An Interpretation Of Antoinette’s Neurotic Personality And Its Transformation In Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys, a white Creole born in Dominica, is considered as one of the most prominent female writers after Virginia Woolf. Her representative work Wide Sargasso Sea, which was published in 1966, was regarded as a prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, establishing her position in the literary arena. Based on the profound study on Jane Eyre, Jean Rhys wrote this novel Wide Sargasso Sea to express her sympathy to Bertha(referring to Antoinette in Wide Sargasso Sea), the madwoman in the attic and gave her a complete life. With the great success of Wide Sargasso Sea, in 1966 Jean Rhys won the Royal Society of Literature Award and in 1967 the prestigious W. H. Smith Literary Award, and was accepted as a member of the Royal Society of Literature.This thesis employs Karen Horney’s Neurotic Theory to interpret the signs and causes of the heroine Antoinette’s neurotic personality in Wide Sargasso Sea, as well as her transformation of realizing real self after shaking off the neurotic personality, thus revealing the process in which the creole female, ruled by colonists, awakens in oppression and then revolts after awakening. The thesis consists of four chapters apart from introduction and conclusion. In the introduction part, the thesis presents the life and works of Jean Rhys and focuses on the major content of Wide Sargasso Sea; it also summarizes the literature review both at home and abroad, accordingly, to indicate the central argument and innovation of this thesis. Chapter One is the theoretical basis, where the development and connotation of Karen Horney’s neurotic theory are expounded. Briefly summarizes Horney’s important neurosis theoretic views from the aspects of “basic anxiety” “defensive strategy” and “self-construction” and dissects Antoinette’s neurotic personality and its transformation from the above three aspects. Chapter Two analyzes the signs and causes of Antoinette’s neurotic anxiety. Social and cultural environment and interpersonal environment result in the formation of Antoinette’s neurotic anxiety which is specifically reflected in the helplessness when alienated by aboriginal West Indians and suzerain white people and the desperation when involved in loveless marriage. Chapter Three expounds Antoinette’s interpersonal defensive strategies and intrapsychic defensive strategies against neurotic anxiety. As for interpersonal defensive strategies, Antoinette stays away from people for the fear of others’ discrimination; thus moving towards black people for the sense of security. For intrapsychic defensive strategies, Antoinette, in the course of seeking protection, gets rid of the paranoid desire for suzerain white identity, retakes her creole name and restores Creole racial consciousness. Chapter Four explores the transformation of Antoinette’s neurotic personality in the process of self-construction. As a Creole female, she completes the social status construction; as a wife and daughter, she finishes the family identity construction. Antoinette, who resists against the patriarchal society in the form of madness, burns the Thornfield which symbolizes the British patriarchal society, realising her pursuit for freedom and then realizes her real self. The Conclusion, the last part, is the overview and summary of this thesis. Antoinette, living in the 19 th century in British colony, suffering from neurotic anxiety, doesn’t compromise and go drift, but pursues her own identity bravely, and then gets rid of the control of suzerain patriarchy and the oppression from colonial culture, ultimately realizing the transformation of neurotic personality, the real self and knowing that neurotic personality can be resisted only by realising the real self.