Topic > The path to independence: comparison between Wide Sargasso Sea and the journeys of the protagonists of Jane Eyre

Antoinette Cosway in Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre are both relatively isolated women struggling to survive in a society dominated by men. Although both women strive to achieve similar goals of happiness, equality, and a sense of individuality or identity, the former fails and the latter succeeds. Their divergent outcomes are due to the contrasting ways in which they attempt to achieve their goals and the different amounts of self-motivation and independence they possess. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, Jane and Antoinette are both searching for the same Mr. Rochester, in addition to their similar goals of self-completion. How each woman attempts to achieve her goals, however, is very mixed. Antoinette attempts to obtain three qualities through Mr. Rochester. She has been unhappy since childhood, and at one point during her marriage to Mr. Rochester, she states that if he loved her, she would be happy. Happiness, in turn, would have helped her acquire a sense of individuality and equality, because it would have given her the security necessary to assert her own identity and the courage to make herself equal to Rochester. Then, Antoinette tries to force him to love her by drugging and seducing him. Unfortunately, this act angers him so much that he becomes incapable of feeling love for her, and so she is rejected by him. This is his downfall: he makes the mistake of becoming dependent on another person to complete himself and make him happy. In this way he loses his independence. The loss of her independence, in addition to his rejection, causes her to lose her happiness, sense of individuality and equality. The way Jane attempts to achieve her goals is quite different from the way Antoinette does. Instead of depending on another person to achieve her goals, Jane depends on herself. He has a tremendous amount of independence, which he has acquired since his childhood. When she is very young, she is neglected by the family who raises her. During this period, she learns to satisfy herself by reading, drawing and thinking. In this way he gains independence. During his time at Lowood he gains a sense of individuality, because he begins to realize who he is as he grows, learns, and becomes someone who people recognize as important, as opposed to someone who is ignored and mistreated, as he was in the past. environment. When she becomes a governess and befriends Mr. Rochester, who treats her as an equal, she gains a sense of equality. Ultimately, when she is engaged to and in love with Mr. Rochester, she has found happiness – this is implied the morning after he confesses his love to her, as she dresses: "I looked at my face in the mirror, and I felt it was no simpler: there was hope in its countenance, and life in its colour." (259) Furthermore, Mr. Rochester repeatedly asks her, “Are you happy, Jane?” and she repeatedly responds, “Yes.” (258) However, when it is revealed that Mr. Rochester already has a wife and would, in a sense, cheat on Jane to marry her, Jane's happiness, sense of individuality, and equality are all called into question. This is because, if Jane married Rochester despite knowing that the marriage would not be real, she would not be happy; she would lose her self-confidence because she would abandon her morals and feel inferior to Mr. Rochester by doing whatever she had to do, in this case giving up her values ​​to be with him. what happens to Antoinette when she fears that Mr. Rochester will not love her: hers.