The Theme of Misunderstanding in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea
In both classical novels Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte a Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys the theme of misunderstanding is represented very widely. Both Victorian era dramatical romantic fictions have some impact in them from their respective authors. Bronte's lonliness is transformed into Jane Eyre's Character whom mostly all characters in the novel misunderstand her until they truly get to recognize her which is towards the end of the novel.
Jane Eyre! Such a cute little responsible girl. Not everybody sees her that way even though Charlotte Bronte portrayed her to the best of her ability. Jane looks for her true identity as she is constantly being abused by the people around her. She is also confused in between the choice of her true love and passion for Mr. Rochester or her responsibility as only Adele's teacher. Jane who is thought to be caring, loving, an amazing and loyal friend, and can get along with pretty much anybody doesn't perceive everything the proper way. Literally talking, she sometimes is blinded by her passion and true love that she sometimes can’t recognize people in her own proper and disciplined way. "My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for his creature: of whom I had made an idol" (Bronte 241).
According to Jane’s point of view, her foil, Bertha, is mirrored as an insane and unstable woman to the reader and herself who is an obstacle in her way of her unity with Mr. Edward Rochester. Jane doesn...
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...ason was absolutely a set up prepared by brides family. She was married to him for his wealth instead. Turning to Marie Antoinnete, she is instead described as a slut. She seemed to go for any guy possible just for money so she even betrayed Rochester, who truly loved and valued all his wealth as a glass of water to a sea as compared her love, eloped with some unknown musician to Italy leaving her and Rochester's biological daughter parentless.
Ultimately, when Bertha tries to finish of Rochester by setting the beautiful whole Thornfield on fire, she burns herself to ashes. Even after Bertha's so many attempts to kill Rochester, he tries to save her from fire and loses his sight and a right hand, but she fails because Jane's and Rochester's love is immortal. In the end Rochester is able to partially regain his sight and see his heir while holding him in his hand.
Jane Eyre is about a girl named Jane who struggles to find who she really is and with it what she really wants. “As a model for women readers in the Victorian period and throughout the twentieth century to follow, Jane Eyre encouraged them to make their own choices in living their lives, to develop respect for themselves, and to become individuals” (Markley). One of the reasons why this book gained merit was because of its striking presence within its time period. During the “Victorian Age” woman did not have much say in society, so this novel broke boundaries to societal norms that restricted woman from things they have today. “Brontë is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her nature.
The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is an early 19th-century English literature; a literary work that is evocative and riveting. It depicts acts of betrayal between family members, loved ones and self-inflicted betrayal. The acts of betrayals are done by Mrs. Reed, Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre herself.
Brennan, Zoe. "Reader's Guide: Bronte's Jane Eyre." Ebrary. Continuum International Publishing 2 2010. Print. April 28, 2014
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre chronicles the growth of her titular character from girlhood to maturity, focusing on her journey from dependence on negative authority figures to both monetary and psychological independence, from confusion to a clear understanding of self, and from inequality to equality with those to whom she was formerly subject. Originally dependent on her Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester, she gains independence through her inheritance and teaching positions. Over the course of the novel, she awakens towards self-understanding, resulting in contentment and eventual happiness. She also achieves equality with the important masculine figures in her life, such as St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester, gaining self-fulfillment as an independent, fully developed equal.
...ing novels of their time. They both revise aspects of their era, that would rarely, if ever, have been touched on. Wide Sargasso Sea having the double revision of challenging Jane Eyre, as well as social beliefs. “The devices that connect the two texts also rupture the boundary between them. Although this rupture completes Rhys’ text, it results in a breakdown of the integrity of Bronte’s.” As much as Bronte’s text was revolutionary of her time, so too was Rhys’. Time changed and what was once revolutionary became simplified and unbelievable. The fact remains, that without Jane Eyre, there would be no Wide Sargasso Sea, the two text’s are mutually exclusive, and just as revolutionary now as when they were written.
