Academic Subject Area: English

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CT International Baccalaureate Academy

June 10, 2006

Academic Subject Area: English

“Authors’ Deliberate Influence on the Perspective of Readers”

How do the authors, Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys, deliberately influence the perspective with which their audience views and understands the characters and elements within their novels, Jane Eyre and The Wide Sargasso Sea?

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Dempsey

Word Count: 3, 493

Subject: English

Abstract

Authors shape the course of events and the description of characters in an effort to make readers understand and perceive certain things about the novel and the way in which the characters interact. The two novels, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys have been written in such a way that readers come away with very clear ideas and images of the main characters. The perceptions readers receive from Bronte are so very different from those of Rhys. Bronte paints a dramatic picture of a romance that is broken because of the insanity of a “mad” woman, and is repaired only through the heroism and enduring devotion of a man for his unsuspecting lover. Sympathy twists its way all throughout the lines of this novel, pulling the readers in to dramatize the bad in the “mad” woman and the bravery of her husband. Rhys presents a dramatic contrast to Bronte’s novel showing us a human and emotional character that fell victim to lies and abandonment. The thoughts of the readers are deliberately influenced by the authors to create definite ideas and perceptions about the characters that suit their novels.

Word Count: 195

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract……………...…………………………………….2

Table of Contents………………………………………….3

Full Essay………………………..……………………..4-14

“Authors’ Deliberate Influence on the Perspective of Readers”

Works Cited……………………………..…………….....15

“Authors’ Deliberate Influence on the Perspective of Readers”

With reading comes a certain freedom to explore, understand, and make judgments. The author’s job is to guide so that readers see things from certain perspectives. Perspective in itself is a freedom; one in which things come alive in ways that cause us to see things in a certain light and to realize and understand characters and situations with purposeful minds and individual ideas. The written word is powerful and the way in which it is written becomes all the more important when readers begin to bond with characters. The two novels, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, both follow the lives of characters that are intertwined with one another in different ways. The characters and relay of events in the novels are complimentary in that they deal with the lives of related characters and the struggles that they go through. Each author has a different way of revealing certain elements of the story that grab readers and define their views on the main characters. Some of what is shown through Bronte’s writing is ignored or shown in a different way in Rhys’s writing and vice versa. In this way the reader develops certain perspectives about each character, perspectives that are somewhat incomplete without the information that both novels reveal. This focused style of writing influences the way that we as readers understand the relationships between characters. By comparing the two novels, it is obvious to realize that subconsciously we take sides, jump to conclusions, and determine things about the characters that we are absolutely intended to see.

The characters being examined in these two literary works are in many ways linked to one another. In Jane Eyre readers meet an innocent young Jane with a plain and sensible sort of attitude. She falls in love with someone she never expected to- the master of Thornfield Hall, Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester, a sullen and business oriented man, steals Jane’s heart, making her his fiancé. One problem remains; Mr. Rochester already tied the knot with a barbaric women that he locked up in his attic for his own protection many years ago. This “crazy” woman is the very center of Jean Rhys novel. Antoinette, as she is called, was not always a mad woman and we see a very different side of the story when we hear her tell it to us. Her relationship with Mr. Rochester was one of confusion and necessity. It was a link made for wealth and power rather than love and friendship. This is where the two novels differ so greatly in their ideas. One presents a heroic lover, the other a power hungry man blinded by pride and greed. The two women, complete foils of one another relate to Rochester in vastly different ways, but in the end their fates are influenced by one another.

One area most definitely influenced by the authors of the two novels is the marriage between Mr. Rochester and Antoinette. Readers are shown two very different, somewhat contradicting views about how and why the two came to be married. Bronte plays out the scene as though it were a terrible and unfair situation into which Mr. Rochester was tricked to marry a lunatic. During his confession to his lawyers and wife-to-be, Jane Eyre, Rochester says:

‘Bertha Mason is mad; and she came of a mad family- idiots and maniacs through three generations! Her mother, the Creole, was both a mad-woman and a drunkard! As I found out after I had wed the daughter; for they were silent on family secrets before. … I had a charming partner- pure, wise, modest! You can fancy that I was a happy man!’ … ‘I invite you all to come up to the house and visit Mrs. Poole’s patient, and my wife! You shall see what sort of a being I was cheated in espousing, and judge whether or not I had a right to break the compact, and seek sympathy with something at least human’ (Bronte 339).

Bronte uses some powerful words to express strong ideas of hate for the lunatic wife and sympathy for Mr. Rochester. The words “mad,” “idiots,” and “maniacs,” are all negative images that give the idea of an uncontrollable freak. They make readers think of a crazy, witless woman ensnaring a helpless man. He states that, “he had a charming partner,” and “was a happy man.” This suggests that he was given a wrong image and that he was lied to. Readers get the idea that what he ignorantly thought was going to be a happy and wonderful marriage turned out to be something awful when it was already to late. The fact that Bronte uses the word “patient” shows that she wants us to think of a sick person, sick in the mind. Rochester also declares that he was “cheated”; another strong word that suggests a scam and a sly trick. Bronte finishes his outraged declaration with a plea for sympathy, which at this point the reader is all too obliged to give.

Contrary to this sympathetic view from Bronte, we are given a much more judgmental view of the character Mr. Rochester, switching the “sympathy” to a sense of appalling outrage. Again Rochester tells the story, yet here exposing a hidden detail, when he recalls the wedding arrangements:

‘She won’t marry you.’ ‘But why?’ ‘She won’t give a reason. I’ve been arguing with the little fool for an hour. Everything arranged, the presents, the invitations, what shall I tell your father?’ … I spoke gently. ‘What is the matter, Antoinette? What have I done?’ She said nothing. ‘You don’t wish to marry me?’ ‘No.’ She spoke in a very low voice. ‘But why?’ ‘I’m afraid of what might happen.’ … ‘Can I tell poor Richard that it was a mistake? He is sad too,’ She did not answer me. Only nodded (Rhys 47).

