The truth behind the madness, Wide Sargasso Sea

A detailed Summary of The truth behind the madness, Wide Sargasso Sea

Defined by the Webster's Dictionary intertextuality means the complex interrelationship between a text and other texts taken as basic of the creation or interpretation of the text. Every author uses intertextuality in their works. This generalization can lead us to the conclusion that no work is original for, in one way or another, it is the product of influences received from the exterior, in some cases the exterior being a previous text. Such is the case of Jean Rhys's novel Wide Sargasso Sea, which is based on Charlotte Brontė's Jane Eyre.

In Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys refunctions Bertha Mason's story from the point of view of Antoinette Cosway, a young Creole with a tragic past, and that of Rochester, the young Englishman to which she is sold into marriage. It is obvious that Jean Rhys meant to write her novel as a prequel to Jane Eyre, as if to expose the truth behind the madness of the madwoman in the attic, by giving Antoinette a voice.

In Chapter XXVI of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontė describes Bertha Mason through Mr. Rochester's speech in the interruption of his wedding with Jane. "Bertha Mason is mad; and she came of a mad family, idiots and maniacs through three generations!"(Brontė). Later, in the same chapter, s

Besides characters there are similar situations appearing in both novels. At the ending of Wide Sargasso Sea Rochester leaves the West Indies and goes to England, his birthplace. That would be somewhere in the beginning of Jane Eyre.

In Wide Sargasso Sea Richard Mason, pays a visit to Antoinette while she is in England hidden in the attic. We leard this through Grace Poole, when she tells her patient, who doesn't remember about the visit. "Your brother came to see you"(Rhys). There is no direct telling of what happened during the visit, but Mrs. Poole afterwards tell her "You rushed at him with a knife and when he got the knife away you bit his arm"(Rhys). In Jane Eyre Brontė does not present the exact scene but Mr. Rochester tells Mason while they were heading to her room "You know this place, Mason, she bit and stabbed you here"(Brontė), therefore implying that it happened.

In Jane Eyre, the incident is described in a similar manner.

"she was on the roof, where she was standing, waving her arms, above the battlements, and shouting out till they could hear her a mile off: I saw her and heard her with my own eyes. She was a big woman, and had long black hair: we could see it streaming against the flames as she stood. I witnessed, and several more witnessed, Mr. Rochester ascend through the skylight on to the roof; we heard him call "Bertha!" We saw him approach her; and then, ma'am, she yelled and gave a spring, and the next minute she lay smashed on the pavement." (Brontė)

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Approximate Word count = 1121
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels