Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre in 1847 and there are many elements of the novel that reflect her life. Bronte has taken revenge on her hard life at Cowan Bridge by making it the basis of her book at Lowood. Here many similar events from her own life take place. At the time the novel was published there was not many female writers, because of this Bronte used the pseudonym of Currer Ball in order to get her novel published, as women writers where criticised a lot In these times.
The novel received a lot of varied criticism after it was published, some thought that it was not possible for such works to be published by a female and others simply thought that she did not right it alone. However the novel did also receive a positive reception as people liked the idea of the way the characters in her novel where portrayed in contrast to actual women in the 19th century.
From reading Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre as a child Jean Rhys took an interest in the upbringing of the West Indian madwomen, Antoinette. Then when she was older decided to “write her a life” this lead to one of the most famous prequels, Wide Sargasso Sea. The novel was published in the 20th century and is a piece of post-colonial literature. This allowed the readers to see the full amount of destruction and abuse that took place amongst Rochester’s and Jane’s relationship and it symbolises what was going on during the colonization and the relationships between masters and slaves.
The main Genre of Jane Eyre is Gothic fiction and I think that this genre is explored through the character of Bertha Mason as she brings out all the key elements of a gothic genre such as the supernatural, madness, secrecy, horror, paranoia, violence and obsession. Apart from Bertha there are many other symbols of the gothic style such as the red room, the attack and even in my chosen extract with the fortune teller.
The extract I have chosen from Jane Eyre is when Mr. Rochester disguises himself as a fortune teller. This is the biggest act of deception from this extract. He is using this illusion to emotionally deceive Jane. Just before this extract there are guests staying at Thornfield halls and they all embark in a game of charades this is symbolic as Mr. Rochester also finds it appropriate to play mind games with Jane in order to show he has control over her, he is acting as the fortune teller to do this. The use of this illusion he has made clearly shows that he does not see anything wrong with deceiving others if it is for his own benefit. This superstitious use of the fortune teller also ties in to the genre of a gothic novel.
Similarly in the extract from Wide Sargasso Sea Antoinette wants to deceive Mr. Rochester into loving her again through the use of the obeah potion. This use of a magic potion also relates to the gothic genre. She wants to deceive Mr. Rochester into loving her however she does not realise that by doing this she is only deceiving herself into believing such “foolishness.” By pleading for this potion it contrasts with the first perception we have of her which is a strong minded female, she is know showing her vulnerable side and she is showing the readers that she has a low opinion of herself; this links back to the context of the novel showing the attitudes of black people being seen more lowly than the whites.
There is use of diachronic change in both of the novels; however it is presented in different ways. Because Jane Eyre was written in the 19th century it has a complex structure and uses a lot of sophisticated words. Whereas wide Sargasso Sea is more of a prosaic novel and a lot of the dialogue is written in patois, the novel gets straight to the point and does not waste time of describing unnecessary attributes.
