Rhys’ predominant use of dreams in Wide Sargasso Sea is to link the novel to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. In both novels, dreams are a key device used to foresee future events in the plot and give the audience insight into the characters concealed or unexpressed thoughts and emotions therefore the purposes of the dreams in both are parallel.
The styles of Jane and Antoinette’s dreams are entirely dissimilar however; Antoinette’s dreams always appear confused and disorderly in comparison to Jane’s, that are tidy and contained. This could be an allusion to the mindset of these two characters as Antoinette is repeatedly portrayed as a mad woman in Jane Eyre, explaining her jumbled mind and narrations, whereas, although Antoinette is seen to mirror Jane’s interior motifs, Jane’s inner emotions always remain concealed making her appear more contained.
Another difference in the two characters dreams’ is that Jane’s reflects upon her waking life yet the line between dreaming and reality remains distinct. Conversely Antoinette’s dreams appear to leak into her waking life, which gives the novel an ephemeral quality. For example Rochester tells Antoinette that Granbois is quite unreal and like a dream; even his narrations seem dreamlike- “I began to walk quickly then stopped because the light was different. A green light…” (Rhys 1966, 86) the green light being unusual and having a cosmic potency that Rochester is alert and cautious towards.
The use of dreams also follows the gothic style that both Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre adopt, as dreams are a central device used in creating a dilemma of duality – opposing forces within the characters and the worlds they inhabit dividing them.
As already stated I wish to focus particularly on the second dream, which occurs when Antoinette is 17 years old. I believe there is importance in the audience knowing her age in terms of the narrative as it shows the audience Antoinette’s development both in her intelligence and psychologically.
This is shown predominantly through the clarity of context and plot in the second dream in comparison to the first, for example, in the first dream Antoinette says she “was walking in the forest” with “someone who hated me”, demonstrating both the ambiguous nature of her dreams at this stage and her undeveloped understanding. Antoinette illustrates a greater intelligence and awareness of the events in the second dream increases as she describes “walking through the forest at Coulbri” with as “man” who is “black with hatred.” (Rhys 1966, 50)
Rhys’s use of tense shows how Antoinette has grown up and developed as a character. In the first dream past tense is used suggesting that she tries to distance herself from her dream consciousness, whereas in the second dream past tense is used possibly showing she has grown closer to it.
Dreams have an historic relationship with the act of foretelling, providing the reader with a glimpse of the future. I feel that Rhys uses Antoinette’s dreams to give the reader and characters an insight into events that are going to prevail later on in the novel. Looking particularly at dream two, I believe that specific artefacts are used to connote others that are due to appear in her future. For example she’s wearing a long dress which she describes as “white and beautiful” which sounds similar to a wedding dress possibly describing her marriage to Rochester, as after seeing the mans “face black with hatred” she says “Now I do not try to hold my dress, it trails in the dirt, my beautiful dress.” This situation in her dream is allegorical of what is to come in her marriage. Her dress describes her marriage; that once she cared for it, it was beautiful, but this man, who I believe represents Rochester, is full of hatred so the marriage becomes ruined and she no longer wishes to look after it. (Rhys 1966, 50).
This could be Rhys’s way of forewarning Antoinette of the troubles she is to face when she meets Rochester and preparing the reader for this moment.
The dream also describes him leading her away, she says “We are no longer in the forest but in an enclosed garden surrounded by a stone wall and the trees are different trees. I do not know them.” (Rhys 1966, 50)
This appears to reflect the way Rochester later takes her away from Coulbri, to Thornfield, where she knows nobody and feels trapped. The “enclosed garden” could signify either England itself or the room Rochester locks her in.
The second dream appears to imply that Antoinette’s ideas and thoughts on sexuality are also developing; she speaks about her dress: “It is white and beautiful and I don't wish to get it soiled.” The idea of it being white and beautiful could signify her sexual innocence; therefore her desire to not get it soiled would represent her wishing to keep this virtuousness and not let it be tarnished by Rochester. Mary lon Emerys’ book supports this idea, she says “The dirtying of her white dress and her fall suggest a loss of innocence”. (Emery 1990, 55)
The male who is leading her into the woods seems to guide her away from purity, she says; “This must happen.” This suggests she is reluctant to be led astray by this male yet is forced to believe she has no choice.
Overall therefore I believe the novel uses dreams mainly to link it to Jane Eyre and the gothic theme this book also uses. The dreams also help Rhys compare Anoinettes’ mindset with Janes’, and show the development Antoinette makes in terms of her intelligence, psychologically and also her sexuality.
These ideas all stem from the way in which I have interpreted the novel and its use of dreams. Sigmund Freuds psychoanalysis on dreams, however, explains that dreams are “overdetermined” – established by more than one factor from our unconscious minds and everyday life (Freud 1961, 316). For this reason there is no one explanation or meaning for symbols within dreams because of their many associations; showing that these are only my views and interpretations of what the dreams mean.
Bibliography
Brontë, Charlotte 1847. Jane Eyre, Hertfordshire, Wordsworth Edition Limited 1992.
Emery, Mary Leon 1990. Jean Rhys at “World’s End”, Austin, University of Texas Press.
Freud, Sigmund 1961. The interpretation of dreams, London, Plain Label Books.
Rhys, Jean 1966. Wide Sargasso Sea, Middlesex, Penguin Books Ltd.
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