jane included, is a display of patriarchal sense for control, or ‘sense of power’ (Gilbert & Gubar 354). In other words, He uses the disguise on purpose to make inquiries into Jane’s honest opinion of Rochester. Additionally, he misleads her on purpose when he talks about his possible marriage to Miss Ingram, one of the guests at Thornfield, being curious about Jane’s response. Jane is the only one who does not let him trick her and is suspicious towards a strange gypsy under the mask. Gilbert and Gubar interpret his female gypsy disguise as ‘an effort to reduce his sexual advantage his masculinity gives him’ (355). In other words, he sees himself as a superior to Jane in sexual experience for it is ‘he who will initiate her into mysteries of the flesh’ (355). Furthermore, there occurs a shift in their relationship after the proposal.

Many critics suggest that from this point onwards, Rochester attempts to transform Jane into someone else, into an easily manipulated figure with ‘lack of freedom’ (Regis 87).

He already addresses her ‘Jane Rochester’ which immediately allows him to feel power and control over her integrity (Brontë 261). At this point, the sense of self-protection starts to emerge on the surface again in the form of Jane’s fear. With the surname

‘Rochester’, she is treated with jewellery, satin and lace frocks, and a new identity. Jane

Eyre, naturally, refuses all of it: ‘Then you won’t know me, sir; and I shall not be your

Jane Eyre any longer, but an ape in harlequin’s jacket’ (262).

The relationship is definitely put to an end after Rochester’s lies are revealed by

Bertha’s brother Richard Mason who interrupts the wedding ceremony and announces that there is an impediment – Rochester is already married to Bertha Antionetta Mason.

Bertha’s function in the story must be appreciated from a more profound different point

25 of view. She is merely the villain of the story. She has her own intentions which are revenge on her husband for her madness and imprisoning, and help to Jane so she is spared of possible suffering in Rochester’s hands as his future wife. Her intrusion is the attempt to prevent the marriage from happening not out of jealousy, but out of compassion for Jane. Bertha’s demonic laugh echoes in the house once in a while. But the night after Rochester confessed to Jane how he met Adele’s mother Celine Varens, the laugh gets her out of bed and curiosity makes her enter the hallway to find a smoke coming from Rochester’s room. Bertha must have seen them outside talking to each other because during their conversation Jane notices a brief but palpable change in

Rochester’s posture: ‘lifting his eyes to the battlements, he cast over them a glare such as I never seen before or since (Brontë 143). If Bertha was jealous, she would harm Jane instead of Rochester. But she does not hurt her in any way at all and she sets on fire

Rochester’s bed. The attack with a knife on Richard Mason, her step-brother, is deliberate since he is a reminder of the disastrous source of her tragic situation. She commits suicide only after she is ensured that Thornfield and Rochester are in flames and therefore prevent him from hurting other people, especially women. The final act, the final ominous signal for Jane to take the hint from Bertha is the torn veil. Bertha even let Jane see her face and figure before she disappears again as if she wanted to show Jane, what happened to the woman who experienced a marriage to Rochester – ‘a

Vampyr’, the monster stripped of its real identity. Thus, she represents a contributor to

Jane’s act of self-preservation and deliberation from Rochester’s dominance.

Because Jane is already suspicious and doubtful of Rochester’s oppressive actions, this announcement is the catalyst for Jane to finally admit that Rochester is a deceitful man whom she cannot fully trust. Gilbert and Gubar claim that Jane ‘must escape through deliberation rather than through madness [of the red-room]’ (Gilbert &

Gubar 363). Jane eventually decides to leave Thornfield, Rochester so she can fully protect herself from his male dominance that threats Jane’s identity. She undergoes difficult path of finding herself again when she wanders homeless and hungry. She discovers the new power to start from nothing, from the plain Jane Eyre because she finds herself a new home and new acquaintances. She meets St. John Rivers and his sisters Diana and Mary who turns out to be her cousins. She achieves independence through hard work and effort she puts into her new teaching job. On top of that, her unknown uncle from Madeira leaves her money and that is the final step to her independent self. Only after this achievement, she can reconcile with the love of her life. But she finds out that Thornfield is burnt down and metaphorically speaking, so is his master. Due to the fire at Thornfield, he is blind and crippled.