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë clearly demonstrates the relationship between sexuality and morality in Victorian society through the character of Bertha Mason, the daughter of a West Indian planter and Rochester's first wife. Rochester recklessly married Bertha in his youth, and when it was discovered shortly after the marriage that Bertha was sexually promiscuous, Rochester locked her away. Bertha is called a "maniac" and is characterized as insane. Confining Bertha for her display of excess passion reinforces a prevalent theme in Jane Eyre, that of oppressive sexual Victorian values. Bertha's captivity metaphorically speaks on the male-dominated Victorian society in which women are inferior and scorned for acts of nonconformism.
The Novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte took a surprising twist when Bertha "Mason" Rochester was introduced. Bertha leaves a traumatizing impression on Jane’s conscious. However, this particular misfortunate event was insidiously accumulating prior to Jane’s arrival at Thornfield. Through Bertha, the potential alternative dark turn of events of Jane’s past are realized, thus bringing Jane closer to finding herself.
In conclusion, Jane Eyre’s painstaking journey to find a sense of acceptance, affection, and family was finally completed, attaining the things she yearned. She eventually discovered everything she was searching for through Mr. Rochester, forgetting her agonizing past and looking to what was ahead. As Jane looked for many different alternatives to make her feel as if she was complete, she found that Mr. Rochester was the only one who could make her feel
Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre depicts the passionate love Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester have for each other, and as Bertha Mason stands in the way of the happiness of Brontë's heroine, the reader sees Mason as little more than a villainous demon and a raving lunatic. Jean Rhys' serves as Mason's defendant, as the author's 1966 novella Wide Sargasso Sea, a prequel to Jane Eyre, seeks to explore and explain Bertha's (or Antoinette Cosway's) descent into madness. Rhys rejects the notion that Antoinette has been born into a family of lunatics and is therefore destined to become one herself. Instead, Rhys suggests that the Cosways are sane people thrown into madness as a result of oppression. Parallels are drawn between Jane and Antoinette in an attempt to win the latter the reader's sympathy and understanding. Just as they did in Jane Eyre, readers of Wide Sargasso Sea bear witness to a young woman's struggle to escape and overcome her repressive surroundings. Brontë makes heavy use of the motif of fire in her novel and Rhys does the same in Wide Sargasso Sea. In Rhys' novella, fire represents defiance in the face of oppression and the destructive nature of this resistance.
Despite Rochester’s stern manner and unhandsome appearance, Jane still finds herself falling in love with him. During her first encounter with Rochester Jane describes him
Jean Rhys obviously had Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre in mind while writing Wide Sargasso Sea. Each novel contains events that echo other events or themes in the other. The destruction of Coulibri at the beginning of Wide Sargasso Sea reminds the reader of the fire at Thornfield towards the end of Jane Eyre. While each scene refers to events in its own book and clarifies events in its companion, one cannot conclude that Rhys simply reconstructed Thornfield's fall in Coulibri's. Though they exhibit some similarities, to directly compare these two scenes without considering their impact on the novels as whole works would be ridiculous. Each scene's main importance, and contribution to the overall intertextual meaning, lies elsewhere in the two works, not simply within the confines of the scenes themselves.
With the death of Bertha, Jane is now able to live with the man she loves. Bertha's death precedes a successful union between Rochester and Jane. When they are finally reunited, they are equal (Showalter 122). When Rochester and Jane finally get together, their relationship succeeds due to the fact that he has learned how it feels to be helpless and how to accept the help of a woman (Showalter 122).
Edward Rochester, the owner of the Thornfield estate and the later romantic interest of Jane, also has dynamic emotional relationships throughout this Bildungsroman novel. Rochester, a powerful but unusual man, uses his authority to assert his position through his relationship with both Bertha and Jane Eyre. Bertha, his first wife, with whom he has an arranged marriage, involves an association that primarily revolves around preserving
Jane grows up distinguishing her personality and voicing her unbiased opinion, but in McFadden-Gerber's opinion, Jane remains the same orphaned female in constant discord with elders and supervisors. Ms. Eyre is a heroine who refuses to blend into the traditional female position of subservience and who stands up for her beliefs. In the beginning, Jane at first de...
Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, acting as two sides of the same story, serve to comment on the rampant sexism and racism