Narrating Women’s Mental Suffering in the Novels Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Their Respective Film and TV Adaptations in Postcolonial and Psychoanalytic Context

Abstract

In Jane Eyre, set against the backdrop of Victorian England, Charlotte Brontë weaves a tale of personal struggle, independence, and moral integrity, while subtly engaging with the colonial attitudes of her time. Conversely, Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, written in the mid-20th century, serves as a prequel to Jane Eyre and reimagines the story from the perspective of Bertha Mason, the “madwoman in the attic,” offering a powerful critique of colonialism and its devastating effects on identity and mental health. By applying postcolonial and psychoanalytic frameworks, the research aims to explore the ways in which these characters’ experiences of mental suffering are shaped by their environment and the socio-political structures that govern their lives in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea...En la novela Jane Eyre, ambientada en el entorno de Inglaterra victoriana, Charlotte Brontë entrelaza una historia de lucha personal, independencia e integridad moral, mientras aborda sutilmente actitudes de su época colonial. En contraste, Ancho mar de los Sargazos de Jean Rhys, escrito a mediados del siglo XX, sirve como precuela de Jane Eyre y reimagina la historia desde perspectiva de Bertha Mason, “loca del ático”, ofreciendo poderosa crítica del colonialismo y sus efectos devastadores sobre identidad y salud mental. Aplicando marcos poscoloniales y psicoanalíticos, la investigación tiene como objetivo explorar formas en que experiencias de sufrimiento mental de estos personajes están moldeadas por el entorno y estructuras sociopolíticas que gobiernan sus vidas en las dos novelas de Brontë y Rhys...