THE CONTRIBUTION OF ANTOINETTE’S DREAMS TOWARD HER

THE CONTRIBUTION OF ANTOINETTE’S DREAMS TOWARD HER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN JEAN RHYS’

WIDE SARGASSO SEA

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By M. Harry Aryanto T.

Student Number: 994214054

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2006

Generated by Foxit PDF Creator © Foxit Softwarehttp://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only.

A Sdridnd Sastra Undergraduale 1'hesis

THE CONTRIBUTION OF ANTOINETTE'S DREAMSTOWARD I{ER CI{ARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN JEAN

RHYS' WIDE SARGASSO SEA

By

]U. HARRYARYANTO T,

Student Number: 99421 4054Student Registration Number: 990051 120106120054

Approved by

October ,20A6

14Elisa Dwi V/ardani. S.S.. Iv't.Hum.Co-Advisor

l l

October , ?005

Chairman

Secretary

Member

Member

Member

A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

THE CONTRII}UTION OF ANTOINETTE'S DREAMSTOWARD HER CIIARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN JEAN

RIIYS' WIDE SARGASSO SEA

By

M. HARRY ARYAI\TO T.

Student Number : 99 421 405 4Student Registration Number: 990051 120106120054

Defended before the Board of Examiners. on October ,2006

and Declared Acceptable

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Dr. Fr. B. Al ip, M.Pd., M.A.

Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka M.Hum.

Elisa Dwi Wardani S.S., M. Hum.

Dewi Widyastuti S.Pd., M.Hum

Adventina Putranti S.S.

)

twa=(/f-

Yogyakarta,JanuarY 2007

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Faculty of LettersDharma UnirqsitY

.4.oo 1$-''.). - *g "<Yc,-\i iB:F:lr\ o C y A K F . r -

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Life is ours, we live in our ways.

(Metallica: Nothing Else Matters)

Never be afraid to sit a while and think.

(Lorraine Hasbery)


v

This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to

My beloved mother

My beloved sisters


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

When we woke up from our deep sleep sometimes, we still wonder about

the reality of our life. We sometimes cannot differentiate dreams from reality.

When we are in real life, we thought that we are in a state of dreaming now,

because we cannot differ the reality and the dream itself. In some cultures, dream

can mean a lot of things. “Assyrians saw dreams as omens. Bad dreams demanded

action, i.e. exorcisms. Other dreams were seen as "advice". Egyptians believed that

the gods revealed themselves in dreams, demanding pious acts, or warning of

impending doom.”(http://www.rider.edu/suler/dreamman.html)

From the ancient document, there are so many interpretations about

dreams. People in different places, time, faith, and cultures saw dreams differently,

for example in the Roman and Greek Ages in the quotation below:

Roman Ideas-Although the Egyptians created one of the earliest documents on dreams, known as the Chester Beatty papyrus, the Oneirocriticon or The Interpretation of Dreams by the Roman Artemidorus (c. AD 150) is the first comprehensive book on the interpretation of dreams. Greek Ideas-The Greeks didn't begin seriously considering dreams until 8th century BC. Homer, in his Iliad, describes a scene wherein Agamemnon receives instructions from the messenger of Zeus in a dream. Greeks also believed that dreams carried divine messages, but they could only be interpreted with the aid of a priest similar to those of the Babylonians and Egyptians. (http://library.thinkquest.org/11189/nfhistory.htm) From the quotation above, we can see that from the ancient age a dream

was very important. People at that time believe that a dream was a message and


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has a meaning and it is like a prophecy to their future life. The interpretation of

dream is the prophecy of one people’s life, not every person can interpret theirs.

Then, some of us still ask a big question in our head, why do we dream?

There is no proven fact on why we dream. There are so many theories about

dream. Sigmund Freud, a famous psychologist who is known with the

psychoanalytic theory, also has a theory about dream. According to him, “dreams

carry our hidden desires.” (http://library.thinkquest.org/11189/nftheories.htm).

Still from the same source, Carl Jung disagreed with Freud’s theory. Jung thinks

dreams carry meaning, although not always a desire. These dreams can be

interpreted by the dreamer.

From the psychological side, dream is a phenomenon. Henry Gleitman in

his book entitled Psychology states, “Like many other phenomena, dream reflect

what we know, what we have experienced, remembered, or thought-activities that

psychologists call cognition” (1991: 8). The quotation above becomes the main

reason why the writer is interested in analyzing the topic about dream. In this

thesis, the writer tries to analyze the contribution of dream toward the character

development of the major character based on human experience or what will

happen in the future by believing dreams.

B. Problem Formulation

Based on the preceding paragraphs stated in the background of study, the

problem will be formulated as follows.


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1. How are the characteristics of Antoinette described?

2. What are Antoinette’s dreams?

3. How do Antoinette’s dreams contribute to her character development?

C. Objectives of Study

The main objective of the study is to find out the answer to the problem

formulated above. This study aims to discuss further the characteristics of

Antoinette as the main character in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea and her dream.

The first step is to find Antoinette’s characteristics. It is important to find

Antoinette’s characteristics because it can be seen how her characteristics before

her characteristics develop. After Antoinette’s characteristics are found, the next

step as the second problem is to find Antoinette’s dreams that appear in the story

and the interpretation of Antoinette’s dreams. The second step is also important,

because the writer must know Antoinette’s dreams before go to analysis. Finally,

the analysis tried to find the contribution of dreams toward the character

development of Antoinette in the story.

D. Definition of Terms

In order to avoid misunderstanding and to help the reader in understanding

the topic above, it is necessary to explain the definition of the important term. The

definitions are based on some books.


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1. Dream

Henry Gleitman in his book entitled Psychology described dream as a kind of

nocturnal drama to which the only price of admission is falling asleep. It is

usually a series of scenes, sometimes fairly commonplace, sometimes bizarre

and disjointed, in which the dreamer often figures as a participant (1991: 6).

2. Character

According to Holman and Harmon in A Book to Literature, character in a story

can be “a kind of creature, which imitates human being so that they exist as life

like. It means that they have some characteristic that real human being have so

that characters also have temperament and emotions (1986: 82).”


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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

Without the criticisms and reviews, this thesis is not complete. For that

reason, the writer quotes some criticisms and reviews from some scholars that already

analyze Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea or websites that analyze and discuss the novel

or Jean Rhys as the writer of the novel. The first part of this chapter is going to

provide some criticisms and reviews about Jean Rhys as the writer of Wide Sargasso

Sea. Jean Rhys wrote many novels and short stories, but her most famous novel is

Wide Sargasso Sea and as a woman writer, she is also known as a modernist writer,

one of the best modernist writers in her time.

Jean Rhys is the author of many short stories and novels, of which perhaps Wide Sargasso Sea is best known. Rhys is known as a modernist writer, writing throughout the twentieth century, and is often paralleled with Joseph Conrad and T.S. Eliot. Like the modernist authors, Rhys' writing often centres around themes of "isolation, absence of society or community, the sense of things falling apart, dependence and loss" (Carr, 15). She uses poetic language, irony, and a concern for subjectivity and language to develop her themes of anxiety and loss (16). She often uses, like other modernist writers, a cosmopolitan, indeed metropolitan setting for her writing. Wherever the setting, she seems to keep to consistent patterns of imagery. (www.qub.ac.uk/eu/imperial/carib/sargasso.htm) From another website, a critic discusses Jean Rhys’ works that contain

heroines. This criticism is written by an unknown scholar, but it is very interesting.

This criticism is about heroines in Jean Rhys novels.

In my research of Jean Rhys, I found that many critics assumed that she was writing about heroines very similar to her own personal makeup. This is


6

definitely true, according to Rhys, but the critics could then not separate her writing from her life. Carr comments that this contributed to the myth of "feminine distress", that her heroines then took on all attributes of Rhys. This assumption obscured much of the complexity and significance of Rhys's writing, because readers and critics then try to make parallels to events in Rhys's life with those in her writing. (http://members.tripod.com/~AtkinsonB/index.html)

On the quotation above, the unknown scholar made a research about Jean Rhys

novels, and he/she found that the heroines in Jean Rhys novel are related to her

personal life. Therefore, what Jean Rhys tried to reveal from her novel is about her

life.

Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea is an autobiographical novel. In this novel,

Jean Rhys tries to show her struggle against the oppression of her gender. Like

Antoinette, Jean Rhys also has an unhappy marriage. This novel can be categorized as

a feminist work, not just because the writer is a woman but also the novel describes

the problematic situation of women through the character of Antoinette. Sherry

Lewkowicz in her essay entitled The Experience of Womanhood in Jane Eyre and

Wide Sargasso Sea discussed womanhood in the novel.

Sargasso Sea maintains a steady absence of faith in woman's ability to transcend the oppression of her gender. Rhys's novel depicts the near impossibility of "success" for a woman in a patriarchal world. This is a strikingly different kind of feminism. Whereas Jane has developed many resources and defenses she can rely on to get her through her tribulations, Antoinette is virtually defenseless. (http://www.postcolonialweb.org/caribbean/dominica/rhys/lewkowicz14.html) Still from the same source, the novel is compared to another feminist story

written by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre. Both stories have a close relation, because the


7

character of Antoinette that is known as Bertha Mason is the same character as Bertha

Mason in Bronte’s Jane Eyre. The story of Antoinette is the past story of Bertha

Mason although Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre comes earlier than Wide Sargasso Sea.

