2. Explain the significance of Antoinette’s recurring dream, especially as it is recalled at the very end of the novel, and analyze how effectively the dream connects this novel with Jane Eyre.
Antoinette, since she was a young girl, has had a recurring dream. As she gets older, the dream gets more detailed, and as she descends into madness, it gets more erratic. Antoinette’s recurring dream predicts future events in her life as she and her dreams mature, the dreams become clearer.
Her first dream takes place in a forest, where all her dreams first take place. Antoinette felt as though she was “not alone…someone who hated [her] was with [her] out of sight”. (24) Along with this feeling, Antoinette “struggles and screamed”; she “could not move”. (24)This dream predicts her marriage with Mr. Rochester; their marriage was full of hatred, not love. Antoinette felt like she “could not move” (24) because the marriage was set-up, she had no choice. Since Antoinette was young, the dream was not very detailed; it was vague. This dream proves that Antoinette’s dreams give her a taste of the future.
At an older age, Antoinette has another dream that is a more detailed, extended version of the younger, mysterious dream. This time Antoinette is in a wedding dress and she feels like she must follow the man who hates her. Antoinette says “if anyone were here to save me, I would refuse. This must happen.” (54) This refers to her marriage with Mr. Rochester; it must happen because the Masons set it up. As the dream continues, she and the man with hatred, or Mr. Rochester, are in “an enclosed garden surrounded by a stone wall and the trees are different.” (55) The place Antoinette describes in her dream is Thornfield, Mr. Rochester’s residence in England, where he later takes her. This is known because the “the trees are different.”(55) in Antoinette’s dream; therefore, she is not in Coulibri anymore. This dream ends with Antoinette going up a staircase and predicts where she will be in the future.
Antoinette’s last and most erratic dream takes place in England when she is a complete lunatic. She dreams the end of the recurring dream. The stairs led to the room she now occupies; therefore, this confirms that Antoinette’s dream predicts her future. Antoinette proceeded to “take the keys” (168) and go down the stairs into the house. In the novel Jane Eyre, Antoinette lights the house on fire, burning Thornfield to ruins. In her dream, Antoinette lights some of the house on fire and then flees upstairs, away form the burning house and onto the roof. There, in the sky, “all [her] life was in it” (170) before her eyes. Her entire past flashed before her eyes. Then she woke herself screaming. This dream predicts what will happen to Antoinette next by blending the end of Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre. The recurring dream continues on and matures as Antoinette gets older, and predicts the occurrences of her tragic life.
No comments:
Post a Comment