Rochester’s disability may be looked at from many points of view but an essential approach is rooted in putting his blindness into parallel with the deconstruction of his masculinity. As Gilbert and Gubar suggest, his loss of vision symbolizes the loss of male superiority, ego, and wealth which leads to the point where Jane now can accept him as her equal (Gilbert & Gubar 368). At the end, Jane happily announces: ‘Reader, I married him’ (Brontë 458). She does not exclaim ‘we got married’ or ‘I am his wife now’ that would imply Rochester’s dominance over Jane or husband’s ownership of his wife. In fact, she stays true to herself to the very end of the story and utters these exact words implying that it is actually Jane that marries Rochester, not vice versa. Reaching thus complete equality, if not even slightly the upper hand in their relationship, the positions of Rochester and Jane switch. The first attempt to get married is initiated by

Rochester, who tries to control his fiancée, lure her and humiliate her. But now, stripped of his malevolent ego and superiority complex, he is finally the equal to Jane, which allows her to shake off insecurity and doubts. Nothing harms her identity. The simple

27 sentence suggests that now she is the initiator of the further step in their relationship and conveys to the readers the very core point of Jane’s metaphorical reaching an end of her arduous journey. On top of that, Porter elaborates on the issue of Jane’s surname. He points out that although Jane tells her story after ten years of marriage to Rochester, the title carries name Jane Eyre, not Rochester: ‘her independent but loving female identity remains unsubdued’ (Porter 550).

Jane’s journey started in the oppressed childhood which she successfully overcomes with education and persistence. Educated, she finds herself a position at

Thornfield where she is employed as a governess of little Adele. The master of

Thornfield, Mr. Rochester falls in love with Jane and treats her as his equal but unfortunate circumstances force to make an important decision and leave the man she loves. Considering that his influence has damaging effects on Jane’s integrity of identity and the sense of equality between her and Rochester, it is the only available solution.

Through deliberation and independence, she finally finds herself and is able to marry

Rochester at last.

4. Analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea

The novel tells a story about Antoinette Cosway, the madwoman from the attic of Thornfield Hall in Brontë’s Jane Eyre where she is also known as Bertha. The story clarifies the mystery behind her origin and elaborates on details of her life in Jamaica before she marries Edwards Rochester. The events of the novel precede the storyline of

Jane Eyre and take place in Jamaica in the 1830s. Antoinette, unfortunately, grows up in a rather loveless and hostile environment of the Caribbean in a family of former slave-owners. Eventually, she becomes a victim of an arranged marriage with Edward

Rochester and is dragged across the ocean to be imprisoned in the attic of Thornfield

Hall, denied any access to the outside world.

Wide Sargasso Sea can be read on two parallel levels. The first level, which is discussed in the first subchapter, involves the problematics of Antoinette’s self-identity during her upbringing in Jamaica, shortly after the Emancipation Act is passed. The issue is portrayed on Antoinette’s interaction with other characters. These include her enstranged mother Annette, a black girl Tia who she wants to befriend and a servant

Christophine in whom Antoinette finds her sanctuary. The latter level, included in the second subchapter, concentrates on the question of how a marriage with Edward

Rochester dramatically influenced Antoinette which led her to the point of madness.

Antoinette’s gradual deterioration of mental health due to the male dominance of her husband reflects her unidentified self which makes her trapped in the marriage. She is a victim of the patriarchal dominance of her English step-father and English husband and thus forced to suffer because they make out of her ‘a woman put up for sale…and purchased’ (Porter 546). The development of their relationship comes in three stages.

The first stage begins on their honeymoon when the newlyweds get to know each other.

The second follows the moment Rochester receives a letter and starts to believe in gossip that spreads around about Antoinette’s family. And the final, third stage, is the period spent in England at Thornfield.