Wide Sargasso Sea was Jean Rhys' effort to rewrite, or more accurately, to elaborate on and complicate, the history presented by Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel, Jane Eyre. The eponymous protagonist of Jane Eyre develops into a fiercely independent, self-assured, moral, and passionate young woman. (http://www.postcolonialweb.org/caribbean/dominica/rhys/lewkowicz14.html) Another strong point about Wide Sargasso Sea that interests the writer was

the connection between Wide Sargasso Sea with Charlotte Bronte’s Jean Eyre. Wide

Sargasso Sea is a unique novel; this novel is a kind of prequel of Charlotte Bronte’s

Jean Eyre. Usually when one novel has a sequel, it is made after the first novel, but

Wide Sargasso Sea as prequel of Jane Eyre was made after the sequel by a different

writer and in a different era. Written in the 19th century, Jean Eyre told a story about

Rochester’s insane wife Bertha mason. The ending of this story did not satisfy Jean

Rhys. She disagreed with Bronte’s presentation of Bertha Mason and set up to written

a colonial story that was about from Bronte’s text. Wide Sargasso Sea derives from

Jane Eyre but this study would not discuss about Jane Eyre and would only focus on

Wide Sargasso Sea.

An essay written from George P. Landow entitled Jean Rhys’ Political

Attitude talks about Jean Rhys sympathy toward the Caribbean blacks.

Her illusionless sympathy with Caribbean blacks clearly appears throughout Wide Sargasso Sea, despite the way most of them reject Antoinette, who, like Rhys herself, wished she had been born black rather than white.


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(http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/post/caribbean/dominica/rhys/politics1.html) As stated above, Wide Sargasso Sea is kind of prequel of Charlotte Bronte’s

Jean Eyre, in this novel Jean Rhys also reveals the main character’s dream as one of

an interesting part in the story. In both works, dreams provide glimpse of the

unexpressed emotion of the characters. In Dreams in Wide Sargasso Sea, Alan

Gordon discusses about dreams in Wide Sargasso Sea.

In Wide Sargasso Sea, dreams leak into the waking world of the narrators, thus giving the novel a dreamlike tone. In Jean Rhys' postcolonial re-writing of Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, dreams serve many of the same functions that they serve in the original. The dreams of protagonist Antoinette are often clairvoyant like Jane's. Both characters also reveal interior selves when dreaming; Jane's dreams reflect a part of her consciousness that she represses and Antoinette's dreams reflect a part of her consciousness that she has trouble expressing. Indeed, the functional components of Antoinette's dreams often parallel those of Jane's dreams. Jean Rhys was clearly as aware of the various uses of dreams as Charlotte Bronte. (http://www.postcolonialweb.org/caribbean/dominica/rhys/gordon14.html) For the writer, Wide Sargasso Sea is interesting especially because of main

character’s dreams that influenced her character development. It is uncommon when

a dream has a big effect on the character development. Besides, dreams here become

interesting because Jean Rhys uses dream as the foreshadows.

B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Every narrative work has a character. In An Introduction to Fiction, Stanton

says that the term “character” has two meanings. It can refer to “the individuals who

appear in the story and also the mixture of interests, desires, emotions, and moral


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principles that shapes each of these individuals” (1965: 17). Holman and Harmon in

A Handbook to Literature mention that the term character is used to “designate the

individual’s speech and action. In other words, a character can represent human

being’s actions, behaviors, and attitudes.” (1986: 81)

Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to Literature state that characterization

is the creation of these imaginary persons, so that the characters exist for the reader as

lifelike (1986: 81). They classified characterization in fiction into three fundamental

methods. The first method is the explicit presentation by the author of the character

through direct exposition, either in introductory block or more often piecemeal

throughout the work, illustrated by action. The second is the presentation of the

character in action, with little or no explicit comment by the author, in the expectation

that the reader will be able to deduce the attributes of the actor from actions. The third

method is representation from within a character, without comment on the character

by the author of the impact of the actions and emotions on the character’s inner self.

Murphy’s Understanding Unseen gives more detail techniques of

characterization. It mentions nine techniques of characterization used by an author to

describe the characters of a story (1972: 161-173).

a. Personal Description

An author uses this method particularly to give the description of character face,

body, and the other physical appearances.


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b. Character as Seen by Another

Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe a character

through the eyes and opinions of others.

c. Speech

The author gives the readers an insight into the character of one of the person in

the book through what the person says.

d. Past Life

By letting the readers learn about a character’s past life, the author can give the

clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can be done by

direct comment by the author, through the person’s thought, through his

conversation, or through the medium of another person.

e. Conversation of Others

The author can also give the readers clues to a persons’ character through the

conversation of other people and the things they say about her/him.

f. Reaction

The author can give the readers a clue to a person’s character by letting the

readers know how that person reacts to various situations and events.

g. Direct Comment

The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly.

h. Thoughts

The author can give the reader direct knowledge of what a person is thinking

about. In this aspect, he/she is able to do what we cannot do in real life. The


11

reader then is in privileged position; he has, as it were, a secret listening device

plugged into the inmost thoughts of a person in his/her novel.

i. Mannerism

An author can describe a person’s mannerisms, habits, or idiosyncrasies which

may also tell us something about his/her character

2. The Relation between Literature and Psychology

Stanton in Introduction to Fiction implies that literature is a unique

imitation of life.

In life, on the other hand, there are no stereotypes, no mere copies: every person is an individual to those who known him, every love affair is a unique experience to the lover. The serious author takes life as his model. Instead of writing a “typical story” or a “typical war story”, he writes of particular individual in particular situation. The result, paradoxically, is that his story is typical - typical of life (1965:7). From this statement, it can be derived that there are other fields of

knowledge related to literature and one that is used in this thesis is psychology. There

are some aspects on how psychology can be seen as a “partner” from where readers

can get a deeper understanding of literature. In Theory of Literature, Rene Wellek and

Austin Warren explain that “there are four aspects that can be learned in literature

from psychological point of view” (1956: 81). The four aspects are “the writer, as

type and as individual, the creative process, the psychological types and laws

presented within the works of literature, and the effect of literature upon its reader.”

Literature is a creative work in which an author uses his/her imagination to

create a story. Imagination is a part of human unconsciousness. The terms


12

“imagination” and “human unconsciousness” are widely used and analyzed in

psychology, especially in Freud’s theory of Psychoanalysis. Guerin’s A Handbook of

Critical Approach to Literature mentions that Freud’s most substantial contribution

to the development of modern psychology is his theory that stresses itself upon

human unconscious part.

The foundation of Freud’s contribution to modern psychology is his emphasis on the unconscious aspects of the human psyche. A brilliant creative genius, Freud provided convincing evidence, through his many carefully recorded case studies, that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control. He demonstrated that, like the iceberg, the human mind is structured so that its great weight and density lie beneath the surface (below the level of consciousness) (1999: 127). An author is an individual with his/her unique psychological type.

Unconsciously, this psychological type of the author influences his creative process

of making a story and, thus, it is reflected in the result of his/her work. Nevertheless,

it can also be the author’s anti-type which is implied in his/her work, as Wellek and

Warren in Theory of Literature say that “some writers reveal their type in their

creative work, while others reveal their anti-type, their complement (1956: 84).”

As psychology is a body of knowledge which studies human psyche, the

most related element of literature to psychology is its human or human-like

characters. Referring to Barnet’s explanation about character in Literature for

Composition that “a character is a figure with specific mental and moral qualities, it is

obvious that characters are observable through psychology, in terms that they consist

of unique mental qualities (1988: 71).”


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3. Theory of Dream

In order to get a better understanding about dream, this part will show some

theories of dream. As stated in the previous chapter that the most important topic in

Wide Sargasso Sea that will be analyzed in this thesis is dream, so the theory about

dream is needed to help the writer analyze that topic.

Thomas R. Murray in his book entitled Human Development Theories gives

a description about Carl G. Jung’s theory. Jung’s theory of dream can be found in his

famous theory namely Analytical Psychology.

The human psyche or personality operates on both conscious and unconscious levels. Jung defined conscious as the part of cognition that function under the control of ego. Unconscious is the remaining part not under ego control. Jung derived the evidence to support his collective unconscious proposal from his own to other’s dreams, vision and fantasies-with dreams defined as images that appear during sleep, vision as images appearing spontaneously without conscious intention while the person is awake, and fantasies as people’s purposely generated images when awake (1999: 58). Jung also gives three categories of variables in dream theory “(a) the sources

of dream content, (b) the nature of symbols, and (c) function of dreams.” Here is the

explanation about those three categories (1999: 59-60).

a. Sources of Dreams Content

Dreams images can originate from three main sources-current environmental

stimuli, memories from the past and recent everyday experience.

b. Function of Dreams

Dreams reflect people’s basic nature, in the sense that dream are impartial,

spontaneous products of the unconscious psyche.


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c. The Nature of Symbol

In this case, Jung agreed with Freud, images are the languages of dream with

grammar unlike that of walking thoughts.

The next theory of dream is from Alfred Adler. This theory is applied in this

thesis because both Adler and Jung have several similarities in their theory.

Montague Ullman in his essay entitled Dreaming, Life Style, and Psychology: a

Comment on Adler’s View of Dream, stated about Adler’s theory of dream.

“Dreaming is a state of consciousness occurring during states of partial arousal.

Under normal circumstances these states of partial arousal are brought about recur-

rently throughout the night as a result of physiological factors impinging upon and

influencing the threshold of the reticular activating system.”

