Rhys’s versus Goodison’s Portrayal of the Tensions and People in Jamaica During the Emancipation Process

Rhys’s versus Goodison’s Portrayal of the Tensions and People in Jamaica During the Emancipation Process

Rhys’s portrayal of the tensions and people in Jamaica during the long process of emancipation compares to Goodison’s because they both wrote stories and verses that explored and empathized with the plight of the alienated, oppressed, and disadvantaged, especially Jamaican and other West Indian females who were struggling with Patriarchal societies. For example, Rhys presents the story of Antoinette, a Creole woman who descends into madness at the hands of his cold-hearted, money-hungry Mr. Rochester. Goodison also portrays her Creole homeland and the plight of women under the patriarchal system.

In Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, she portrays Bertha as the novel’s villain and a nearly animalistic and monstrous woman. This aggressive presence must be destroyed before Mr. Rochester and Jane get married. For example, Rochester describes Bertha as “being unchaste and intemperate as she is vulnerable to overindulgence and excesses and apparently was unfaithful in her marriage” (Brontë, 2018). On the other hand, Amelie is presented as a servant in Granbois’s home. Amelie is a maid who sleeps with Antoinette’s husband because she looks down upon her because she is a Creole. For example, she is described as “the little half-caste servant” of Antoinette, who is also the unfortunate protagonist of the book (Rhys, 2001). After sleeping with Antoinette’s husband, the wife and husband get into a serious quarrel, and Antoinette’s insaneness worsens. Therefore, the portrayal of Bronte and Rhys of Bertha and Amelie has some similarities.

Further, Bertha is presented as an animalistic and mad woman who has to be eliminated for Mr. Rochester and Jane to get married. In contrast, Antoinette is not presented as animalistic; however, she is also presented as a mad woman who worsens after her husband sleeps with the maid Amelie. The other similarity is both novels use Amelie and Jane as marriage destroyers and opportunists. The other similarity is that both use Rochester as the husband of Bertha, the one who wants to marry Jane, and the husband of Antoinette, who sleeps with the house cleaner. The disparity is in the female characters’ names, but ideally, the story is the same.

References

Brontë, C. (2018). Jane eyre. In Medicine and Literature (pp. 53-72). CRC Press.

Rhys, J. (2001). Wide Sargasso Sea. In Reading Fiction: Opening the Text (pp. 145-151). Palgrave, London.

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Rhys’s versus Goodison’s Portrayal of the Tensions and People in Jamaica During the Emancipation Process

Please direct quotations from the book to support arguments.

How does Rhys’s portrayal of the people and tensions in Jamaica during the long process of emancipation compare with Goodison’s? Are there parallels between the way Bronte portrays Bertha in Jane Eyre and how Rhys portrays, say, Amelie, Hilda or Tia?

Book:
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (Norton, ISBN 0393960129)