Identity In Jane Eyre

Identity in jane eyre
The issue of identity is a central concern in Charlotte Bronte's, Jane Eyre and the novel by Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea. Written in different time periods, both writers accentuate the unifying matter of identity and this is enhanced as both female protagonists in some ways share certain traits of character and circumstance. Both women possess dysfunctional relatives; bothlose their first friend and have isolated and lonely childhoods. For both it is the need and desire to search for one's self and purpose in life that is continuous; the inevitability of the issues of identity remains consistent through out time periods, as shown in the two novels.
In Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, the issue of identity has played an important theme for both Antoinette-Berthaand Jane where both must endure hardships in order to find their places in life. This theme of identity present in both novels beautifully enhances the sensuality of the two contexts.
Individuals in the texts are intricately created in order to feed on the existence and redefining of other characters; thus, fashioning a spectrum of personalities in each text. Their survival is supported byestablishing a relationship with each other, particularly with the heroines; however small these characters' roles are nevertheless contribute as fulcrums to the other characters' turning points in life. For instance, Helen's subsistence shapes Jane's personality to becoming a calmer and composed character.
Jane Eyre, considered a feminist in the Victorian era, is depicted as a wildly passionate woman.In the episode in the Red Room, Bessie states that Jane is "like a mad cat" (JE 6) when Jane, denying reason in favour of passion, identifies her oppressor John Reed as "a murderer" and a "slave driver" (JE 5). This "picture of passion" is seen as uncivilised especially for young girls in the 1800s where life was based on the principle of reason overcoming passion.
The "broken reflections" (JE 8)symbolise Jane's fragmented identity with the "great-looking glass" (JE 8) forming a rift between her and the Reed family. As Jane's life revolves around the basis of Christian values of justice and fairness, her existence focuses on female individuality and self-assertion of self respect. This will inadvertently give rise to Jane's search for her identity.
With Jane's reason crying "Unjust!unjust!" (JE 8) the reader is allowed to comprehend her firm belief in justice for all human beings. Bessie's stories of "great, black dog" and "fairies and half imps" (JE 9) begin to shape Jane's identity of child-like imagination and fantasies. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys does not adopt any of Jane's Victorian views and beliefs, which in turn create inconsistency in the way both heroinesattempt to search for themselves and also between the contexts in which the novels were written. Where Jane is able to define herself, as she rejects labels that people place on her, thus enabling her to form a robust and distinguished identity, Antoinette, in contrast, is perplexed by possessing a body, life and spirit and her life in isolation arrests her development of sense of identity.
Racism is akey in Wide Sargasso Sea that establishes part of Antoinette's identity, where she is caught between worlds of division between races. This can be seen not only to expose her feelings of vulnerability and insecurity, but to confirm that Antoinette fails to survive in a universe of growing hatred and immorality. Colonization is evident in Antoinette's life in her childhood; she was born to existamidst the slave trade and politics, until the Emancipation Act robs her of her social place. As the pride of the blacks is redeemed, the whites are then reprimanded and Antoinette thus loses her properties, following other consequences.
Here, the difference between right and wrong becomes indistinguishable, where slavery seeks to find its rights and justice. However, in Antoinette's case, her...