4.1. Antoinette’s Path to Womanhood

Antoinette’s father as well as grandfather were former slave-owners. After the

Emancipation Act was enacted in the Caribbean, many of the former slaves had settled not so far from their Coulibri estate. Occasionally, the hatred turns into verbal and in extreme, physical attacks that are aimed at their former masters and their families.

Because of the major change in the society, the Cosway family lives in fear of such attacks as the status of once wealthy masters had dropped and changed into poverty. Her mother Annette bears the change with difficulty but tries to stay calm on the outside so the black people do not notice. However, they figure it out soon that the Coulibri estate lacks maintenance and Annette’s clothes are getting worn-out: ‘Black people stood about in groups to jeer at her, especially after her riding clothes grew shabby (they notice clothes, they know about money)’ (Rhys 5).

Growing up in a fatherless family, Antoinette Cosway is deprived of any valuable male role model in her life. The matter of suitable female role model represented by her mother is questionable. Although she lives with her mother, Anette keeps a distance from Antoinette. In fact, Antoinette’s early childhood memories of her mother are scarce as she is not there for her very often. Antoinette’s mother often uses words related to her daughter as ‘pester’, ‘bother’ (8). When she tries to spend a moment in her mother’s company, Annette immediately acts dismissively: ‘not roughly, but calmly, coldly, without a word, as if she had decided once and for all that I was 30 useless to her’ (7). On top of that, Antoinette cannot identify with her mother because

Annette represents a wealthy class of white slave-owners that has been dead for some time already. As Helen Carr puts it, it does not matter if she is white, unless she is rich - it is an economic power that is crucial to the notion of ‘whiteness’ (Carr 94). What she represents does no longer exist in Jamaican society. For that reason, Annette struggles with her own self-identity issues which she cannot grasp as she is ‘without a doubt not

English, but no white nigger either. Not my mother. Never had been’ (Rhys 18). Her confusion and sense of disorientation lead gradually to her own self-destruction and mental breakdown.

With no mother or friend in sight, Antoinette mostly inclines to the black servant

Christophine who becomes eventually her female role model. She was ‘a wedding present’ of Antoinette’s father to his wife Annette (8). Christophine is one of the few, if not the only one, who shows Antoinette an occasional sign of love and tenderness. She sings to the girl during evenings and Antoinette enjoys these moments. Their relationship eventually grows tight after Antoinette’s wedding. She often seeks help and advice from Christophine to cope with the fatal relationship with Rochester. Elizabeth

Abel claims about their special relationship the following: ‘the typically weak mother- daughter relationship is mitigated by the positive mother substitute of

Christophine…who offers Antoinette an image of both nurturance and strength‘ (Abel

176). The bonding is definitely sealed after Antoinette’s mother dies.

Because Antoinette’s younger brother Pierre is physically in poor condition and still very small, there is no one left for Antoinette to identify with inside the family. She then turns to the outside world and attempts to befriend Tia. Being a white Creole is for

Antoinette a stigma as she is judged by the black people. Black Jamaicans, former slaves, usually associate white people with wealth, and that is a category where

Antoinette does not fit into since the Cosway family lost a large proportion of its wealth. Tia, a black girl, points out during their momentary disagreement that ‘old time white people nothing but white nigger now’ (Rhys 10). Hence the term ‘white nigger’ - white but poor. In Tia’s case, Spivak suggests that her relationship with Antoinette implies ‘images of mirroring’ (Spivak 250). Particularly, after Coulibri estate is set on fire by local black people. She sees Tia standing not so far from the burning house and runs to her so she can hold on the last thing that remains close to her, her friend. But she does not expect that Tia throws a stone at her instead and Antoinette cries: ‘We had eaten the same food, slept side by side, bathed in the same river…I thought, I will live with Tia and I will be like her…I looked at her and I saw her face crumple up as she began to cry. We stared at each other, blood on my face, tears on hers. It was as if I saw myself. Like in a looking-glass’ (Rhys 24). After Annette and Mr. Mason, a rich

Englishman, got married, they put the Coulibri estate under reconstruction before settling there. Because the black people see the estate now to be flourishing with wealth again, they are enraged and put the house on fire. This incident puts the link between

Tia and Antoinette to rest for good. The connection with someone of whom she hoped she could identify with is now broken. For Antoinette, it is a bitter taste of reality she lives in. She realizes that people are difficult to deal with, therefore she abandons any idea of socializing with them: ‘And if the razor grass cut my legs and arms I would think it’s better than people’ (Rhys 12).

