An Interpretation Of Wide Sargasso Sea From The Perspective Of Gaze Theory

Jane Rhys is one of the most famous writers in the twentieth century.Her masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea is her most successful work.Since its publication,the novel has received extensive attention of scholars at home and abroad.Jane Rhys is born in the West Indies.In the process of her growth,she is affected by the Anglo-French dual culture,spending a lifetime to find her own belonging.Jane Rhys has the same experience with her characters.Jean Rhys overturns the story of the mad woman Bertha in Jane Eyre,letting the sheer suffering and trauma known to people.The studies on Wide Sargasso Sea mainly focus on comparing the two novels,Jean Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea,feminism,identity construction and post-colonialism.The thesis uses gaze theory to analyze Wide Sargasso Sea.Gaze is a way of looking carrying power or desire.Through gazing,the gazer has the power to dominate the person who is being gazed;the gazee realizes the power pressure that is brought about by the gazer,and then the gazee can internalize and absorb the value of the gazer.Lacan believes that gaze plays a very important role in the construction of self-identity.Foucault focuses on the power to penetrate the way of gazing.Based on Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan's gaze theory,the thesis aims to explore the dissolution and reconstruction of Antoinette's subjectivity and rebuild identity under the gaze of power.Firstly,the thesis explores others' gaze on Antoinette.Under the gaze of Rochester,Mr.Mason,and Daniel Cosway,Antoinette feels the pressure of patriarchy;under the gaze of Tia,Amelie,and Grace Poole,Antoinette realizes the pressure of the racial discrimination.Under the gaze of these people,Antoinette feels so burdened that she spontaneously examines herself according to the gazers' judgment and their value,and doubts her identity.Secondly,this thesis explores Antoinette's role as gazer to gaze at others.Through gazing men including Rochester and Mr.Mason,Antoinette realizes that male superiority is a kind of illusion.By gazing at Christophine,Tia,Annette and Aunt Cora,Antoinette has a deeper understanding of the role of women.At the same time,Antoinette also has a further understanding of herself.She redefines her identity and finds the belonging.Finally,according to the analysis of the two parts,the thesis shows the contest of visual power between Antoinette and others.In the contest of visual power,Antoinette has experienced three stages.Initially,Antoinette tries to escape the gaze of others,but it is futile.Facing the unavoidable gaze,Antoinette succumbs to the control of gazer,and brings about the dissolution of subjectivity.To resist the gazing power,Antoinette gazes at other people so that she can be free from the pressure,and builds the subjectivity of herself.From escaping gazes to resisting gazes,in the visual contest Antoinette gradually occupies the initiative.The above analysis shows that everybody is under the gaze of others,the identity of gazer and gazee are not fixed.Gaze of others will eliminate Antoinette of her subjectivity,and makes her doubt her own identity.Staring at people helps Antoinette construct subjectivity and identity.With the power of Antoinette,Jane Rhys not only shows the gazing power of discipline,but also explores the oppression and obstacles of women in the process of searching for self-identity.More importantly,women can take advantage of the power of gaze to resist the oppression of the patriarchal society.Finally,Antoinette is free from the bondage of the patriarchy and achieves women's liberation.