A Comparison of Love in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

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Love in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

In the passages presented below, both narrators are soliciting affection and love. For Jane, in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, her mother figure, Aunt Reed, shows absolutely no affection towards her niece. Coldly, Ms. Reed regards Jane only as a bothersome child she was left to raise. Similarly, Antoinette, in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, is raised disregarded and unloved by her mother Annette. Although shunned, Jane and Antoinette both have the passion and willingness to love. However, it is the paths their lives took that characterizes the way they chose to deal with life's uncertainties.

"My disposition is not so bad as you think: I am passionate, but not vindictive. Many a time, as a little child, I should have been glad to love you if you would have let me; and I long earnestly to be reconciled to you know; kiss me, aunt."

I approached my cheek to her lips; she would not touch it. She said I oppressed her by leaning over the bed; and again demanded water. As I laid her down--for I raised her and supported her on my arm while she drank--I covered her ice-cold and clammy hand with mine; the feeble fingers shrank form my touch-the glazing eyes shunted my gaze...

Poor, suffering woman! It was too late for her to make now the effort to change her habitual...

... middle of paper ...

...unned by her mother. She was simply incapable of trying to achieve it.

Works Cited and Consulted:

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1991

Ciolkowski, Laura E.. "Navigating the Wide Sargasso Sea¨ Twentieth Century Literature. Vol 43. 3. 1997:125-140.

Gates, Barbara Timm, ed. Critical Essays on Charlotte Bronte. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990.

Howells, Coral Ann. Jean Rhys. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf. 1991.

Macpherson, Pat. Reflecting on Jane Eyre. London: Routledge, 1989.

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. London: Penguin, 1968.

Wyndham, F. Introduction. Wide Sargasso Sea. By Jean Rhys. London: Penguin, 1996. 1-15.

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