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Comparison between Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea
Comparison between Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea
Influence of classical mythology on literature
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Wilson Harris believes that most novels make use of a myth to give even more depth to the plot and underlying message. As Harris limits himself to only exploring two books, he explains what mythical properties lie in Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre, and how these myths increase the complexity of the story. The only problem with these myths incorporated in the story is the myths can only be applied to a few characters in each of the story, so there seems to be almost no point for the other characters to be in the plot. Harris’ view is insightful and intriguing to think about, but may lack the depth to encompass other important characters and aspects of the story. Harris starts off his essay by giving reasons for why myths exist, which are to
basis for his argument. He combines these two terms and calls them a myth. It is the myths that
In both ‘Eve Green’ and ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’, the protagonists experience fear in many guises. Although traumatic events in both Eve and Antoinette’s lives do lead to moments of sudden, striking fear, fear is also presented as having the potential to be subtle and muted, and therefore, “haunting”. Fletcher and Rhys seem to suggest that this form of fear is more damaging to the psyche than fear in its more conspicuous manifestations, as it is more deeply intertwined with the characterisations of the protagonists, therefore allowing for the fear to “pervade” the novels. As a result, it could be argued that fear has an almost constant presence in each novel, particularly because fear is seemingly linked to other prominent themes in each novel.
In the Harlequin romance Time of the Temptress, by Violet Winspear, the author seems to be trying to write an intelligent story of romance, bettered by its literary self-awareness. She fails on both counts. Winspear appears to recognize that more valued literature tends to involve symbolism and allusions to other works. It seems she is trying to use archetypes and allusions in her own novel, but her references to alternate literature and culture are embarrassingly obvious and awkward. Another inter-literary connection, though, is more difficult to notice unless the book is pondered -- something the typical romance reader is not likely to do. Although Winspear attempts to give her book literary value by tying it to Gone With the Wind, because of the limitations of her chosen genre, and her own apparent inabilities as a writer, she cannot grasp the depth that makes Gone With the Wind a highly regarded romance work.
Myths relate to events, conditions, and deeds of gods or superhuman beings that are outside ordinary human life and yet basics to it” ("Myth," 2012). Mythology is said to have two particular meanings, “the corpus of myths, and the study of the myths, of a particular area: Amerindian mythology, Egyptian mythology, and so on as well as the study of myth itself” ("Mythology," 1993). In contrast, while the term myth can be used in a variety of academic settings, its main purpose is to analyze different cultures and their ways of thinking. Within the academic setting, a myth is known as a fact and over time has been changed through the many different views within a society as an effort to answer the questions of human existence. The word myth in an academic context is used as “ancient narratives that attempt to answer the enduring and fundamental human questions: How did the universe and the world come to be? How did we come to be here? Who are we? What are our proper, necessary, or inescapable roles as we relate to one another and to the world at large? What should our values be? How should we behave? How should we not behave? What are the consequences of behaving and not behaving in such ways” (Leonard, 2004 p.1)? My definition of a myth is a collection of false ideas put together to create
“Sula,” however, was in Ohio during the first half of the twentieth century, nearly 100 years after “Jane Eyre”. It is the story of a young woman who was raised by her mother and grandmother whom both did not have a good reputation in the town they lived in. Sula later leaves the town for a period of 10 years, has many affairs and lives a wild life. When Sula returns to the town, many people look upon her as evil because of how she lives her life. Sula’s story is contrasted with that of her best friend Nel, who was raised by a family with more social morals and later chose to settle in a life as a wife and mother. “Sula” deals with several different themes like race, family, gender and social conventions.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Writing against the grain of F. R. Leavis’s conception of English novel, expounded in his The Great Tradition, Robert Alter writes “the other great tradition,” as he suggests tongue-in-cheek in the preface to his Partial Magic. Leavis introduces the criterion of “seriousness” to the studies of English novel, keeping out of his story a whole line of novelists that do not meet the proposed expectations. Alter establishes a parallel genealogy of the novel, a “self-conscious novel,” one that “systematically flaunts its own condition of artifice and that by so doing probes into the problematic relationship between real-seeming artifice and reality” (Alter x). This paper looks at two very different novels, Moby Dick and Don Quixote, through two passages as self-conscious windows. As representatives of such genre, thing regardless of their differences in time of production or form or content, they both do essentially the same: they mix different levels of fiction and reality to question their own status as fiction and reality. One way of doing that is through real-objects and the idea of language they entail.
Wide Sargasso Sea is unique from Jane Eyre and Mansfield Park in that the issue of race plays a huge part in how the characters themselves relate to themselves and their place within their society. Its unique nature comes from the way the story is written from the point of view of the characters themselves rather than the author. The writing style within the novel shows how racial stereotypes and prejudices influenced portraying people of color within 19th century writings and attitudes.
“A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence.” ― Rollo May
The speaker uses the mythic text as her guidebook for the start of her exploration, holding its content in her mind as she ventures into the wreck. She refers to the book’s words as “purposes” and “maps” (53-54), but as she continues on she challenges, rather than confirms, the text. The speaker wants to experience “the wreck and not the story of the wreck/the thing itself and not the myth” (62-63). By engaging in a first hand, physical encounter, rather than a linguistic interpretation, she confronts the book of myths’ normative portrayal of her chaotic past. The book, consequently, comes to represent the exclusive and masked nature of the wreck’s role in the wider public.
In Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys confronts the possibility of another side to Jane Eyre. The story of Bertha, the first Mrs Rochester, Wide Sargasso Sea is not only a brilliant deconstruction of Brontë's legacy, but is also a damning history of colonialism in the Caribbean.
Although written during both the Victorian and Gothic time period, Jane Eyre draws upon many revolutionary influences that ultimately enabled it to become one of the most successful books of all time. Jane Eyre is merely a hybrid of a Victorian and Gothic novel, infusing a share of dark allusions with overzealous romanticism. The primitive cultures of the Victorian period reflect high ethical standards, an extreme respect for family life, and devotional qualities to God, all in which the novel portrays. Yet, to merely label Jane Eyre as a Victorian novel would be misleading. While the characteristics of a Gothic no...
In the novel Wide Sargasso Sea Rhys primarily focuses on the characters Antoinette & Mr. Rochester as a reflection of gender roles in the Caribbean during the 1800s. In this Romance novel Rhys showcases many ways that gender is used through stereotypes and discusses a great deal of specified gender roles in society. She also craftily exposes hardships of gender biases.
Jane Eyre is a classic English novel which follows the development of a young woman in the mid 1800's. Jane grows to be a smart, self supporting, independent woman. This becomes a struggle for her as she was brought up to live in the lower-class. Throughout this novel, Jane tries to show that class and gender should not affect personality. This novel explains Jane’s struggle against societal expectations of class and of gender.