While Christophine and Tia are black characters that relate to Antoinette, with the arrival of Mr. Mason and Aunt Cora she comes across Englishness. While

Christophine and Tia have Jamaican cultural effect on Antoinette, Aunt Cora’s arrival offers Antoinette English influence which she can identify with. But at the same time, she feels that deeply she is still more Caribbean than anything else: ‘I was glad to be

32 like an English girl, but I missed the taste of Christophine cooking (17). On top of that,

Aunt Cora does not stay in Jamaica much longer because she decides to travel back to

England and Antoinette is sent to a convent. As for Mr. Mason, he travels often, especially after Anette’s death, and does not visit Antoinette in convent very often. The

English identity is, for now, improbable to grasp and absorb for her until she marries

Rochester who is an epitome of a true Englishman.

Growing up, Antoinette has not a great chance to associate with someone who would be close to her. Since her father is dead, mother lives in her own world and brother is ill, she grows up as a loner who looks for her place in this world. She fails at an attempt to befriend Tia, a friendly black girl since the boundaries between them are for Antoinette impossible to overcome. Therefore, she stands still somewhere in between and does not belong anywhere. In some way, the pattern is strongly reminiscent of Anette’s path that foreshadows Antoinette’s own future direction. Her identity is a fragile element which is easily exploited by the male control in the form of

Richard Mason, her stepfather, and her future husband.

4.2. From Antoinette to Bertha

Although the marriage between Antoinette and her husband is arranged, she finds herself in love with him. Unfortunately, her love is unrequited. From the beginning, he regards the West Indies and Antoinette’s looks with disapproval. As if the place and people were beneath him. ‘Most of the women were outside their doors looking at us but without smiling. Sombre people in a sombre place’ (Rhys 41).

Observing his wife closely, he is not impressed either. Rochester finds her eyes ‘too large’ and ‘disconcerting’ and starts to speculate about her origin too (40). He suspects

33 that Antoinette is not entirely of white ancestry because her eyes ‘are not English or

European either’ (40). Under influence of tropical climate and rich scents, Rochester seems carried away by the atmosphere on the island because everything around is

‘extreme green’ or ‘too much’ (59).

In general, his attitude towards his new surroundings is rather dominant and superior. As an Englishman, he is an embodiment of traditional class division because his ‘perceptions and values are identified as a reflection of the European systems of imperial control through which he thinks and acts’ (Mardorossian 81). He carries himself with his confident demeanour. On the surface, he acts as a gentleman but inside he keeps his opinion to himself. Upon the close relationship between Antoinette and

Christophine, he looks rather disapprovingly. It is highly unimaginable to him to have such close ties with a servant. He is also not pleased with the local customs of serving an evening meal ‘much later than in England’ (Rhys 56). There is also another problem for the young Englishman. Antoinette’s spontaneity and open-mindedness do not meet the traditional English standards. As for English wives, they are expected to keep their appearance clean, virtuous, but mainly quiet. Rochester often finds a reason to judge

Antoinette on her appearance, looks, or even on the way she speaks. As she describes the Cosway house in Coulibri, she says that ‘the handrail was ornamented iron’ (84).

And to that Rochester responds and corrects her mistake, curtly saying ‘wrought iron’

(84). Also throwing pebbles is not met with Rochester’s approval as he is ‘hardly able to believe she was the pale silent creature’ he had married (54). As a gentleman, he does not comment on her skills and keeps everything to himself.

