![]() There is of course much more, including the section on Antoinette’s relationship with Grace Poole. Meanwhile the substance of Bronte’s story runs parallel with Bertha’s fate. In due course she accompanies Mason to England, now with the name Bertha, to be isolated in the attic of Thornfield Hall – ‘the great house’ as Antoinette refers to it. Antoinette Cosway, as she becomes in Rhys’ book, is trapped into marriage with an English gentleman, who is to treat her with great cruelty, while indulging himself in unbridled licentiousness. From her position as a Creole heiress fallen on hard times, we trace her life, significantly through many of her own words. What we have is Rhys’ take on the circumstances of the ‘mad woman in the attic’. ![]() ![]() It is a kind of prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s novel. In this respect it is very much in line with the politically correct, wokism cultural values that have been so aggressively canvassed over recent years. Although the author gives the impression that the novel sprung from simple feelings of sympathy for Bertha as she is presented in ‘Jane Eyre’, the actuality is a novel that is strongly feminist and vehemently anti-colonialist. Jean Rhys had experienced little success as a novelist until the publication of this book, which was to catapult her to the front line of English novelists and was to remain the most widely read of her novels.
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