Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre: Read Together or Alone

While doing a presentation comparing the symbolism in Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre, there was one quote from the article that became a strong discussion point for the majority of the students: “The novels must be read together in order to fully appreciate how they complement each other, and how each is also a novel in its own right, with distinct character and plot.” A lot of people disagreed about whether or not you would necessarily need to read one in order to read the other. Some people thought that Wide Sargasso Sea works well on its own, while others thought that you need to read Jane Eyre before in order to get a deeper understanding for other characters such as Rochester. 

Personally, since I read Jane Eyre before Wide Sargasso Sea, I think that it if you are only reading Wide Sargasso Sea, you wouldn’t need to read Jane Eyre because it easily stands alone as a good book. However, when reading Jane Eyre, the reader doesn’t meet Bertha Mason/Antoinette Cosway almost until the end of the novel. She is such a mysterious character, and we hardly get to meet her, that it makes the reader want to know more about her and know what made her become the way she did.