While in the first stage Rochester acts as an attentive husband on the surface with hints of doubts underneath, in the second stage his true nature is revealed. His attitude towards Antoinette changes the moment he finds out that there are lively

34 rumours about the history of the Cosway family. The gossip reaches Rochester in a letter by Daniel Cosway, an illegitimate son of Antoinette’s father. The unwanted son, unarguably bitter about his life circumstances, decides to reveal to Rochester the history of the Cosway family. Daniel claims that in the blood of the Cosways’ runs madness and warns him it may be hereditary. Not only does now Rochester suspect that some turn of events might appear in near future, he seems as if he welcomes it. Because he is now fully aware of the fact that if he cannot love his wife in a traditional way he looks for any way out of it. And V.S. Naipaul adds: ’Rochester needs only pressure Antoinette into some semblance of madness in order to dispose of her’ (Naipaul 65). So he uses the content of the letter against her, accuses her of deceit and lies and eventully rejects her love. This evokes inside her a feeling of regret and guilt although she knows that Daniel wrote lies about her family. Therefore, Antoinette is even more submissive and willing to do anything to please him. To make him love her, she uses obeah1 practice with help from Christophine.

In the third stage, Antoinette is already placed in the attic at Thornfield. Now the transformation into Rochester’s Bertha is almost completed. In Jane Eyre, Bertha is looked at as something inhuman – from ghost to lunatic. In fact, Rhys’ Bertha is far from a lunatic. Brontë’s Bertha is described as mad but the perception of the character is based entirely on the presumptions. Nobody actually attempts to make contact with her or tries to understand her. The only person she assoacites with is Grace Pool, a servant who is obliged to take care of her. Antoinette is perceived as the villain of Jane’s fairy tale. Every person imprisoned in a foreign country, surrounded by things and people she does not recognize, deprived of any contact with other human beings would get

1 Obeah is a religious folk practice originating in Africa; obeah was seen by Europeans as superstition, witchcraft and poison but by the slaves and their descendants as a source of healing and religious belief. Originally, obeah was a practice used to harm an enemy, but it changed and took on different characteristics in different islands. 35 mentally asphyxiated. Antionette thus decides to ‘turn away from her image as the ghost of Thornfield Hall’ and symbolically reconnect with her past through fire at Thornfield

(Abel 174). In other words, the flames are a reminder of her former self, Antoinette, who recognizes fire as a ‘mirror’ where she sees Tia. Because the bond between her and

Tia is broken after the fire at Coulibri estate, Antoinette now metaphorically reconnects with her through the fire which results in her suicide (Abel 174).

Although the general perception of Antoinette and Bertha is that she is mad, it is a misconception of her character. The only one who calls her mad is Rochester. Dennis

Porter in his work aptly points out that ‘Bertha was not born mad, but made so’ (Porter

541). Rochester creates this beautiful but mad ‘doll’ because that suits him the most

(Smith 12). Despite his continual mental pressure, Antoinette tries to remain resistant:

‘Bertha is not my name. You are trying to make me into someone else, calling me by another name’ (Rhys 94). Antoinette has obviously conflicted perception of herself since Rochester names her Bertha. She is ‘split between the image thrust on her and her own knowledge of herself‘ (Abel 172). Later, he attempts to do the same with Jane.

Once they get engaged, he wants to turn Jane into someone else. He marries Antoinette for money or rather ‘she had bought him, or so she thinks‘ (42). Eventually, Rochester is the one who gains the most. Antoinette’s possession is now passed on her husband and thus she becomes his possession too. Or he thinks so. Once he owns her property she becomes useless for him and is put aside, into the attic.

All the events of the three stages gradually lead Antoinette into madness. The more time she spends with Rochester, the more destructive power he has over her. She is eventually transformed into his English property, a ‘doll’ named Bertha. Although she tries to preserve her sanity, his manipulative approach is too strong. Not only does she gradually give in, she, unfortunately, becomes the victim of his male dominance.

