INTERTEXTUALITY AND FEMALE AGENCY IN JEAN RHYS’S WIDE SARGASSO SEA: A POSTCOLONIAL AND FEMINIST EXPLORATION

Abstract

As explained in this article, Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) is a very convincing story about explorations of postcolonial identity, female agency and intricacy of cultural ancestry. This paper traces how the concept of intertextuality applies to the novel written by Rhys with an emphasis on how this concept has intensified the voice of female agency based on postcolonial and feminist theories. Through the intertextual connection between Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the article explores how Rhys rewrites the person of Bertha Mason, the mad woman in the attic and uses the rewritability to point out the connection between gender, race and power. The paper suggests that intertextual allusions in the Rhys narrative do not only criticize the colonial and patriarchal societies presented in Jane Eyre, but it also establishes a voice that Antoinette Cosway as the protagonist in the story has to express her varying type of opposition. By conducting a close reading of select scenes in the text by Rhys, this study finds out how female agency is negotiated in a postcolonial space in rather subtle manners. These results emphasize the significance of the work by Rhys to the general discussion of feminist literary criticism and postcolonialism, providing us with understanding on how depowered voices can take their agency back by creating a narrative.