Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre was first published in 1847 in London, at a time when British Colonialism was growing increasingly important for both the provision of cheap labour and new markets abroad. The resulting wealth was crucial for Britain's economic rise and rendered possible the Industrial Revolution as well as an increased amount of political and military power over large parts of the world. Many critics have investigated Jane Eyre in feminist or marxist terms, the former because of Jane's astonishing female individuality for the time, and the latter because of the social mobility shown in the novel (Loomba 2005: 74). But since Charlotte Brontë lived during a time when the British Empire was at its peak, her writing was certainly influenced by a colonial belief system which is also present throughout Jane Eyre.
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Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys picks up on that notion of the silenced mad woman locked in the attic of an old English manor. Although written in 1966, the novel is widely acknowledged as Jane Eyre's prequel and puts more emphasis on Antoinette's (as named by Rhys) life before she became the wife of a man who is never actually named but is usually identified as Edward Rochester and will be referred to as such in the course of this work. Since the plot of Wide Sargasso Sea starts in Jamaica a few years after the Emancipation Act of 1833, it is historically set in approximately the same time frame as Brontë's text but provides the reader with a much more conscious depiction of colonialist practices and thought.
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The purpose of this thesis is to examine in which aspects Wide Sargasso Sea can be declared a rewriting of Jane Eyre and what features and characteristics allow the former to stand on its own as a novel. A selection of postcolonial theories will provide the theoretical framework in order to substantiate the propositions that are made.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Rewriting Colonial Stories
1.1 The Need to Rewrite Jane's Story
1.2 Intertextuality in the Novels
2. The Construction of Otherness
2.1 The Dichotomy Between Europe and Its Others
2.2 Knowledge is Power
3. Other Modes of 'In-Betweenness'
3.1 Marginality and Madness
3.2 Translation
3.3 The Fear of “Going Native”
4. Beyond Rewriting
4.1 Local Knowledge
4.2 Limits of Speaking
Conclusion
Research Objectives and Core Themes
The thesis aims to examine how Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea functions as a postcolonial rewriting of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, specifically focusing on how the former grants a voice to the marginalized 'mad' figure of Bertha Mason while critiquing colonial power structures.
- The intertextual relationship between Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea.
- Postcolonial representations of Otherness and racial stereotyping.
- The link between knowledge, power, and cultural displacement.
- The concept of the 'subaltern' and the limitations of expressing native voices.
Excerpt from the Book
1.1 The Need to Rewrite Jane's Story
Being referred to as an important example for postcolonial literature (Müller 2007: 63), Rhys's novel gives the woman who is marginalised and silenced in Jane Eyre a chance to speak. Because of its wide-ranging field of subjects, postcolonialism cannot be defined by a finite number of hard-and-fast facts, but rather it can be described as a collection of theories that critically question the widespread views of those from the western world on all the others (Young 2003: 4). Its different theories and practices reach from literary, cultural and historical studies to economical and political studies, but they all are concerned with the knowledge that comes from formerly colonised people. Postcolonial literature is essentially eager to “investigate the means by which Europe imposed and maintained its codes in its colonial domination of so much of the rest of the world” (Ashcroft et al. 2003: 221). Furthermore, it seeks to construct a counterbalance to colonialist literature and is thus occupied with “the rereading and the rewriting of the European historical and fictional record” (ibid: 221).
Therefore, in order to develop a greater awareness of colonialist practices in the colonies and the mostly European-centred views on colonised peoples, it is useful to reread texts dealing, either explicitly or implicitly, with practices and outcomes of colonialism from a postcolonial perspective. The rewritings of those texts influenced by or dealing with colonialism are generally occupied with critically responding to matters such as the historical representation of once colonised lands that seems to have originated in the arrival of the colonisers, the induced stereotypes of non-Europeans or the often misrepresented beliefs and cultural traditions in the colonies. In the majority of cases, colonialist domination included a representation of the respective European cultures as superior in contrast to native cultures which were regarded as inferior.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: Provides the contextual background of the two novels and outlines the thesis's goal of exploring the postcolonial perspective in rewriting colonial narratives.
1. Rewriting Colonial Stories: Discusses the necessity of rereading canonical texts through a postcolonial lens to challenge European-centred representations.
2. The Construction of Otherness: Analyzes how racial stereotypes and the binary division between the European 'Self' and the colonized 'Other' function in both novels.
3. Other Modes of 'In-Betweenness': Examines the psychological impacts of marginality, madness, and the cultural discomfort experienced by characters attempting to bridge different societal worlds.
4. Beyond Rewriting: Explores the role of local knowledge and the challenges of representing subaltern voices within the structure of a novel.
Conclusion: Synthesizes how Wide Sargasso Sea operates as an independent work that critiques colonialism while providing a necessary counter-narrative to Jane Eyre.
Keywords
Postcolonialism, Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys, Charlotte Brontë, Otherness, Rewriting, Intertextuality, Subaltern, Colonialism, Racial Stereotyping, Marginality, Antoinette Mason, Bertha Mason, Edward Rochester.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this thesis?
The work focuses on the postcolonial rewriting of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre by Jean Rhys in her novel Wide Sargasso Sea, specifically examining themes of identity, power, and marginalization.
What are the primary thematic fields covered?
The thesis explores postcolonial theory, intertextual literary analysis, the construction of 'Otherness', and the political implications of gender and colonial status.
What is the main objective or research question?
The main goal is to determine in which aspects Wide Sargasso Sea acts as a rewriting of Jane Eyre and how it enables the formerly silenced character of Bertha Mason to gain a unique, independent narrative.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The author uses literary criticism, postcolonial theoretical frameworks—drawing on scholars like Edward Said and Gayatri Spivak—and comparative textual analysis.
What topics are discussed in the main body?
The body chapters detail the intertextual connection between the characters, the binary construction of European versus non-European identities, the impact of cultural knowledge, and the challenge of representing the subaltern voice.
Which keywords define this work?
Key terms include Postcolonialism, Intertextuality, Subaltern, Otherness, Local Knowledge, and Colonial discourse.
How does the thesis define the 'subaltern' in the context of the novel?
It applies the term, primarily via Spivak, to characters who lack access to social mobility, such as Christophine, who serves as a native figure challenging colonial power despite being marginalized.
What specific conclusion does the author reach regarding the character of Christophine?
The author argues that while Christophine is arguably the 'subaltern' of the novel, she successfully delivers a frontal assault against colonial power structures and serves as a model of resistance.
- Quote paper
- B.A. Christina Münzner (Author), 2010, The Postcolonial Rewriting of Colonial Stories: Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/181105