5. Conclusion

The aim of this thesis was to compare Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jean

Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea. Before the thesis provides the individual analysis of each novel, it offers insight into the creative life of each author whose distinct backgrounds have a significant effect on their work, especially the analyzed novels. Then the thesis proceeds with the main analyses that are focused individually on each story. The analysis emphasizes the position of the main female characters, Jane Eyre and

Antoinette/Bertha regarding their relation to Rochester. Additionally, the thesis develops the core topic to each character – pursuit of the self-identity. In other words, the thesis demonstrates that the presence of Edward Rochester does have a great effect on the identity of both heroines resulting in a polar relation between Jane and

Antoinette/Bertha.

Jane Eyre and Antoinette Cosway prove themselves to be inspirational feminist heroines that are audacious enough to stand for themselves. Their strength is predominantly embedded in the early childhood of both characters who must undertake a difficult path to self-discovery and only then can detach themselves gradually from

Rochester’s overwhelming control in the relationship. Crucial is, how Antoinette and

Jane cope with his dominance individually. Comparing the paths of both female protagonists, it eventually turns out that the key lies in contradiction. Their ways are going in opposite directions. While Antoinette escapes the dominance through madness,

Jane escapes through wisdom and deliberation. Starting from the early childhood, when it is Jane who is thought of as mad but on the other hand Antoinette, who does actually grow up as a sane and healthy girl who eventually ends up being taken for a lunatic.

The initial contradictory direction of both heroines involves their association with madness. In Jane’s case, madness plays only a temporary but important role at the beginning of the novel, whereas Antoinette is a character directly based on madness.

Jane is perceived as a troubled child when she lives at Gateshead Hall which leads the servants and members of Reeds family to believe that the source of her behaviour lies in

Jane’s doubted mental state. When she is dragged to red-room she fights the injustice that is imposed on her which results in the attempt of Miss Abbot and Bessie to tie her down to a chair as if she’s out of her mind, calling her a ‘mad cat’ (Brontë 6). Her resistance and fight against injustice are mistaken for ‘wickedness’ and ‘passion’

(Brontë 7). At the same time, she is regarded as an intruder that needs to be put away, locked out so she could not be seen by others in the house which is a case strongly comparable to the conclusion of Antoinette’s story. Because Antoinette is driven into madness by Rochester, she is put away and locked up in the attic as lunatic Bertha.

Neither Antoinette nor Jane is treated with dignity and respect. However, the difference lies in the opposite direction of the progress of both character – Jane’s madness opens the story of Jane Eyre and she eventually evolves into a passionate and yet reasonable woman, Antoinette is led to the madness towards the end of Wide Sargasso Sea.

The question of madness leads to another point of the conclusion and that is a close association with imprisonment is related to both, Jane and Antoinette/Bertha. In each case, Rochester plays an essential role. With relation to Bertha, her captivity at the end of Wide Sargsso Sea and throughout Jane Eyre is explicit. When it comes to Jane, she is the victim of figurative imprisonment during her childhood years at Gateshead

Hall and Lowood school. Whereas Antoinette’s relationship with Rochester causes her imprisonment and years of miserable life, Jane experiences something entirely opposite.

By contrast, living at Thornfield and encounters with Rochester bring out the best of

38 her. After all those miserable years spent in hunger and oppression, she finally starts to enjoy the life she lives and moreover, she is not belittled or punished anymore. In other words, Jane goes through a phase of metaphorical release from the burden of restriction from the past. Providing that Rochester acts as a catalyst in each case, the outcome is in each case distinct.

Another example of polarity can be explained on both Rochester’s relationships, especially regarding love and marriage. First of all, Antoinette’s and Rochester’s marriage is arranged and therefore it must be taken into consideration that they leave out the traditional pattern: get time to know each other before the wedding day. Their relationship develops the other way around. Although Antoinette acts rather hesitantly, she eventually agrees to the marriage which she is slightly pushed into by Mr. Mason.

