"Wide Sargasso Sea"

Analytical Essay # 16206

English > Analysis
Literature
Women Studies > Culture

"Wide Sargasso Sea"

A look at the literary tone and technique in Jean Rhys' novel, "Wide Sargasso Sea".

1,918 words () | 4 sources | MLA | 2002 United States

Paper Summary:

This essay focuses on the structural issues of "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys. It examines Rhys' use of a narrative voice which switches in three main shifts from the characters Antoinette to Rochester and back to Antoinette. The paper also addresses the issues of character identity through the narrative voice.

From the Paper:

"Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea attempts to answer the vast array of questions regarding the inconclusive past of Bertha, the "madwoman in the attic" or Antoinette, a character originating from a partial role in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. While Rhys has essentially written a fictional biography of the character of Antoinette, she has presented an unfamiliar narrative voice to reveal Antoinette's story. Rhys introduces the otherwise indefinite past of Antoinette through a set of narrative voices which exemplify the duel, or power struggle, between Antoinette and her husband Rochester. By switching the narrative voice with three major shifts, from Antoinette to Rochester and back to Antoinette, Rhys has established the personality and ultimate fate, pre-determined by Jane Eyre, of each character to be exemplified and exaggerated."