(http://siivola.org/monte/papers_grouped/copyrighted/Dreams/Dreaming_Life_Style_

and_Physiology.htm). Ullman also give Adler’s view of the dream. Adler has five

views.

1. Any explanation concerning the meaning of dreams must not offend common

sense.

2. Dreams are the product of a particular life style and, in turn, build up and enforce

this style.

3. Dreams have to be understood in terms of the individual's orientation to his own

future.

4. The use of the metaphor lends itself to the task of stirring up feelings. If dreams

have a purpose this resides in the feelings they arouse.


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5. The dreamer engages in a tendentious ordering of experience so as to facilitate self-

deception.

Macrobius From Commentary on the Dream of Scipio in The Norton

Anthology of Theory and Criticism written by Vincent B Leitch. gives some

classification of dream. Macrobius classified dream into five types (2001:198-199).

1. Enigmatic Dream

Enigmatic dream is dream that conceal with strange shapes and veils with

ambiguity the true meaning of the information being offered, and requires an

interpretation for its understanding.

2. Prophetic Vision

We called a dream a prophetic vision if it actually comes true.

3. Oracular Dream

We called a dream oracular in which a parent, or a pious or revered man, or a

priest, or even a god clearly reveals what will or will not transpire, and what

action to take or to avoid.

4. Nightmare

Nightmare may be caused by mental or physical distress, or anxiety about the

future.

5. Apparition Dream

The apparition comes upon one in the moment between wakefulness and slumber,

in the so-called “first cloud of sleep.”


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The last two of that classification of dream, nightmare, and apparition dream are not

worth interpreting since they have no prophetic significance.

C. Theoretical Framework

The theories written above have an important role for the study. The theory

of “character” in Stanton’s Introduction to Fiction and Holman and Harmon’s A

Handbook to Literature, and theory of characterization in Murphy’s Understanding

Unseen and by Holman and Harmon are used to analyze Antoinette’s characteristics

and to get a better understanding of the characteristics of Antoinette.

After her characterization is clearly understood, then it is important to find

Antoinette’s dreams, the interpretation of her dreams. For this step, the writer used

Jung’s theory of dream in Thomas R. Murray’s Human Development Theories and

Adler’s theory of dream in Montague Ullman’s essay entitled Dreaming, Life Style,

and Psychology: a Comment on Adler’s View of Dream. After the character and

dream of Antoinette one clearly understood, the next step was try to find the

contribution of Antoinette’s dreams toward her character development as seen in the

story.


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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The object of the study to be analyzed in this thesis is a novel entitled

Wide Sargasso Sea written by Jean Rhys and was first published by Penguin

Books in 1966. This novel is an autobiographical novel of the writer. Wide

Sargasso Sea is a sensational novel, since this novel won the Royal Society of

Literature Award and the W.H. Smith Award on its first edition. This novel is

consists of 120 pages and is divided into three parts.

This study took Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea as the main object, and the

main character of this novel became the focus to be analyzed especially the main

character’s dreams. The main character in this novel was Antoinette Cosway.

Throughout the story, she experiences three dreams in her lifetime. First, when

she was a child, she dreamed about somebody who closes with her but hates her.

Second, it took place when she was in her 17, her dreams was about world

according to Antoinette interpretation. The third dream took place when she was

transformed into Bertha Mason. At that time, she dreamed about when she is

wearing a dress and color of her dress changed. The first part of the novel tells

about Antoinette’s childhood as a Creole in oppressive, colonialist society. At this

time, she got her first and second dreams. This part tells about the time when

Antoinette experienced oppression from her community. Her life changed when

her mother remarries. She and her family had money and ate English food, but


18

when the house was burned down by local people, her little brother died, and then

her mother goes mad and died too. Then, she was sent away to school. When she

left from the age of seventeen, she was a wealthy heiress and her fate sealed. The

second and the third part of this novel tells about Antoinette’s meeting with a

young Englishman, Rochester, who was attracted to her innocent sensuality and

beauty when she was transformed into Bertha Mason. After their marriage, the

rumors began, poisoning her husband against her. Caught between her demands

and her own precarious sense of belonging, Antoinette was driven towards

madness. At the third part when she was transformed into Bertha Mason,

Antoinette got the third dream.

B. Approach of the Study

In order to get a better understanding about the character development of

Antoinette Cosway, the writer will apply the psychological approach. It has been

mentioned in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature that “the crucial

limitation of psychological approach is that psychological interpretation can

afford many profound clues toward solving a work’s thematic and symbolic

mysteries” (1999: 126). According to the same book, “the psychological approach

can seldom account for the beautiful symmetry of a well-wrought poem or of a

fictional masterpiece” (1999: 126). Thus, basically the psychological approach

can be applied in literature as a tool for reading beneath the lines. Mary

Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods in Reading and Writing about Literature


19

mention that psychological approach is a viewpoint from where readers could

observe certain human recurrent pattern.

Like mythopoeic approach to literature, the psychological involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent pattern. Unlike the mythopoeic approach, it draws on a different body of knowledge-most often on that offered by Sigmund Freud and his followers. This is not to say that all psychological criticism postdates Freud (1971: 14). From the explanation above, it is understood that psychological approach

is aimed to observe literature specifically by using the theory of psychology, in

which the pattern of human mind is widely studied. The most often theory that is

used in this approach is one proposed by the founding father of psychology,

Sigmund Freud. Here, psychological theory is utilized as the basis of the

observation. In this case, the observation of the study will focus on the dream of

the main character. This is where the psychological approach play its role because

the theory of dream is highly related to the theory of psychological.

Nevertheless, there is still a wide possibility for using other experts’ theories since

this body of knowledge is developed through time.

C. Method of the Study

The library research method was employed to conduct this thesis. The

object of analysis for this thesis was a novel entitled Wide Sargasso Sea. The

reading part took more than three times for the writer to get a better understanding

of the novel itself. The writer also compiled some sources from the internet to

support this analysis. To answer the problem formulation, the writer applied a

psychological approach and there were some steps that the writer took to obtain

the solutions to the problem formulation.


20

In the first step, the writer started to read the novel, Wide Sargasso Sea,

as the main data. While reading the novel, the writer paid more attention to

Antoinette’s dialogues and actions as the main character in the novel. Having read

the novel, the writer also read some criticism about Wide Sargasso Sea. These

activities would provide me with appropriate information about the novel.

The second, related to the first question in the problem formulation, the

writer would analyze the description of Antoinette by applying Murphy’s theory

in Understanding Unseen about character and characterization. Theories of dream

would be applied on the third step in order to revealed Antoinette’s dreams

throughout the story. The last step, to answer the last question in the problem

formulation, the writer would use theories. The purpose was to reveal the

contribution of Antoinette’s dreams toward her character development. After all

steps were finished, the writer presented a conclusion for the study.


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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

As stated in the first chapter, this analysis deals with three parts.

This thesis will focus on the influence or the contribution of dreams towards

the character development of Antoinette as the main character in Wide

Sargasso Sea. Since the main character in the novel is Antoinette, the first

part of the analysis discuss further about the characterization of Antoinette.

It is important to have an understanding the characterization of Antoinette

because with this method we can know her character changes before and

after she has dreams. Characterization of Antoinette is still divided into two

parts, the first is on her childhood until she is a teenager and the second part

is on her marriage life. This division gives a more specific description about

Antoinette and the changes of Antoinette’s characteristic.

The second part of the analysis deals with Antoinette’s dream.

This part tries to find Antoinette’s dream and find the meaning of those

dreams. Antoinette’s dreams will be found in two different times.

The third part of the analysis deals with the contribution of

Antoinette’ dreams toward her character development. This part discusses

the Antoinette’s dream and her character development.


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A. The Characterization of Antoinette

1. The Characterization of Antoinette during her Childhood

Antoinette Mason/Cosway spent her childhood in Coulibri estate.

As a little girl, she never experienced beautiful moments during her early

life. Her personality is introvert, and she feels that she lives in a solitude

life. ‘I got used to a solitary life, but my mother still planned and hoped -

perhaps she had to hope every time she passed a looking glass. (p. 3)’. From

the quotation, it is quite clear that one of the reasons why Antoinette feels

that she lives a solitary life is because of her mother. Antoinette feels that

her solitary life is the reflection of her mother’s life in which her mother is

the joke of the community. Another reason why Antoinette feels that she

lives a solitary life is because she feels that no one will believe in what she

says. “I ran away and did not speak of it for I thought if I told no one it

might not be true. (p. 4)”. Antoinette seems to have a prejudice to other

people, she never tries to have a conversation to other people but she just

believes that they do not believe in her

Another strong point of Antoinette’s characteristic is insecurity. Her

feeling insecure does not contain only physical context but also

psychological. As an introvert person, she counts on her parents especially

her mother to protect her. She always feels that she is not secure wherever

she is even though it is in her own house. Her feeling of insecure in her own

house is not only a physical insecurity where one feels insecure from a

certain physical reason such as ghost, snake, thief, and robber. Her feeling


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insecure is a result of a bad experience in the past. Whenever she feels

uncomfortable usually, she feels insecure.

Once I would have gone back quietly to watch her asleep on the blue sofa-once I made excuses to be near her when she brushed her hair, a soft black cloak to cover me, hide me, keep me safe. When I was safely home, I sat close to the old wall at the end of the garden. It was covered with green moss soft as velvet and I never wanted to move again. (p. 7) From the quotation above, we can see that she always feels

insecure and she must hide to make her in a secure condition. Her house

maybe can give her a cover to protect her but she still feels insecure. In

some other pages, Jean Rhys gives so many descriptions that Antoinette

always feels insecure. Here, she clearly states that what she always thinks

about is how she can be in a safe situation, especially how to be safe from a

stranger.

