O‘zmu xabarlari вестник нууз acta nuuz

O‘ZBEKISTON MILLIY 
UNIVERSITETI
XABARLARI, 2023, [1/5]
ISSN 2181-7324 
 
FILOLOGIYA 
https://science.nuu.uz/ 
Social sciences 

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O‘zMU xabarlari Вестник НУУз ACTA NUUz
 
FILOLOGIYA 
1/5 2023 
- 258 -
previously-unheard voice. Rochester, even though un-named 
in “Wide Sargasso Sea”, takes over the narration in part two, 
and Grace Poole enlightens us at the opening of part three. 
Rhys can be seen as repaying Bronte for her failure to give 
Bertha a voice by not allowing Jane one, even though she does 
appear in the novel. Antoinette, as Bertha is named in Rhys's 
novel, declares, 'There is always the other side', and this 
proves to be the governing theme throughout both novels. [4]
“I knew you would do me some good in some way . . . I saw it 
in your eyes when I first beheld you”(Edward 
Rochester, “Jane Eyre”).[1] Rochester's prescience is an 
example of a prominent theme in “Jane Eyre”, in which 
premonition and the supernatural appear throughout the story. 
Both Jane and Edward believe in the signs they read in eyes, 
in nature and in dreams. Jane's own surname, 'Eyre', comes 
from the name of a historic house in which a madwoman 
lived, but Bronte also intended it to mean being a free spirit. 
Jane indeed has a frightening experience and actually sees 
herself as a spirit in the Red Room mirror at Gateshead, where 
she subsequently has a fit.Jane encounters the legend of 
Gytrash in her fit, 'A great black dog behind him', a tale about 
a spirit that appears in the shape of either a horse, dog or mule 
that haunted solitary ways and followed isolated travelers. 
Jane describes Rochester's dog as Gytrash before she knows to 
whom he belongs, suggesting that she had a premonition from 
the vision she saw in her fit that this encounter was to spark 
off the most incredible aspect of her life. Jane's dreams form a 
firm base for the prediction of what is to happen in her life. 
The symbolism of her dreams forecast her future. When she 
dreams of a garden that is 'Eden-like' and laden with 'Honey-
dew' Rochester proposes to her. That night, however, the old 
horse chestnut tree is struck by lightning and splits in half, 
foretelling the difficulties that lie ahead for the couple. 
The theme of dreams and foresight is also used by Jean Rhys: 
“Is it true that England is like a dream? One of my friends 
wrote and said London is like a cold dark dream”.Antoinette's 
dreams appear to be just as significant as Jane's, and Rhys no 
doubt found inspiration for developing Antoinette's character 
through the idea of Jane'sdreams and premonitions. 
In Bronte's time writers would often employ the technique of 
'word-painting' at pivotal moments in the text and use 
landscape imagery to integrate plot, character and theme. In 
the scene where Jane describes herself as 'tossed on a buoyant 
but unquiet sea', for example, Bronte warns the reader that 
Jane's romantic interlude is not an entirely positive turn of 
events. The emphasis on 'unquiet sea' informs the reader that 
Jane may well be in danger. This technique adds to the gothic 
element of the story, and heightens our response to the 
characters' perceptions of their predicaments. 
Similarly, in “Wide Sargasso Sea”, Rochester and Antoinette's 
marriage can be seen as being doomed from the start due to 
the landscape that they pass through on their journey to the 
honeymoon house. They stop in a village named 'Massacre' 
where it is raining and rather grey, and Rochester takes an 
instant dislike to the place because of the name and the 
inhabitants, both of which he describes as 'sly, spiteful, 
malignant perhaps'; words which appear to convey his whole 
attitude to all those who surround him. Just as the name “Jane 
Eyre” can be seen to reflect Jane's character, the title of Rhys's 
novel can be seen to reflect the development of its plot. The 
Sargasso Sea, ('Sargasso' being the weed that gives that part of 
the North Atlantic its name), is almost still but at its center has 
a mass of swirling currents, an image suggestive of 
Antoinette's character, and of the turmoil of her imprisonment 
and the method of her escape. 
There is a limit to the extent to which we can see “Wide 
Sargasso Sea” as an interpretation of “Jane Eyre”, and we 
must remember that in some respects Rhys's novel takes pains 
to distance itself from “Jane Eyre”. The distinction is seen