The style of how Wide Sargasso Sea is written is completely different to Jane Eyre. Brontё uses a more florid, full of emotion and highly evocative whereas Rhys uses a more modern, mellifluous and ‘punchy’ prose of English. The pace of the novels also differ significantly Wide Sargasso Sea seems more fast paced; it is very episodic, however Brontё builds up to a significant event by being descriptive about the surroundings and giving the reader a front row seat to Jane’s life.
Unlike her sisters, Bronte decided that Jane would not be the conventional ‘beautiful heroine’ but rather the opposite, where as Antoinette is a beautiful young woman whose story ends in tragedy.
The difference between the style and genre of the two novels is because of the time gap between them being written although both novels are set in the Victorian period. Rhys approaches the story of Antoinette in a different way as she includes elements of her own life story, whereas Jane Eyre is an auto-biographical novel, it is simply fictional.
There is a clear link between Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea; the characters are the same: Rochester, Antoinette/Bertha, and Grace Poole. There is also a link between both books on the theme of love; however they both present love in a completely different way.
The symbolism of fire appears throughout both novels, in Wide Sargasso Sea it first appears when the home of Antoinette is burnt down, and the family parrot flies out of the window with his feathers alight, this is seen by the locals as an omen and foreshadows the events of Antoinette’s inevitable death. It also symbolises the passion of lust in Wide Sargasso Sea. In Jane Eyre the symbol of fire represents the love between Rochester and Jane; it also foreshadows the death of Bertha.
In Jane Eyre complex sentences are used in order to describe the scenery and Jane’s feelings, it leads to a build up of emotions “It was as if a band of Italian days had
come from the South….” Simple sentences are also used in Jane Eyre in order to build up tension “He rose, and with a stride reached me”, Rhetorical questions are also used when Rochester is proposing to Jane “What love have I for Miss Ingram? None.” This technique is also effective in building up tension. The sentence structure and the other techniques used by Charlotte Bronte are used to keep the reader interested and keen to read on.
Similar to this Jean Rhys uses techniques to build up tension, short sentences are used more often in the novel, to show the sarcasm and bluntness of the character, Rochester “I looked round suspiciously”. However complex sentences are used to build up the tension between Rochester and Antoinette, and how Rochester does not want to be with Antoinette or at the ‘honey moon house’ “There was a carpet, the only one I had seen…”.
Jane Eyre is seen to be one of the most romantic novels of all time; we see this in chapter 23 of my chosen extract where Rochester proposes to Jane for love rather than money "Make my happiness and I will make yours." Even though Jane is of a lower status than Rochester, he loves her. It is not about money, social status, Rochester sees Jane as his equal.
However this is in contrast to Wide Sargasso Sea where Rochester marries Antoinette for the money rather than love, we know this because of the business deal made between Rochester and Antoinette's brother, Richard Mason. We also see that Rochester has no feelings for Antoinette, "I took the wreath off. It fell on the floor". This can be seen as Rochester refusing to follow Antoinette's traditions, it can also be seen as a symbol of Antoinette's relationship with Rochester, Antoinette is giving Rochester her love, and Rochester disregards it and does not accept it.
In my chosen extract for Jane Eyre you see that Rochester declares his love for Jane, by asking her to be his wife. “Will you be mine?” Rochester proposes to Jane, after this he asks for God to bless his wedding. Later on you learn that through the night, the oak tree had been split in two by lightning “the great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away.” This can be seen as foreshadowing the event of Jane leaving Rochester after finding out about Bertha, and that Rochester cannot be married as he is already married to Bertha.
In comparison to this events are also foreshadowed in Wide Sargasso Sea when Rochester comes to the ‘honey moon house’ he is given a wreath by Antoinette “I crowned myself with one of the wreaths…took the wreath off. It fell to the floor…I stepped on it” This could be a foreshadow of the events to come, the wreath can be seen as Antoinette’s love for Rochester, and Rochester stamping on the wreath can be seen as he doesn’t accept her love, he doesn’t want it. It also can be seen as the foreshadowing of Rochester crushing Antoinette’s mental state and ultimately turning her into the ‘mad woman in the attic’
Wide Sargasso Sea is a postmodernist novel rather than a romantic novel, however like Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea has romantic imagery, an example of this can be seen in my extract. The imagery used is to describe the scenery of where the ‘honeymoon house’ is set. “Cloves I could smell, and cinnamon, roses and orange blossom”. This shows that Rochester would much rather be in the wilderness away from the house, away from Antoinette than with her. He also later describes the smells as “intoxicating” which foreshadows the events of him being poisoned by Antoinette with a ‘love potion’.
Romantic imagery is presented all the way through Jane Eyre, and also in my extract, in the opening of chapter 23. “A splendid Midsummer shone over England: skies so pure, suns so radiant as were then seen in succession, seldom favour even singly, our wave-girt land”. The romantic imagery is to foreshadow the events to come later on; where Rochester proposes to Jane. However after Rochester has proposed to Jane the weather changes dramatically “The rain rushed down.” As well as the chestnut tree splitting in two, the dramatic weather change also foreshadows the events to come, where Jane finds out about Bertha.
Antoinette and Rochester’s relationship is very sour, but passionate in a physical sense. The language used in my extract between Rochester and Antoinette shows tension in their relationship and that they are not comfortable within each others company. “You look like a king, an emperor” “God forbid”. Rochester will not accept any of Antoinette’s complements, making the atmosphere awkward. The relationship between Antoinette and Rochester is very one sided, Antoinette seems to have ‘pleasing drama’, as she clearly wants to please everyone. The disclosure is not we could expect from a newly wed couple it is laced with sarcasm and criticism.
In comparison Rochester’s and Jane relationship is very playful and romantic; the passion between them is based on emotion rather than sex. The language used in my extract when Rochester proposes is playful banter. "Do you doubt me, Jane?" "Entirely." "You have no faith in me?" "Not a whit." Reiteration is used to emphasise the playfulness between Rochester and Jane, and builds up the tension where Jane finally accepts Rochester as her husband. In comparison to Antoinette, Jane is a strong independent individual and seems to have the strength of nature to stand up against Rochester.
Quote word count: 162
Other word count: 1480
Total word count: 1642