I lay thinking, ‘I am safe. There is the corner of the bedroom door and the friendly furniture. There is the tree of life in the garden and the wall green with moss. The barrier of the cliffs and the high mountains. And the barrier of the sea. I am safe. I am safe from stranger. (p. 10) As an introvert person, she does not like to have a conversation or

a situation where she has to meet other people instead of her family. She

knows that they do not believes her and this situation will make her feel

insecure. If she has to go somewhere, she will prefer meeting animal or any

other things except people along the way.

I took another road, past the old sugar works and the water wheel that had not turned for years. I went to parts of Coulibri that I had not seen, where there was no road, no path, no track. And if the razor grass cut my legs and arms I would think ‘It’s better than people.’ Black ants or red ones, tall nest ants swarming with white


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ants, rain that soaked me to the skin-once I saw a snake. All better than people. Better. Better, better than people. (p. 11) Antoinette also feels insecure when the dark comes. For her,

darkness cannot give her the safe condition. Antoinette will feel comfortable

and secure if she is in bright place and she will feel insecure when she

cannot see the sun. In this condition, she wished to have someone like

Christophine, a black slave who take cares of Antoinette, or a dog that can

protects her when Christophine is not at her side.

I left a light on the chair by my bed and waited for Christophine, for I liked to see her last thing. But she did not come, and as the candle burned down, the safe peaceful feeling left me. I wished I had a big Cuban dog to lie by my bed and protect me, I wished I had not heard a noise by the bamboo clump, or that I were very young again, for then I believed in my stick (p. 17-18). From Antoinette’s statement above, we can see the reason why

she feels insecure and depends on Christophine. At that time, apparently,

she finds a long narrow piece of wood from which Christophine knocks the

nails out. As a little girl, Antoinette really believes that the piece of wood or

the stick can protect her from anything or from the worst as long as she has

it near her. She really believes that it can protect her because as a child she

also believes that everything is alive including the stick.

When she grows up, she does not have that stick anymore. She

understands that the stick or any other inanimate thing cannot protect her.

Therefore, now she depends on Christophine and a big Cuban dog to protect

her, otherwise she still feels insecure.


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The reason why Antoinette always feels insecure is also influenced

by her mother’s statement that the society in Coulibri estate is not secure

and good for her family although here she said that it is not safe for Pierre,

Antoinette’s little brother.

He sighed. ‘I feel very well here. However, we’ll arrange something. Quite soon.’ ‘I will not stay at Coulibri any longer,’ my mother said. ‘It is not safe. It is not safe for Pierre.’ (p. 16) The quotation above reflects how her mother’s statement gives a

big effect to Antoinette. As a little girl, she believes what an adult people

say especially her own mother. Antoinette’s mother saying that the society

is not secure because people do not like a black people whom married with a

white man. In this case, Antoinette’s mother married to Mr. Mason, a rich

white man, for her second husband.

2. The Characterization of Antoinette during her Marriage Time

Jean Rhys puts Antoinette’s characterization in marriage life in

part two. In this part, the narrator is not Antoinette anymore but Rochester,

her husband. Although in this part Rochester is the main narrator, Antoinette

is still the narrator in several parts. As the narrator of this part, the

discussion about the characterization of Antoinette is from the point of view

of Rochester. Although this part is dominated with Rochester, still,

Antoinette becomes the narrator for a small part where Antoinette shows her

honesty to her husband during the early stage of her marriage.


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It is stated earlier that Antoinette is insecure for some reasons,

such as stranger, laughter. After her marriage with Rochester apparently she

cannot get rid of her fear of those things. This situation confuses Rochester

because he does not really know her well before marriage and he does not

know what to do to help her. Although she has Rochester by her side, she

still feels insecure.

‘Don’t you like her? This is my place and everything is on our side. Once, ‘she said, ‘I used to sleep with a piece of wood by my side so that I could defend myself if I were attacked. That’s how afraid I was.’ ‘Afraid of what?’ She shook her head. ‘Of nothing, of everything.’ Someone knocked and she said ‘It’s only Christophine.’ ‘The old woman who was your nurse? Are you afraid of her?’ ‘No, how could I be?’ ‘If she taller,’I said, ‘one of these strapping women dressed up to nines, I might be afraid of her.’(p.42) Rochester also tries to ensure Antoinette that there is nothing to be

afraid of, but it seems useless no matter how hard he tries to ensure her.

From the quotation below, we can see that she married to Rochester is not a

guarantee for her to feel secure. It is possible that Rochester can give

security physically, but not in Antoinette’s heart or feeling. No matter she

has him or not, she will feel insecure.

‘You don’t wish to marry me?’ ‘No.’ She spoke in a very low voice. ‘But why?’ ‘I’m afraid of what may happen.’ ‘But don’t you remember last night I told you that when you are my wife there would not be any more reason to be afraid?’ ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Then Richard came in and you laughed. I didn’t like the way you laughed.’(p. 45)


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It seems that when Rochester tells her not to worry or not to be

afraid anymore, Antoinette already tries to be brave or tries his suggestion

but she cannot help it when she has to deal with the reality. As it is stated in

the quotation above, she becomes frightened when she sees Rochester

laughs. Besides, Antoinette has also fear of being happy as implied in the

quotation below.

‘And lose my own? Who’d be so foolish?’ ‘I am not used to happiness,’ she said. ‘It makes me afraid.’ ‘Never be afraid. Or if you tell no one.’ ‘I understand. But trying does not help me (p.54).’

The quotation above clearly shows that Antoinette also has a

reasonable fear that is happiness. She is afraid that her happiness for what

she has right now is not forever, and that she might lose it all at once or

someone takes it away from her. In other words, Antoinette is afraid of the

condition that she might lose things that make her happy.

A dream for Antoinette is like another world where she can be a

brave person. The only thing that can make her brave of anything is dream.

It is possible that for Antoinette she can be brave in dream because it is only

dream and it is not real, when she wakes up from her dream it will be gone.

‘It was so hot that my night chemise was sticking to me but I went to sleep all the same. And then suddenly I was awake. I saw two enormous rats, as big as cats, on the sill staring at me.’ ‘I’m not astonished that you were frightened.’ ‘But I was not frightened. That was the strange thing. I stared at them and they did not move. I could see myself in the looking-glass the other side of the room, in my white chemise with a frill round the neck, staring at those rats and the rats quite still, staring at me.’ ‘Well what happened?’


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‘I turned over, pulled up the sheet and went to sleep instantly.’ ‘And is that the story?’ ‘No, I woke up again suddenly like the first time and the rats were no there but I felt very frightened. I got out of bed quickly and ran on the veranda. I lay down in this hammock. This one.’ (p.48) The quotation above shows that Antoinette is confidence when she

has dream. This condition becomes an irony because many times we can see

how frightens she is in real life. That dream shows that Antoinette cannot

differentiate between reality and dream. Dream is a place where she is not

afraid anymore although when she wakes up she is frightened, but the point

here is she has confident in her dream.

From Rochester’s point of view, Antoinette also has a

characteristic that she is an inconsistent person. The fact that she is

inconsistent even in a small thing confuses him.

She was undecided, uncertain about fact-any fact. When I asked her if the snakes we sometimes saw were poisonous, she said, ‘Not those. The fer de lance of course, but there are none here,’ and added, ‘but how can they be sure? Do you think they know? Then, ‘Our snakes are not poisonous. Of course not.’(p.52) The argument between Antoinette and Rochester above makes him

see Antoinette as an inconsistent person. She easily changes her opinion.

Antoinette’s argument is confusing. First, she is sure and insistently about

her opinion, and disagrees with her husband’s opinion but suddenly she is

not sure of her own opinion. It shows that Antoinette is selfish because she

does not want her opinion argued and does not accept someone’s opinion,

though she is also not sure about her own opinion. Besides selfish,

Rochester also cannot understand with her childishness. She act as if she is


29

little girl, teach him about her song, or if something wrong and she is not

satisfied she will cry. This condition makes Rochester confused with her

childishness.

“All the day she’d be like any other girl, smile at herself in her looking-glass (do you like this scent?), try to teach me her songs, for they haunted me. Adieu foulard, adieu madras, or ma belle ka di maman li. My beautiful girl said to her mother (No it is not like that. Now listen. It is this way). She’d be silent, or angry for no reason, and chatter to Christophine in patois. (p.55) Rochester does not know whether he married an adult or a child.

When she is angry with Rochester, she always comes to Christophine like a

child to her mother. Antoinette does not realize that she is now a housewife

not a teenager or child anymore. The positive things that she act as if she is

little girl is that she face the new day with happiness. She will not be sad,

the new day will make her fresh as she has not any problem. She seems do

not has time to think about her problem or her life, for her the important

thing is every new day is like a new page of a book.

‘I was never sad in the morning,’ she said, ‘and every day was a fresh day for me. I remember the taste of milk and bread and the sound of the grandfather clock ticking slowly and the first time I had my hair tied with string because there was no ribbon left and no money to buy any. All the flowers in the world were in our garden and sometimes when I was thirsty I licked raindrops from the jasmine leaves after a shower. (p.83) As a wife, Antoinette is not good in domestic jobs; Rochester feels

that Antoinette is a careless person. In this case, as a married woman, she

does not know how to manage and control the money that Rochester gives

her.


