„Zawsze jest druga strona, zawsze” – „Jane Eyre” i „Szerokie Morze Sargassowe”

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present Jean Rhys’s novel Wide Sargasso Sea as literary apocrypha of Charlotte Brontё’s Jane Eyre. Following the postcolonial critique, the author investigates the relations between a colony and metropolitan West embedded in both works, while positing a thesis that the former may be interpreted as a depiction of the archetypical shadow of Europe. The character of Rochester, objectifying Antoinette as well as depriving her of her identity and name, is shown as symbolically repeating the act of a colonist conquering the New World. The author also refers to the feministic readings of both works and highlights the role of the situation of a 19th century woman in both novels. They also present the possible interpretation of Antoinette’s mental illness and reveal what caused it. Moreover, they bring attention to the issue of identity, utilising the concepts of hybridity, strangeness and the Other. The researcher depicts the way Rhys employed and transformed some of the motifs contained in Jane Eyre as well as ultimately posits their take on the objectives of both of the books’ authors – perceiving Jane Eyre as a fairy tale with a moral lesson, and in Wide Sargasso Sea seeing a work that enters into a discourse with the pre-text, which aim is to challenge the obvious and keep the reader in a state of uncertainty.