Here we are given a shockingly different portrayal of the marriage proposal. It was not Rochester who was sneakily “ensnared” but rather a quiet Antoinette who was persuaded and spoken for. She very plainly says, “No,” when asked if she wants to marry Rochester. He clearly ignores her simplicity and goes on. There is no mistaking her fear when she states, “I’m afraid of what might happen.” She is not trying to trick him; she is only trying to warn him. There is definitely a flag going up in the readers mind. What is it that she is afraid of? Perhaps this is where the confusion lies. Bronte suggests an evil scheme to trap a rich man, whereas Rhys portrays a timid young woman being pulled into a marriage. The first half of Antoinette’s story shows us her mother’s marriage that was ripped to shreds, perhaps the reason she was afraid. Rhys leaves no room for doubt in the fact that Rochester was not in fact forced to marry. He was rather driven by pride and necessity. Bronte’s image of a love worn man only longing for normality is shattered by the simple answer of a woman- “no.”

Another main area of difference in the novels is the idea of this woman Antoinette being or becoming a “lunatic.” Bronte’s descriptions of her give the reader an idea of a madwoman attempting to kill poor Jane out of jealousy. We also see someone too insane to be humanely dealt with. Jane speaks of her encounter with Antoinette saying:

Mr. Rochester flung me behind him; the lunatic sprung and grappled his throat viciously, and laid her teeth to his cheek. They struggled. She was a big woman, in stature almost equaling her husband, and corpulent besides. She showed virile force in the contest- more than once she almost throttled him, athletic as he was. He could have settled her with a well-planted blow; but he would not strike, he would only wrestle. At last he mastered her arms. (Bronte 341).

The words are very carefully chosen to depict this woman as a large brutish thing. The word “lunatic” jumps out right away, immediately setting up the image Bronte wants the readers to see- a bedraggled, massive, waving crazy woman coming at Mr. Rochester in vengeance. The simple word “big” gives the connotation that she is of a manly stature, and then she is again compared to the size of her husband, “almost equaling” him. This description of her size is completely contrary to that of Jane. We see Jane as a petite and timid girl that is “obliged to be plain” (Bronte 109). In his critique of Victorian times, Daniel Holbrook examines women’s roles in his book, Charles Dickens and the Image of Woman. He states that, “the ideal woman for marriage was one who was demonstrably inferior to the male- ignorant of the world, meek, holding no opinions, helpless, and weak…” (Holbrook 64). This demonstrates how women were supposed to need their husbands. The “ideal” woman was small, petite, and innocent- just like Jane. This is the opposite of the woman that Bronte shows us biting at her husband. The mad wife of Rochester is exactly what a man in the Victorian era would not have looked for in a wife. A wife was meant to stand humbly beside her large and protective husband- she was not meant to be nearly the same size.

Again, Bronte eases in a note of heroism on the part of Mr. Rochester. He “flung [Jane] behind him,” showing that he was trying to protect his true love. Then again we see the idea that he is trying to be a gentleman even in a fight when Jane says that, “he would not strike.” Bronte builds up Mr. Rochester’s “good” image while dramatizing the actions of Antoinette, whom she makes all the more inhuman by referring to her simply as “the lunatic.” The combination of her abnormal size, garish appearances, and beastly behavior show us a sort of monster with whom our heroic Mr. Rochester was so unfortunately ensnared.

Rhys presents Antoinette in an entirely different light. The woman has a name right from page one. We read some of the story through her eyes, discovering the truth behind her terrible childhood and lonely upbringing. Rhys deliberately draws the readers to this somewhat eccentric and yet refreshingly free and unique character that makes up Antoinette. We never see an ounce of “lunatic” in her. There are the occasional wandering ideas, but Rhys chooses not to focus on this aspect of her character. Antoinette is not crazy in The Wide Sargasso Sea- she is abandoned and confused by a man who persuaded her to be his wife for the sake of reputation and wealth. She says, “…‘he does not love me, I think he hates me. He always sleeps in his dressing-room now and the servants know. If I get angry he is scornful and silent, sometimes he does not speak to me for hours and I cannot endure it any more, I cannot’” (Rhys 65). There is an apparent discontent within the relationship at this point. Rhys emphasizes Antoinette’s feeling of abandonment. Instead of her going wild and biting at Rochester, she quietly observes him in wonder. The words, “scornful” and “silent” show how this woman notices things and feels as though there is an obviously negative alteration in the way her husband sees her. The fact that she says, “I think he hates me” shows how despite her wishes not to marry, she is emotionally attached to this man. She saw what happened to the disaster that her mother became, even after being remarried, and so she clings to the little things that have gone wrong in her own marriage. The fact that the “servants know” gives the idea that people are whispering about her and the poor relationship that she and her husband have. She has realized something is wrong, but what she might have done to cause him to despise her is beyond her understanding. Here, Rochester is the one who seems cruel- to have ignored and abandoned his innocent wife. The fact that Antoinette “cannot endure it” shows how this is truly a painful and hurtful experience for her. Her husband is slowly pulling away and she knows it, but she can do nothing to stop it. The word “endure” means to continue and carry on, but she cannot even hope to do this anymore because of the way her husband is treating her. Rhys paints a picture of a bewildered and unsure, childlike character so that when this pain and uncertainty comes in, readers want to rush to her rescue, not fend off a lunatic.