30

We did not see a great deal of them. The kitchen and the swarming kitchen life were some way off. As for the money which she handed out so carelessly, not counting it, not knowing how much she gave, or the unfamiliar faces that appeared then disappeared, though never without a large meal eaten and a shot of rum I discovered-sister, cousins, aunts and uncles-if she asked no questions how could I? (p.53-54) It is probably caused by the fact that from childhood until adult

Antoinette is always taken care by Christophine and it makes her dependent

upon Christophine. In other word, Antoinette is a spoiled person. As seen

from the quotation above, Antoinette does not really care about domestic

jobs, such as, the sanitation of the kitchen and the kitchen itself left

abandoned. She is also careless on managing the money from Rochester.

Antoinette does not know how she manages the money. From the statement

that Rochester sees many unfamiliar faces, it can be seen that Antoinette

gives more attention to her friends or relatives than her marriage life.

The other characteristic of Antoinette that Rochester hates is lazy.

The cause of this one is the same with the previous characteristic that she is

careless. The dependence toward Christophine makes her lazy.

Her little fan was on the table, she took it up laughing, lay back and shut her eyes. ‘I think I won’t get up this morning.’ ‘Not get up. Not get up at all?’ ‘I’ll get up when I wish to. I’m very lazy you know. Like Christophine. I often stay in bed all day.’ (p. 51) Her laziness is annoying Rochester. He does not understand how

Antoinette can be like that. Antoinette clearly admits that she is lazy. Here,

she uses Christophine for her reason. She will follow or imitate what

Christophine does although what Christophine does is not correct. This is


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the consequence of being taken care from childhood until marriage by

Christophine, and Rochester does not like this at all.

Bad tempered is another Antoinette’s characteristic that can be

found in her marriage time. For some reasons, her being bad temper is

caused by Rochester’s treatment. Rochester calling Antoinette as Bertha

makes her angry because she is aware that she is not Bertha.

When I turned from the window she was drinking again. ‘Bertha, ‘I said. ‘Bertha is not my name. You are trying to make me into someone else, calling me by another name. I know, that’s obeah too.’ (p.94)

The quotation abvoe shows how Antoinette cannot stand the way

Rochester calls her. This part is the starting point of Antoinette’s bad

temper. In the quotation above, Antoinette says that when Rochester calling

and changing her name into Bertha is obeah. Obeah for the people in

Caribbean society is ‘kinds of cast spelled and used in witchcraft against

their victim and, above all, could change them into zombies, or the living

deads.’ Antoinette accuses Rochester of using obeah to change her into

Bertha. By calling Antoinette Bertha, Antoinette feels that she is only

Rochester’s Zombie. The moment when Rochester calls Antoinette as

Bertha becomes a trigger for Antoinette’s bad temper.

I managed to hold her wrist with one hand and the rum with the other, but when I felt her teeth in my arm I dropped the bottle. The smell filled the room. But I was angry now and she saw it. She smashed another bottle against the wall and stood with the broken glass in her hand and murder in her eyes. ‘Just you touch me once. You’ll soon see if I’m a dam’ coward like you are.’(P.96)


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B. Antoinette’s Dreams

Antoinette has three major dreams that appear in Wide Sargasso Sea

and each dream takes place at different time. The first dream appears at her

childhood, the second at her teenage, and the last one during her marriage

with Rochester. Here the writer tries to analyze Antoinette’s dreams and

tries to interpret those dreams.

1 . Antoinette’s First Dream

Antoinette’s first dream happens during her childhood on the night

sleep after she plays a whole day with her playmate name Tia. That day,

both of them play in a bathing pool. They bet whether or not Antoinette

could do a somersault under water as if that she can do it. Apparently,

Antoinette can do it although not perfect but Tia takes her money anyway.

As she takes Antoinette’s money, she also steals Antoinette’s dress and left

hers. Finally, Antoinette goes home with Tia’s dress in her hand and hatred

in her heart.

When she is coming home, she sees three visitors in her house two

young ladies and a young gentleman. She runs into her room when she sees

them because she hates strangers. When her mother sees her wearing Tia’s

dress, she asks Christophine to change the dress with muslin dress but it is

torn when she forces it on. In the evening, her mother does not talk to nor

even look at her.

I went to bed early and slept at once. I dreamed that I was walking in the forest. Not alone. Someone who hated me was with me, out of sight. I could hear heavy footsteps coming closer and though I struggled and screamed I could not move. (p.10)


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That day is a bad day for young Antoinette. The complete bad

experience that she has been through that day is carried away in her dream.

Regarding the quotation above, the dream states that she is followed by

someone who hates her. The person who follows her is not specifically

described. The ambiguity of the threat in her dream suggests she does not

understand her fears, and reflects her bewilderment and fear of Tia's

rejection of her.

The dream starts with Antoinette walking in the forest. A forest itself

represents a condition instead of a place. It represents a condition or a

situation that she cannot control. She does not realize the situation that will

appear in her future life and this condition becomes her fear and threat for

her life.

She states that she is with someone who hates her, it is possible that the

person is Tia, because on that day she was cheated by Tia and she takes

Antoinette’s money and clothes, it seems that this fact changes into a big

hatred to Tia. It is like an effect from the experience she encountered in the

afternoon, but if it is analyze further and if we see dream as a unity, we

know that someone who hate her is a man because this person has heavy

footsteps. According to Dream Dictionary in

(http://www.soulfuture.com/dream_dictionary/dream_dictionary_index_d.as

p), forest is represents growth. Hence, walking in the forest means that she

will growth in terms of her life phase. The forest also represents confusion,

it means that Antoinette is completely blind in the understanding that


34

marriage is just like a forest that can make people who enter there will be

confuse or blind of direction. Later on, in the novel, it will be understood

that Antoinette gets married to Rochester not based on love but based on

their condition. Hence, heavy footsteps here represent Rochester. Before

they get married, both Rochester and Antoinette are in a condition where

they are afraid that they will not get married for the rest of their life. At that

time, they are old enough to get married but none of them has a girlfriend or

a boyfriend. Therefore, it is obvious that their marriage is not based on love,

and later on the next part of the novel, Antoinette will find out that

Rochester does not love her. For example, he tries to change her personality

by calling her Bertha.

According to Macrobius’ classification of dream, Antoinette’s first

dream can be classified as a prophetic vision dream. Antoinette’s first dream

refers to her unhappy marriage life in her future. Antoinette does not realize

that her dream is the reflection of her future life, she only realize that her

dream is just the reflection of bewilderment and fear of Tia’s rejection. Her

dream is like a clue of her future life that she will be married to someone

who does not love her.

2 . Antoinette’s Second Dream

Antoinette’s second dream appears when she lives in school

dormitory on the day when her stepfather visits her at her serene convent

school and tells her that he is arranging for suitors to visit her. She lives

there because she and her family were unwanted by the community in


35

Coulibri estate. Her stepfather sends her to school outside of Coulibri estate

to make her safe.

Again I have left the house at Coulibri. It is still night and I am walking towards the forest. I am wearing a long dress and thin slippers, so I walk with difficulty, following the man who is with me and holding up the skirt of my dress. It is white and beautiful and I don't wish to get it soiled. I follow him, sick with fear but I make no effort to save myself; if anyone were to try to save me, I would refuse. This must happen. Now we have reached the forest. We are under the tall dark trees and there is no wind. "Here?" He turns and looks at me, his face black with hatred, and when I see this I begin to cry. He smiles slyly. "Not here, not yet," he says, and I follow him, weeping. Now I do not try to hold up my dress, it trails in the dirt, my beautiful dress. 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. There are steps leading upwards. It is too dark to see the wall or the steps, but I know they are there and I think, "It will be when I go up these steps. At the top." I stumble over my dress and cannot get up. I touch a tree and my arms hold on to it. 'Here, here.' But I think I will not go any further. The tree sways and jerks as if it is trying to throw me off. Still I cling and the seconds pass and each one is a thousand years. "Here, in here," a strange voice said, and the tree stopped swaying and jerking. (p.34) Compared to the first dream, “Walking in the forest with someone

who hates me (p.10)”, in this second dream, the clue of “some one” is more

specific. Her second dream mentioned that “someone” as a “man” who is

“black with hatred.” In her second dream, she wears “a long dress” which

color is white and “thin slippers” that makes her walk difficultly. A long

white dress represents a wedding dress and thin slippers that make her walk

difficultly represents her marriage that will not be easy and she will faces

many troubles in her marriage time. The man who is “black with hatred”

represents Rochester. Her reluctance to join the man represents her

reluctance to join Rochester in matrimony. Antoinette's fatalistic resignation


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to follow the man in the dream, "I make no effort to save myself; if anyone

were to try to save me, I would refuse. This must happen," foreshadows how

she masochistically and insistently lays herself of marrying Rochester. "We

are no longer in the forest but in an enclosed garden," corresponds to

Antoinette's future relocation to England. The "different trees" are English

trees Antoinette has never encountered in the Caribbean. The "enclosed

garden" and the ascent up the steps prefigure Antoinette's imprisonment in

Rochester's attic.

From that dream, Antoinette can see that the man who is leading her

has a face that is black with hatred. The color black here is not the color of

that man face but the aura of hatred that makes his face darker. In other

words, Antoinette knows since the beginning that Rochester does not really

love her and she knows that it must be happens because it is her destiny. It

can be seen from Antoinette’s statement that even though she is sick with

fear, she follows him anyway and she does not do anything to help her self.

