The Flames and Their Forbidden Fates
In both Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, the main characters, Jane and Antoinette, are tempted towards self-immolation. In Wide Sargasso Sea specifically, Antoinette, is tempted to self-harm herself with fire many times. In fact, at the end of the book she dreams of burning the house down that she is living in because she believes that in doing so, she will free herself. "I was outside holding my candle. Now at last I know why I was brought here and what I have to do. There must have been a draught for the flame flickered and I thought it was out. But I shielded it with my hand and it burned up again to light mee along the dark passage" (Rhys, 112). As we readers all know, she will not only "free" herself with the flames, but she will also kill herself. Antoinette's obsession with fire and freedom will lead to her destruction.
Accurate, but thin. Push thinking toward how precisely Antoinette is seeking to destroy herself; doesn't this more fully happen with the love draught? Also, note how the motif of fire begins in the opening chapters with her house at Coulibri burning and the parrot being burned up. Is she seeking to destroy herself, or does she attempt selfhood/escape, but bitterly fail nonetheless (though perhaps outside the confines of this text)?
ReplyDeleteBe careful with "we readers all know"-- is this the same narrative as Jane Eyre? What is the relationship between the two texts?