The Manifestation of Psychological Alienation in Jean Rhys'Wide Sargasso Sea

Abstract

Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), which has been analysed by academics from a number of perspectives, is generally acknowledged to be a prelude to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1847). In Charlotte Bronte's novel, Rochester's insane West Indian wife lives in the attic and prevents Jane from marrying him. When she ultimately perishes in the fire she starts, Rochester's home is burned down and he is rendered blind, but Jane is now free to marry Rochester. The only way to portray the insane person in Jane Eyre is from the outside. The insane West Indian wife is utterly repulsive and wicked in the view of writer and Rochester. In fact, Jane is unable to distinguish between the madwoman and the beast when she first sees them grovelling on all fours in chapter sixteen of the book. In this episode, the insane woman attacks Rochester like a hyena with swollen features. Wide Sargasso Sea is a sympathetic portrayal of the life of Rochester's insane wife, including everything from her upbringing in the West Indies, her Creole and Catholic upbringing, her courting and early marriage to the dishonest Rochester, to her last decline into madness and incarceration in England. It is obvious that in many ways Rhys' situation and the West Indian wife's situation are similar. She has created a "counter-text," a supplement to Bronte's book that fills in the "missing" testimonies and clarifies the topics that Bronte glosses over, to offer the foreign wife's side of the story. The present article focuses on how the female protagonist in Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys experiences psychological alienation and experiences loneliness, meaninglessness, and grief.