If there is any one that tries to help her, she will refuse it too. Her second

dream is like the continuity of her first dream. In her first dream, she knows

that she is with someone who hates her but he is still out of sight. This time,

in her second dream, she can see the face the person who follows her with

hatred, and now she even follows him. She also says that when she follows

him, she weeps, and she does not try to hold up her beautiful dress that

makes it trails in the dirt.


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3 Antoinette’s Third Dream

Antoinette’s third dream is in part three of the novel. The dream

itself takes almost half of the part three. The third dream comes the night

after Grace Poole tells Antoinette that she has attacked Richard Mason. In

the first part of her dream, she takes the keys from a sleeping Grace Poole,

gets herself out of the attic, and floats through the house.

In my dream, I waited till she began to snore, then I got up, took the keys and let myself out with a candle in my hand.” (p.121) Dress appears in her second dream and so does in her third dream.

Her third dream begins with her opening a closet where a red dress is

hanging inside. When she opens it, she firstly recognizes the color, which

she associates with the color of fire and sunset. The color in this third dream

is red. It means that there is a change of something in her life. According to

Dream Dictionary in (http://www.dream-land.info/dream_dictionary.php),

the dress represents personality, red dress in represents strong sexual desire,

sin, rage, and the devil.

As soon as I turned the key, I saw it hanging, the color of fire and sunset (p.119). The scent that came from the dress was very faint at first, and then it grew stronger. The smell of vetiver and frangipani, of cinnamon and dust and lime trees when they are flowering. The smell of the sun and the smell of the rain. I was wearing a dress of that color when Sandi came to see me for the last time (p.120). I took the red dress down and put it against myself. ‘Oh put it away,’ Grace Poole said. But I held the dress in my hand wondering if they had done the last and worst thing. If they had changed it when I wasn’t looking. If they had changed it and it wasn’t my dress at all – but how could they get the scent?


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I let the dress fall on the floor, and looked from the fire to the dress and from the dress to the fire (p. 120-121). The next thing that she recognizes in the dream is the scent that

comes from the dress. That she can identify the scent that comes from that

dress means that she is quite familiar with the scent. The scent that comes

from the dress represents something from her past. The scent brings her

back to her childhood memories. The smell of vetiver and frangipani,

cinnamon, dust, and lime trees when they are flowering; and the smell of the

sun and the rain are the scents that appear in her past time in Coulibri.

Twice a year the octopus orchid flowered – then not an inch of tentacles showed. It was a bell-shaped mass of white, mauve, deep purples, wonderful to see. The scent was very sweet and strong. I never went near it (p.4-5). The red dress becomes the emphasis in the third dream. She really

likes the color. One of the reasons why she likes the color is because it

reminds her of Sandi, her cousin, and the last time they see each other. ‘I

was wearing a dress of that color when Sandi came to see me for the last

time (p.120).’ The red dress brings back many memories for Antoinette such

as her childhood and Sandi.

In the next paragraph, Antoinette takes the red dress down and put it

against her. She wonders whether they do something bad with her dress or

whether they change her red dress. Her question ‘Does it make me look

intemperate and unchaste (p.120)?’ can be addressed to herself because she

can question whether her marriage changes her personality. Deep down in

her heart, she knows someone changes her red dress. She questions “But


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how could they get the scent?” it means that she still can recognize her

personality before it changed. It seems that Antoinette likes the color

because in her third dream, there are many things that have red color and the

dress is one of them.

At the last, I was in the hall where a lamp was burning. I remember that when I came. A lamp and the dark staircase and the veil over my face. They think I don’t remember but I do. There was a door to the right. I opened it and went in. It was a large room with a red carpet and red curtain. Every thing else was white (p.121-122). When she passes a lamp in the hall, Antoinette remarks “I remember

that when I came,” thus shifting from her dream to an episodic memory.

When she continues, “There was a door to the right,” it is not clear whether

she is narrating from the dream or the memory. This passage thus reveals

Antoinette’s confusion between dream and memory.

In her dream, she is suddenly in Aunt Cora’s room where she sees

many wax candles and she hates them. She knocks them down and one of

the candles caught the thin curtains.

Suddenly I was in Aunt Cora’s room. I saw the sunlight coming from through the window, the tree outside and the shadow of the leaves on the floor, but I saw the wax candles too and I hated them. So I knocked them all down (p.122). Later in the dream, Antoinette shifts her descriptions between

Thornfield and Coulibri without shift, “Suddenly I was in Aunt Cora’s

room.” At first, it is describing a view from a window at Coulibri and then a

set of candles at Thornfield, Antoinette again shifts from memory to dream

without distinguishing the dream and reality. “I saw the sunlight coming

through the window, the tree outside and the shadows of the leaves on the


40

floor, but I saw the wax candles too and I hated them.” Again, the narrative

maintains no distinction between the states of consciousness, because in that

dream she states that she is in a conscious state when she sees the candles,

that is why she implies that she does not like the candles.

I laughed when I saw the lovely color spreading so fast, but I did not stay to watch it. I went into the hall again with the tall candle in my hand. It was then that I saw her – the ghost. The woman with streaming hair. She was surrounded by a gilt frame but I knew her (p.122). Antoinette likes the color of fire and that is why she laughs when she

sees the fire spread out. After that, she runs to the hall but when she is in a

hall, she sees a ghost in a shape of a woman with streaming hair. Antoinette

states that she knows the ghost. It is possible that it reflects the guilty feeling

because she caused the fire.

After she sees the ghost, she runs outside into the yard. In the yard,

she looks into the sky. “It was red and all my life was in it (p.123).” The

house means so much for Antoinette because her whole life is in that house.

All of a sudden, the fractions of her life pass her mind and between the

flashes of her memories, she even thinks about committing suicide by

jumping to a hard stones. She hesitates for a moment; she hears Rochester

calling her, Bertha. She screams and wakes up from her dream.

Antoinette sets fire to a set of curtains and then a tablecloth in her

dream. When she calls Christophine for help, she believes that Christophine

answers her call by providing a protective wall from flame. Christophine


41

will be the first person that she will ask for help whenever she is in a

difficult situation.

I saw the grandfather clock and Aunt Cora's patchwork, all colours, I saw the orchids and the stephanotis and the jasmine and the tree of life in flames. I saw the chandelier and the red carpet downstairs and the bamboos and the tree ferns, the gold ferns and the silver, and the soft green velvet of the moss on the garden wall. I saw my doll's house and the books and the picture of the Miller's Daughter. I heard the parrot call as he did when he saw a stranger, Qui est la? Qui est la? and the man who hated me was calling too, Bertha! Bertha! The wind caught my hair and it streamed out like wings. It might bear me up, I thought, if I jumped to those hard stones. But when I looked over the edge I saw the pool at Coulibri. Tia was there. She beckoned to me and when I hesitated, she laughed. I heard her say, You frightened? And I heard the man's voice, Bertha! Bertha! All this I saw and heard in a fraction of a second. And the sky so red. Someone screamed and I thought Why did I scream? I called "Tia!" and jumped and woke (p.123)

Antoinette’s third dream also exposes several of her emotions. First,

she evokes nostalgia. Gazing over the ramparts at Thornfield, she sees the

pool at Coulibri. The images of the "the orchids and the stephanotis and the

jasmine" and her doll's house reminds her back to her relatively innocent

and safe childhood in the Caribbean. The fire itself may represent a

transformation from cold, stony, drab England to warm, passionate, colorful

Caribbean. Antoinette's anguish at the corruption of her identity is also

present in the final scene of her dream. Antoinette's inability to recognize

her voice as the source of the scream also reflects her loss of identity. Her

perception of Rochester's calls to "Bertha," an identity he imposed upon

Antoinette, suggest Rochester's role in this loss. While the doll's house is an

image of Antoinette's childhood, it also suggests another identity Rochester

creates for her; that of Marionette, a doll he can play with.


42

C. The Contribution of Antoinette’s Dreams to Her Character Development

Antoinette’s first dream mentions that she walks in the forest with

someone who hates her, or in other words, ‘someone’ here is a stranger. The

dream of walking with a stranger makes her realize how a stranger makes

her worried and afraid. In reality, it makes her believe that a stranger will be

a threat to her life. That is why she always feels insecure especially from a

stranger.

I lay thinking, I am safe. There is the corner of the bedroom door and the friendly furniture. There is the tree of life in the garden and the wall green with moss. The barrier of the cliffs and the high mountains. And the barrier of the sea. I am safe. I am safe from stranger (p.10). Antoinette will find the way or place where she will feel secure

especially from a stranger. As an introvert person, a stranger is similar to an

enemy that will threaten her life, although that stranger is not a real threat

for her. Besides, her first dream becomes the first phase of her character

development. Deep down in her unconsciousness she realizes that her life

will never be the same again. It means that her life starts to change

differently such as Tia who never meets her again or Antoinette starts to

find her own world. After her first dream, she starts to realize the changes,

the changes that she will face in her next life.

The light of the candle in Pierre’s room was still there when I slept again. I woke next morning knowing that nothing would be the same. It would change and go on changing (p.10).


43

After the incident when Tia is cheating her and her first dream, her

relation with Tia is not as good as before. Antoinette never takes it

personally but Tia takes it differently. Tia seems to hate her and never plays

with her anymore. “So I too left it and stayed away till dark. I was never

long at the bathing pool, I never met Tia (p.11).” The bad incident with Tia

becomes the source of Antoinette’s first dream. According to Jung, the

source of Antoinette’s dream is from her recent everyday experience.

The main contribution of the first dream toward her life is that she is

afraid of strangers especially to a male stranger. Female strangers seem do

not become a threat to her life although she already has an unpleasant

experience with a woman or a girl, when Tia throws her head with a rock.

She can express her feelings with someone who has the same sex as her.

Besides Christophine, she also trusts her Aunt Cora. When she talks to her

schoolmate, she can talk without fear and feeling insecure, and she tells

them about what she feels.

“Now you look at me,” she said. “You will not be frightened of me.” I looked at her. She had large brown eyes, very soft, and was dressed in white, not with starched apron like the other had….After she had talked to me I told her a little of why I was crying and that I did not like walking to school alone (p.28).

The quotation above shows one of Antoinette’s changes. Regarding

to her characteristic that she is always afraid of a stranger, this change is a

good improvement for her. Although it only happens with a girl or a woman

but she seems does not afraid of them. When she is in childhood, she does


44

not like to have a conversation with other people. She always has a prejudge

that other people will not believe to what she will say.

The second dream becomes the next phase of Antoinette’s character

development from teenage to womanhood. It can be seen from her first

reaction toward the dream. First, she cries when she realizes her second

dream. Afterwards, we can see how she can think clearly about it.

While I am drinking it, I remember that after my mother’s funeral, very early in the morning, almost as early as this, we went home to drink chocolate and eat cakes. She died last year, no one told me how, and I did not ask. Mr. Mason was there and Christophine, no one else. Christophine cried bitterly but I could not. I prayed, but the words fell to the ground meaning nothing. Now the thought of her is mixed up with my dream. I saw her in her mended habit riding a borrowed horse, trying to wave at the head of the cobblestoned road at Coulibri, and tears came to my eyes again. “Such terrible things happen,” I said. “Why? Why? (p.35)”

Her first reaction is crying, but here, she also thinks and realizes her

dream. It seems that she know something will happen in her life. “Such

terrible things happen” represents her submission to what will happen to

her. What she can do is only question about it, questioning her miserable

life. Although submitted to what happen she shows rejection by questioning,

“Why? Why?”

Even though she questions her misfortune, we can still see her

maturity for she is over seventeen at that time. It is normal for her to

question it because all of a sudden, she also remembers her mother who

already passed away. She remembers that she does not know why she dies

and that she cannot cry on that day. Thus, Antoinette cries not only because


45

of her dream but also because of the thought of her mother and she

questions her life in general that many misfortunes happens to her. She

shows her self-awareness, she is aware that her life is miserable. Started

when she is left by her playmate, her house is burned, and then her mother

died with madness.

Antoinette’s submission to her dream makes her start to believe in a

man who fills her day in her marriage, her husband, Rochester. It is

mentioned before, that she only trusts a woman or a girl, now; she starts to

trust a man. Although her second dream predicts that she will live with a

man that makes her life unhappy, she becomes an optimist.

“Don’t you like it here?” This is my place and everything is on our side. Once,” she said, I used to sleep with a piece of wood by my side so that I could defend myself if I were attacked. That’s how afraid I was (p.42).”

Here, Antoinette shows her honesty to someone who is new in her life.

She believes that this man is her mate, the man in her dream. Before she is

married, it is hard to find Antoinette honest and open to herself to other

people, except Christophine and her Aunt Cora, but after she gets married, it

is very different. Though she does not completely open herself to Rochester,

it seems that she wants Rochester to know about her.

Antoinette’s submission to her dream makes her faithful to her dream

and to her husband. Antoinette believes that Rochester is her soul mate and

she cannot live without him. “I never wished to live before I knew you. I

always thought it would be better if I died. Such a long time to wait before


46

it’s over (p.54).” Her faithful to her dreams also makes her does not hear an

advice from the person who she trusts a lot, Christophine.

At last I said, “Christophine, he is does not love me. I think he hates me. He always sleeps in dressing-room now and the servants know… “You ask me a hard thing. I tell you a hard thing, pack up and go.” “Go, go where? To some strange place where I shall never see him? No, I will not, then everyone, not only the servants, will laugh at me (p.67).”

The quotation above appears when Antoinette realizes that Rochester

does not love her. Even though Christophine asks her to leave him, she does

not do that. For her, leaving him is not a correct way, “But there must be

something else I can do.” It shows her maturity and her optimistic life. She

does not give up with the condition she faces, not like when she is afraid

with a stranger and then she avoid to meet them and prefers to meet trees,

rocks, or animal. Her faith to Rochester also makes her lose her identity.

Rochester never calls her Antoinette but he always calls her Bertha.

Antoinette does not like it but even though she complains to Rochester

several times, he never listens to her.

When I turned from the window she was drinking again. “Bertha,” I said. “Bertha is not my name. You are trying to make me into someone else, calling me by another name. I know, hat’s obeah too (p. 94).’ Actually, Antoinette knows that Rochester wants to change herself

into Bertha, but what she can do is only angry. Every time he called her

Bertha, she always complains the way Rochester calls her name and

becomes mad, she wants to stop Rochester calling her name Bertha. What

she finds later is that Rochester still calls her Bertha. The reason why he


47

never calls her Antoinette is that he does not like that name, the name of

Antoinette’s mother.

He hates me now. I hear him every night walking up and down the veranda. Up and down. When he passes my door he says, “Good night Bertha.” He never calls me Antoinette now. He has fopund out it was my mother’s name (p. 70). According to Jung, a major source of dream images is the complex

of recent events in the dreamer’s daily life. The illness of a parent or the

unexpected arrival of a letter from long-lost friend is some of the examples.

Regarding Antoinette’s meeting with her stepfather before her second

dream, the source of Antoinette’s second dream is from her recent everyday

experience. Her stepfather wants to introduce her to an English gentleman,

that later will be known as Antoinette’s husband, Rochester. This

experience strengthened her dream especially about ‘someone who hates

me’ in the first dream and then become ‘the man,’ and ‘his face black with

hatred’ in the second dream.

Antoinette’s first dream only contributes to her awareness of some

changes that will happen in her future. It shows when she realizes the next

day will never be the same like the day when she is cheated by Tia. The

second dream contributes more than that. Her asking about her miserable

life shows how her second dream contributes to her maturity in the way that

the dream is not only as a foreshadowing of her future life but also makes

her contemplates of her previous life. The contemplation when she

remembers hoe her mother passed away a year ago, she does not know why

she died, and she seems does not want to know it.


48

Antoinette’s third dream gives the most important contribution

toward her character development. As mentioned before, the previous two

dreams act as foreshadows of future and contribute to her faith to her

husband and her confident with other people who have the same sex with

her. The third dream is the confirmation on how her personality is like when

she is a mature woman. The contribution of the third dream is that it gives a

clear confirmation that she cannot differentiate reality and dream.

At last I was in the hall where the lamp was burning. I remember that when I came. A lamp and the dark staircase and the veil over my face. They think I don’t remember but I do. There was a door to the right. I opened it and went in (p.121). ‘There was a door to the right,’ from quotation above, is not clear

whether she is narrating from the dream or the memory. This passage thus

reveals Antoinette’s confusion between dream and memory or reality. It

happens not only in this part of dream but it happens several times where it

is not clear whether she is narrating from the dream or memory. In this

dream, there is no clear confirmation whether it is a pure dream or a

narration of memory, because some parts of the dream contain a narration of

memory. ‘When she passes a lamp in the hall,’ Antoinette remarks ‘I

remember that when I came (p.121).’ thus shifting from her dream to a part

of her memory. Her serial dreams make her such a disoriented person with

her dream and reality.

As a frequent dreamer, Antoinette sometimes believes that the dream

will tell her what to do. Her belief to her dreams shows when she has a

conversation with Grace Pool, an English woman who is paid to watch


49

Antoinette before she got her third dream. When she meets difficulty that

she does not know how to solve or when she does not remember something,

she is sure that she will recall that memory and what she must do in dream.

‘It’s just as well that you don’t remember last night,’ she said. ‘The gentleman fainted and a fine outcry there was up here. Blood all over the place and I was blames for letting you attack him. And the master is expected in a few days. I’ll never try to help you again. You are too far gone to be helped.’ I said, ‘If I had been wearing my red dress Richards would have known me.’ ‘Your red dress,’ she said and laughed. But I looked at the dress on the floor and it was as if the fire had spread across the room. It was beautiful and it reminded me of something I must do. I will remember I thought. I will remember quite soon now (p.121). Dreams seems to become the way for her to find the answer of what

she does not know or what she must do, although in her dream she does not

find the complete answer. At least she find such a clue of what she does not

know or what she must do. By the end of her dream, she does not find the

clear answer about what she must to do like in the previous quotation, but at

least she finds what she has to do, also the reason why she was brought to

Thornfield. The third dream makes her confident. Her confident is inspired

by her third dream, it is like an enlightment for her.

Now at last I know why I was brought here and what I have to do. There must have been a draught for the flame flickered and I thought it was out (p.123). She believes that her dreams are her future life, her dream never lie

to her. As a person she is submitting her life to her dream, she has no effort

how to live her life, she always do what her dream tells. The last parts of the


50

story, finally she find what she wants. She still does what her dream tells,

but the different thing here is that she does not do as in her dream.

