"Jane Eyre" and "Wide Sargasso Sea"

Paper Summary:

This paper compares the similarities and differences of the two novels, "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte and "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys. The paper focuses on the heroines of both works and shows how they are depicted throughout the novels. The paper provides many quotes from the two novels to illustrate the points that it makes.

From the Paper:

"There are many similarities between the two heroines. In a way, Bertha is Jane's dark double and at the same time her antipode. When Jane was a child, locked into the Red Room at Gateshead, she was like an animal, howling and mad. Is this not Bertha now? On their first encounter Mr Rochester called Jane "a malicious elf" and accused her of downing his horse. Speaking of Bertha, he compares her to a goblin, half dream, half reality. Even Jane sees Bertha as her double. When Bertha comes into Jane's room and puts on the wedding veil, Jane sees her features in the mirror and sees them, as they were her own. This mirror, this looking-glass, as referred to in Wide Sargasso Sea, is an important object appearing throughout Jean Rhys's novel."

Sample of Sources Used:

• BRONTE, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1985.
• RHYS, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd 1977.
• RICH, Adrienne. "Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Woman" in The Norton Critical Edition of Jane Eyre. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc, 1987.

More papers on "Jane Eyre" and "Wide Sargasso Sea":

• Book Review # 73713 : "Rochester in "Jane Eyre" and "Wide Sargasso Sea"
• Comparison Essay # 147023 : "Jane Eyre" and "Wide Sargasso Sea": Deception Comparison"
• Book Review # 119687 : "Voice Recognition - Orality in "Wide Sargasso Sea"

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