Wide Sargasso Sea
       Structure




   Powerpoint Templates   Page 1
LITB4: Independent
     Reading




  Powerpoint Templates   Page 2
Learning Aims

We are learning to...
• Select and explain quotations
  from the novel
• Evaluate the language and
  structure from a feminist
  perspective
S4L: Resourcefulness and
  independence

     Powerpoint Templates   Page 3
Think back to our first
    lesson on Women
What are the characteristics of an
 ideal and non-ideal woman?




      Powerpoint Templates    Page 4
Think back to our first
    lesson on Women
What are the characteristics of an
 ideal and non-ideal woman?

Does Antoinette have these
 characteristics?




      Powerpoint Templates    Page 5
Themes and Possible focuses in
        Wide Sargasso Sea
•   Divided worlds              •   Identity
•   Men and women               •   Abandonment
•   Madness                     •   Safety/insecurity
•   Social hierarchy            •   Religion
•   Money and wealth            •   Alien cultures
•   Race                        •   Control
•   Marriage                    •   Victims/dominators
•   Parent/child relationship   •   Moral blindness
•   Entrapment/imprisonment     •   Symbolic
•   Power/powerlessness             meaning/significant
                                    places
Themes and Possible focuses in
        Wide Sargasso Sea
• Divided worlds                •   Identity
• Men and women                 •   Abandonment
• Madness                       •   Safety/insecurity
•   Social hierarchy            •   Religion
•   Money and wealth            •   Alien cultures
•   Race                        •   Control
•   Marriage                    •   Victims/dominators
•   Parent/child relationship   •   Moral blindness
•   Entrapment/imprisonment     •   Symbolic
•   Power/powerlessness             meaning/significant
                                    places
The Link Between Womanhood,
 Enslavement and Madness...




         Powerpoint Templates   Page 8
Plot a chart of Antoinette’s
                   madness

                Select quotes to back
                      this up...
Madness




                                           Remember, Part
                                             1 and 2 will
                                               overlap




                    Powerpoint Templates     Page 9
Structure - subverts the patriarchal
  norms.




       Powerpoint Templates    Page 10
JR intended that WSS should
 stand alone as a novel in its own
 right to challenge the patriarchal
 norms of the literary canon.
The shifts in narrative voice, place
 and time give the text a
 complexity that contrasts with
 the linear form of the nineteenth
 century novel.
      Powerpoint Templates     Page 11
This experimentation of voice gives an
  exploration of the unconscious; the
  modern and post-modern devices of
  fragmentation as well as drawing on
  Romantic notions of passion and the
  supernatural .
WSS has been seen as an experiment in
  modernist techniques, a powerful
  example of a feminist rewriting of a novel
  to become one of the most famous
  prequels in English Literature. WSS
  gives a voice to the marginalised
  ‘Bertha’ in JE and transforms the tragic
  ending into a kind of triumphant heroism.
         Powerpoint Templates       Page 12
The characteristically modern anxieties
  present in Wide Sargasso Sea results in a
  female protagonist who, although existing in
  roughly the same time period as Jane and
  experiencing much of the same challenges,
  represents a much more modern
  conception of a woman. Charlotte Brontë's
  Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso
  Sea can each be seen as feminist texts
  when considering their social and historical
  context, but Wide Sargasso Sea presents a
  more post-modern form of feminism which
  takes into account the complexity of male-
  female interaction to find that efforts to
  transcend deep-set gender norms are
  nearly hopeless.
       Powerpoint Templates           Page 13
WSS then perhaps takes a bleak view
 of the complexity of male-female
 interaction. In WSS women are
 unable to transcend the oppression of
 patriarchal society. Antoinette can
 never have a sense of security or
 happiness: she is defenceless. She
 doesn't protect herself from her
 mother, who she knows in unloving,
 and goes to her with love only to be
 rejected again. This situation is
 repeated later when she asks
 Rochester if he loves her, knowing
 that he doesn’t, to which he replies,
 ‘No. I Powerpoint Templates
        do not.’             (scrbd) Page 14

5 chart of madness

  • 1.
    Wide Sargasso Sea Structure Powerpoint Templates Page 1
  • 2.
    LITB4: Independent Reading Powerpoint Templates Page 2
  • 3.
    Learning Aims We arelearning to... • Select and explain quotations from the novel • Evaluate the language and structure from a feminist perspective S4L: Resourcefulness and independence Powerpoint Templates Page 3
  • 4.
    Think back toour first lesson on Women What are the characteristics of an ideal and non-ideal woman? Powerpoint Templates Page 4
  • 5.
    Think back toour first lesson on Women What are the characteristics of an ideal and non-ideal woman? Does Antoinette have these characteristics? Powerpoint Templates Page 5
  • 6.
    Themes and Possiblefocuses in Wide Sargasso Sea • Divided worlds • Identity • Men and women • Abandonment • Madness • Safety/insecurity • Social hierarchy • Religion • Money and wealth • Alien cultures • Race • Control • Marriage • Victims/dominators • Parent/child relationship • Moral blindness • Entrapment/imprisonment • Symbolic • Power/powerlessness meaning/significant places
  • 7.
    Themes and Possiblefocuses in Wide Sargasso Sea • Divided worlds • Identity • Men and women • Abandonment • Madness • Safety/insecurity • Social hierarchy • Religion • Money and wealth • Alien cultures • Race • Control • Marriage • Victims/dominators • Parent/child relationship • Moral blindness • Entrapment/imprisonment • Symbolic • Power/powerlessness meaning/significant places
  • 8.
    The Link BetweenWomanhood, Enslavement and Madness... Powerpoint Templates Page 8
  • 9.
    Plot a chartof Antoinette’s madness Select quotes to back this up... Madness Remember, Part 1 and 2 will overlap Powerpoint Templates Page 9
  • 10.
    Structure - subvertsthe patriarchal norms. Powerpoint Templates Page 10
  • 11.
    JR intended thatWSS should stand alone as a novel in its own right to challenge the patriarchal norms of the literary canon. The shifts in narrative voice, place and time give the text a complexity that contrasts with the linear form of the nineteenth century novel. Powerpoint Templates Page 11
  • 12.
    This experimentation ofvoice gives an exploration of the unconscious; the modern and post-modern devices of fragmentation as well as drawing on Romantic notions of passion and the supernatural . WSS has been seen as an experiment in modernist techniques, a powerful example of a feminist rewriting of a novel to become one of the most famous prequels in English Literature. WSS gives a voice to the marginalised ‘Bertha’ in JE and transforms the tragic ending into a kind of triumphant heroism. Powerpoint Templates Page 12
  • 13.
    The characteristically modernanxieties present in Wide Sargasso Sea results in a female protagonist who, although existing in roughly the same time period as Jane and experiencing much of the same challenges, represents a much more modern conception of a woman. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea can each be seen as feminist texts when considering their social and historical context, but Wide Sargasso Sea presents a more post-modern form of feminism which takes into account the complexity of male- female interaction to find that efforts to transcend deep-set gender norms are nearly hopeless. Powerpoint Templates Page 13
  • 14.
    WSS then perhapstakes a bleak view of the complexity of male-female interaction. In WSS women are unable to transcend the oppression of patriarchal society. Antoinette can never have a sense of security or happiness: she is defenceless. She doesn't protect herself from her mother, who she knows in unloving, and goes to her with love only to be rejected again. This situation is repeated later when she asks Rochester if he loves her, knowing that he doesn’t, to which he replies, ‘No. I Powerpoint Templates do not.’ (scrbd) Page 14