I waited a long time after I heard her snore then I got up, took the keys and unlock the door. I was outside holding my candle (p.123). The quotation above is similar to what happed in her dream. After

she took the keys, she is walking around the house, drops her candle, and

makes the house burned. Her careless is that she does not hold the candle

properly makes it burn the house, but it is different from the reality after she

woke up from her dream. She is walking around with her candle but she

does not drop it but she shields her candles to light her when she walks. The

similarity inspired her so that she cannot always relies and submits her life

on her dreams.

Now at last I know why I was brought here and what I have to do. There must have been a draught for the flame flickered and I thought it was out. But I shielded it with my hand and it burned up again to light me along the dark passage (p.123). Finally, she finds her self-confidence. Her finding of her self-

confidence shows when she realizes why she was brought to Thornfield and

she knows what she has to do. She is confident with her life and to face her

next dream that appears in her future and her future life. Her confidence is

seen when she walks alone in the darkness only with a candle which has a

limited brightness. Besides, she also find an enlightement for her life. The

candle represents the light, the light of life. Antoinette shields the candle

with her hand. By protecting the light with her hand, she seems that she

does not want to lose that light, the light which can gives her confidence in


51

the darkness, which she used to be afraid in darkness. The light is like

something that she does not have in her entire life, confident. She still

follows what her dream said, but she follows it with her own way.


52

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

From the analysis, it is concluded that Antoinette is an introvert person who

always feels that she lives in a solitude life. She always feels insecure and afraid of a

stranger. The condition where she does not like to meet other people, especially

strangers, makes her dislike to have a conversation with other people. The person

whom she trusts is Christophine, a black slave who is taking care of her. When she

married Rochester, she trusts Christophine better than she trusts her husband. She

only has a little trusts to Rochester but not as big as to Christophine.

Antoinette is such an inconsistent person, she changes her opinion or her

decision easily. From her childhood, she is taken care of by Christophine, that she

becomes childish and lazy, also not good in domestic routines. The big effect when

she lives with Rochester is she becomes a bad tempered person and it is started by the

time she loses her identity as Antoinette. From the negative characteristic above,

Antoinette still have a positive characteristic. Behind her childish and sometimes acts

like a little girl, she can face the day with happiness. She will be fresh when the new

days come.

Antoinette is a frequent dreamer. She has several dreams in her entire life, but

only three of them that are the major dreams. Antoinette’s first dream happens during

her childhood on the night sleep after she plays the whole day with her playmate


53

name Tia. She is cheated by Tia, and it carried away on her dream. She is dreaming

about her walking in the forest with someone who hates her. The dream is the

beginning prophecy of her life. The forest represents the condition and place where

she will face in the future and ‘someone who hates me’ represents Rochester, her

future husband. Her first dream is the beginning of her serial dreams.

Antoinette’s second dream appears when she is seventeen. Her second dream

is clearer than her first. Her second dream describes her marriage with Rochester, the

difficulty she will face, and her moving to England after she married Rochester.

Antoinette’s second dream is the second phase of her life from teenage to

womanhood.

The third dream appears after she has transformed into Bertha Mason. Her

third dream is about her memory of her childhood in Coulibri. She flashes back to her

childhood memory, the time when she feels happiness. The third dream is the last

phase of her life, and gives a confirmation about what kind of her personality is like

when she is a mature woman, and what kind of life that she has now.

The contribution of Antoinette’s dream toward her character development

starts from the first dream. The effect of dream when she walking in the forest who

she does not know that stranger and that stranger hates her makes her always afraid

with a stranger, the stranger that will threat her life. Her first dream becomes the first

phase of her character development. After her first dream, she starts to realize

changes, the changes that she will face in her next life. The change that can be seen is


54

that she trusts, comfortable and feel save with a person who has the same sex just like

her. Thus, the function of the dream according to Jung that “dreams reflect people’s

basic nature, in the sense that dream are impartial, spontaneous products of the

unconscious psyche,” this theory also applicable to Antoinette’s dreams. Her dreams

are spontaneous reflection of her future life but it does not mean that those dreams

really inspire her to do something dramatic to change her future life.

The second dream gives contribution about her submission to her future life.

The second dream becomes the next phase of Antoinette’s character development

from teenage to womanhood. It can be seen from her first reaction after the dream.

She is crying when she realizes her second dream. Her second dream contributes to

her maturity in the way that the dream is not only as a foreshadow of her future life

but also makes her contemplate her previous life. She shows her self-awareness, she

realizes that her life is miserable. She starts to believe and honest with a man or in

other word she is not introvert anymore. Her submission to her dream makes her

faithful to her husband.

The third dream is the last phase of her life; this dream is like a confirmation

of what her personality is like when she is a mature woman. The third dream makes

her difficult to differentiate between dream and memory or reality. She relies on the

dream that the dream will tell her what she must to do. The third dream also evokes

her nostalgia from her childhood memory. The third dream shows her all of incidents

and everything that the first and the second dream predicted is truly happens in her


55

present life. The third dream gives an important contribution toward Antoinette’s

character development that she finds a confidence about her life choice. Her choice

follows her dreams but she follows it with her own way and she finds an

enlightenment of her life.

Her whole life is like a dream, she cannot differentiate between dream and

reality. Her dreams make her submits her life on her dreams, she thinks her destiny is

written. Antoinette’s belief on her dream makes her never has an effort to change her

destiny. She knows that in her future life, she will have an unhappy life. Her dreams

will foreshadow what she must do in her future. By the end of the story, she finds an

enlightenment of her future life, she follows her dream but not completely. She

follows it with her own way. She follows her dream but not completely. In her dream

when she walks with candles in her hand, because of her careless she drops it and

makes the house burn. In the reality, she holds the candle carefully and shields it with

her hand.


56

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barnet, Sylvan, Norton Breman, and William Burto. eds. Literature for

Composition: Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Illinois: Scot, Foreeman, 1988.

Gleitman, Henry. Psychology. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1991 Gordon, Alan. Dreams in Wide Sargasso

Sea<http://www.postcolonialweb.org/caribbean/dominica/rhys/gordon14.html> (7 May 2005).

Guerrin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, and John R.

Willingham. A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Holman, Hugh C. and William Harmon. A Handbook to Literature. New York:

McMillan, 1986. <http://www.library.thinkquest.org/11189/nftheories.htm> Why We Dream (23

June 2005).

<http://wwww.members.tripod.com/~AtkinsonB/index.html> (7 May 2005). <http://www.qub.ac.uk/eu/imperial/carib/sargasso.htm> (7 May 2005). <http://www.rider.edu/suler/dreamman.html> (15 June 2005). Landow, George P., Jean Rhys's Political

Attitudes.<http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/post/caribbean/dominica/rhys/politics1.html> (7 May 2005).

Lewkowicz, Sherry. The Experience of Womanhood in Jane Eyre and Wide

SargassoSea<http://www.postcolonialweb.org/caribbean/dominica/rhys/lew

kowicz14.html> (7 May 2005

Leitch, Vincent B., The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2001

Murphy, M.J. Understanding Unseen: an Introduction to English Poetry and the

English Novel for Overseas Student. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1972.


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Murray, Thomas, R., Human Development Theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage

Publication Inc., 1999. Rohrberger, Marry and Samuel H. Woods. Reading and Writing About Literature.

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Winston, Inc., 1965. Ullam MD., Montague. Dreaming, Life Style and Physiology: a Comment on

Adler’s View of the Dreaming, <http://www.siivola.org/monte/papers_grouped/copyrighted/Dreams/Dreaming_Life_Style_and_Physiology.htm> (14 June 2005).

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Brace and World, 1956.


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APPENDIX

Summary of Wide Sargasso Sea

Wide Sargasso Sea is divided into three parts. The first part is told in

Antoinette’s voice as the narrator. The background is in the Jamaica in the mid-

1830s in a beautiful estate named Coulibri. After Antoinette’s father died, she

lives with her mother and her sick brother, Pierre. Antoinette is ignored by her

mother because her mother only care with Pierre.

They are socially excluded by both black and white community. This is

the time when Antoinette spends her childhood and becomes increasingly fearful

of both forest and other people. She always feels insecure and afraid to stranger.

She prefers to meet inanimate things such as rock, wood, and trees. She dislikes

having a conversation with other people. During her childhood, she has a best

friend named Tia who steals her dress and later throws a stone at her. On the night

in the same day, she has her first dream. The dream is about her walking in the

forest with some one who hats her, but she cannot know who that stranger is.

After her mother married again, Antoinette’s life gradually changes. In one hand,

they have enough money and eat English food but in another hand, when their

house is fired by the local people, Pierre dies, her mother goes mad and dies too.

After that, her steps father puts her in a dormitory school. At this place, when she

is seventeen, she has her second dream. The dream is about her walking in the

forest with a man who face is black with hatred. Her second dream is clearer than

the first one. The stranger here is a man not just someone. On that dream, she


59

wears a white dress and thin slippers. After her second dream, she starts to believe

with her dreams, that her dreams are a prophecy of life.

The next part is told in Mr. Rochester’s version as her husband. The

setting of this part is in Grabois, Dominica Island, the place where they have a

honeymoon. Her marriage life is not happy. She knows that her husband does not

love her, but she does not want to leave him. Her life is same with what her

dreams say. In her marriage life, Rochester is dominant that her, he own

Antoinette completely. That condition makes her lose her identity when her

husband stars to call her Bertha. Rochester accepts rumors and comes to believe

that Antoinette is mad like her mother. By the end of the second part, Rochester

brings her to England and puts her in the Thornfield’s attic.


Documents

THE CONTRIBUTION OF ANTOINETTE’S DREAMS TOWARD HER