Discussion Pg 121 line 24 to Pg

Discussion

Pg 121 line 24 to Pg 123 line 31 The dream about the fire + the actual setting of fire on Thornfield

Link to Jane Eyre • An innkeeper tells Jane that Rochester's mad wife set the house alight and then committed suicide by jumping from the roof. Rochester rescued the servants from the burning mansion but lost a hand his eyesight in the process of attempting to save his wife.

Question 1 • In Jane Eyre, the madwoman in the attic is an obstacle to the union of Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë portrays Mr. Rochester as a man with a dark past who is not to blame for the burden with which he is saddled. Wide Sargasso Sea sees this situation from a different angle. What are some of the factors that might have led to the difference between Charlotte Brontë's version and that of Jean Rhys?

Answer to Qn 1 Charlotte Bronte’s version of Rochester: • a moody yet wonderful, passionate, Byronic (possessing the characteristics of Byron or his poetry, esp. romanticism, melancholy, and melodramatic energy), and charismatic gentleman • Portrayed as a selfless person for he has a ward, Adèle, from a previous romantic relationship with a French ballerina. Rochester took her in, after her mother died, even though he is completely aware that Adele is not his daughter, because the ballerina had many affairs. • Evokes readers’ pity for him when he becomes a blind cripple after attempting to rescue Bertha (Antoinette) from the fire (same as the one at the end of WSS)

Con’t Answer for Qn 1 Jean Rhys’ version of Rochester: • Controlling, authoritative; Pg 112 lines 13 – 15, changing Antoinette’s name to Bertha; Pg 123 line 13 • Weak of mind/easily deceived; his perception of Antoinette is easily distorted by Daniel Cosway • Cruel; He makes love to Amelie as revenge against Antoinette when he found out Antoinette wanted to use a love potion on him • Cold; Misread Antoinette’s need for love and understanding as signs of lunacy

Question 2 • Is Antoinette really mad in the passage?

Answer to Qn 2 Yes; She becomes paranoid and solitary, prone to vivid dreams and violent outbursts • Increasing paranoia over nothing; Pg 121 lines 25 – 26 • Unable to identify herself. She doesn’t know that the ‘ghost of a woman’ that she hears about is herself. Also indicates her frightening presence in the house. Caused by her madness. Did not recognise herself in the mirror; Pg 121 line 28, Pg 122 line 23 – 25 • Joy at destruction of house and herself; Pg 122 line 21 • Unclear about her surroundings at times; Pg 122 lines 26 -27, 35 -36, Pg 123 line 4 • Mood Swings; Pg 122 line 9

Con’t However, she does maintain threads of sanity • Able to see through mankind; ‘Gold is the idol they worship’ Pg 122 line 8

Question 3 • Why are candles mentioned so many times in this passage?

Answers for Qn 3 Candles • Foreshadows eventual death by fire • A sign of hope; release from her prison through her death by the fire • Pg 122 line 5 -7; symbol of a safe haven by being a reminder of a church. • Pg 122 line 14 -16; Parallels her identity, that it had ‘burned down’ (disappeared gradually), until she ‘took one of the others’ (change of identity, from Antoinette to Bertha)

• Constant dropping and finding of another candle; Symbolises her constant changing of identities • Pg 123 lines 29 -31; Symbolises her spirit, that there had been ‘a draught for the flame flickered’ (Rochester’s interference in her life and identity) and she ‘thought it was out’ (she became a lifeless person for a while). However, it eventually ‘burned up again to light me along the dark passage’ (she got back enough of her spirit to fight her depression by putting an end to it)