Filling in the gaps : giving secondary female characters a feminist voice

Abstract

This dissertation discusses the use of intertextuality as a tool for revisionism to allow characters a feminist voice. The aim is to show how the rewriting of these characters helps alter readers’ perception of what the characters represent and allows them to approach the canonical novel in a more critical way. The first chapter will consider the evolution of intertextuality up to the point of revisionism, showing how the discussion of intertextuality moves away from a misogynistic point of view into a more feminist space. A close analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë in relation to the character of Bertha Mason will then be undertaken in the second chapter in order to illustrate how intertextuality is used to rehumanize the character with emphasis on her postcolonial background and lack of voice. The same will be done in the third chapter where Havisham by Ronald Frame and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens will be analysed in terms of Miss Havisham, focusing on her sexuality and her role as a mother. Drawing upon this, one is able to see the internalised misogyny inherent in the literary canon which has helped to frame society’s attitudes towards women throughout history, and understand how revisionism works to counteract this effect.