In addition, there cannot be taken into account affection and love whatsoever as they are not present at first. The situation eventually changes and it is obvious that in the relationship, Antoinette almost begs for his love while he remains cold and distant. She becomes so desperate that she seeks out Christophine to ask her for help. In the relationship between Jane and Rochester, the pattern is opposite. While Antoinette has to beg for his love and attention, Rochester’s love for Jane is genuine. However deep are his feelings for Jane, it does not justify his deceit. For Jane, the honesty and equality in the relationship are more important than affection. At the end, only after she becomes an independent woman, she seeks Rochester out and ‘marries him’ (Brontë 458).

The concept of already discussed escape relates to the liberation of both female characters from Rochester’s dangerous influence. The process of liberation Antoinette and Jane undergo is long and complex. Antoinette escapes through madness, Jane Eyre quite the contrary, ‘escapes through deliberation‘ (Gilbert & Gubar 363). Antoinette is driven into madness by Rochester on purpose. His overwhelming influence on her

39 results in her failure to resist him and thus she is forced to submit to his male superiority. Although Wide Sargasso Sea’s plot ends right at Thornfield where

Antoinette lives only very briefly, in Jane Eyre she fully transforms herself into Bertha, the madwoman. Bertha’s actions are triggered by both, madness and sanity. Bertha’s madness is, in fact, a reflection of her vindictive inner self that is eager to harm

Rochester. But simultaneously, Bertha acts with sanity because her purpose is to protect

Jane and expel her from Thornfield not because she is jealous of her but because she intends to protect her from her devious husband.

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Resumé (English)

This bachelor’s diploma thesis compares Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre and Jean

Rhys’ novel Wide Sargasso Sea. The introduction presents both novels and their authors with an emphasis on the relation between the novels. The second chapter focuses separately on Jean Rhys’ and Charlotte Brontë’s literary background and the origin of both discussed novels. The thesis takes into consideration the order in which the novels were published. Therefore, the thesis focuses in the first place on the individual analysis of Jane Eyre in the third chapter. The work then proceeds to the fourth chapter which offers an insight into the origin of Bertha, born as Antoinette Cosway in Jamaica, who marries Edward Rochester and is later known as his mad wife, hidden in the attic of

Thornfield in Jane Eyre. Both analyses discuss separately the individual approach to a confrontation with displays of patriarchy. While Antoinette escapes from under the male dominance through madness, Jane on the other side escapes through deliberation and independence. At the end, the conclusion offers the comparison of both novels and demonstrates that Rochester’s influence has a great effect on the identity of both heroines which results in a polar relation between Jane and Antoinette/ Bertha.

Resumé (Czech)

Tato bakalářská práce srovnává romány Jana Eyrová od Charlotte Brontëové a Širé

Sargasové moře od Jean Rhysové. V úvodu jsou oba romány prezentovány s ohledem na vzájemný vztah mezi nimi. Druhá kapitola se odděleně zabývá literárním pozadím

Jean Rhysové a Charlotte Brontëové a vznikem obou zmíněných románů. Práce bere v potaz to, v jakém pořadí byly obě knihy vydány. Proto se práce nejprve soustředí na analýzu Jany Eyrové ve třetí kapitole. Text pak pokračuje čtvrtou kapitolou, která nabízí pohled na původ Berthy, narozené jako Antoinetta Coswayová, která se provdala za

Edwarda Rochestra, aby se pak později stala známou jako ona šílená manželka, ukrytá na půdě Thornfieldu v Janě Eyrové. Obě analýzy se individuálně zabývají hrdinkami a tím, jaký postoj zaujmou, když jsou konfrontovány s projevy patriarchátu. Zatímco

Antoinette se podaří osvobodit zpod vlivu mužské dominance cestou zbláznění se, Jane se osvobodí cestou rozvahy a nezávislosti. Závěr nabízí srovnání obou románů a dokazuje, že Rochester má zásadní vliv na identitu obou hrdinek, což vede k tomu, že mezi Janou a Antoinettou/Berthou je vztah založený na úplné protichůdnosti.