Besides illuminating the myriad parallels that inform the fates of the three heroines as they move from freedom to imprisonment and back again, I will comment on the archetypal nature of the metaphors of female captivity and empowerment that interweave their way through these timeless texts.
Rebecca arguably produces the most visceral reaction of the three texts, considering the extremely negative light in which the eponymous first wife is depicted. Whatever the reason for ignoring this third text, it becomes increasingly clear that Rebecca varies the formula in some very intriguing and disturbing respects. An indelible sense of place permeates Rebecca and Wide Sargasso Sea in particular; however, all three novelists employ profuse instances of natural imagery that contribute to the moody tone and function as extreme examples of foreshadowing.
While the sea does not function as a living, active presence in Jane Eyre , its influence as plot device and primal symbol is vast in Rebecca and Wide Sargasso Sea. The sea literally subsumes Rebecca as it becomes her final resting place, and it also figuratively subsumes Antoinette, as she is carried off to her cold incarceration after crossing from the sultry Caribbean islands to arrive in damp England. Coincidentally or perhaps not , Rhys was living in North Cornwall during the writing of Wide Sargasso Sea, according to her biographer Carol Angier While the natural world is featured less starkly in Jane Eyre, it is highly significant in one of the more dramatic scenes which underscores the turning point of the novel.
Both mansions operate on literal and symbolic levels. The imposing Thornfield, with its towering turrets and battlements, stands as a metaphor for England itself. Notably, both ancestral homes must be incinerated in order for Jane and the second Mrs.
De Winter to fully realize their marriages to Rochester and Maxim respectively. This illuminates the degree to which fire stands as the key symbol of rebirth and purification in the three works. As Mona Fayed compellingly argues, it takes the strength behind a female symbol such as fire to destroy the patriarchal symbol that is Thornfield In one of the more clever conceits in the history of English literature, all three novels describe the plight of three young heroines, but only two are granted the dignity of first names.
