A Foucautian Interpretation Of The Madness Of The Female Protagonist In Wide Sargasso Sea

Wide Sargasso Sea,the masterpiece of Jean Rhys,is considered as the prequel of the classic Jane Eyre.The tragedy of the female protagonist has been heatedly discussed.This thesis attempts to analyze the causes of the madness of the female protagonist in terms of Foucault's elaborations,intending to uncover that the patriarchal and colonial discourses aim at depriving female of voice by constructing female madness.First,by analyzing Antoinette's suppressed experiences resulted from the unequal gender relations in the patriarchal society,this thesis reveals that with the support of the patriarchal power,the patriarchal discourse is legitimized as knowledge of sanity.However,all the rebellious behavior of women,which aims at freedom but goes against the patriarchal discourse on rationality,is defined as the knowledge of madness.Antoinette's madness,in essence,is defined by the knowledge of sanity based on the patriarchal discourse.Furthermore,this thesis points out that the imperialistic and colonial discourses are legitimized by the imperialistic and colonial powers.With the operation of power system,the West Indians are defined as the “other” by the colonizer represented by the male protagonist.As the descendant of the white colonizer,Antoinette is also rejected by the local residents.She becomes the victim of the tension between colonization and anti-colonization and racism and anti-racism.As the double “other”,Antoinette bears the double oppression of patriarchal and colonial discourses,whose tragedy reflects the fate of the Creole in West India.