Postmodernism is a late 20th-century style and concept which takes a step further from modernism. In the postmodern understanding, the meanings of truth and reality cannot be fixed. The fundamental elements for postmodernism are the diversity, plurality and difference. It is like an anti-thesis that neutralize any other theory. It challenges standard norms and conventions with absurdity and inconsistency. It has a pessimistic and uncertain tone and emphasizes relativism, mysticism which creates an anxiety of the unknown; it leaves all the questions unanswered. Of course, it takes this pessimistic roots from the social and economic background of the era. The souls of people were fragmented and shattered somewhere that they cannot find. Writers of the era use several techniques to strengten the core ideas of their text; and of these tecniques is intertextuality.

          Julia Kristeva is the producer of the intertextual theory in which Saussurean theory of signs and Bakhtinian theory of polyphonic, a literary text is open to various interpretations and voices, are combined. Kristeva believes that any text is a rewriting of another text; she states it by saying that there are no texts but intertexts. She considers the text as a surface with many intersections with other surfaces from another texts. The text is a combination; there for it is the productivity itself. 

          In this essay, we will argue the concept of intertextuality in Wide Sargasso Sea by the author Jean Rhys and Jane Eyre by the author Charlotte Brontë.  Wide Sargasso Sea is written as a prequel to  Jane Eyre and narrates the backstory of the character Bertha from Jane Eyre.  Wide Sargasso Sea is a hypertext of Jane Eyre. It is written in a different era and is a kind of response to Brontë’s novel. With the response, Rhys emphasizes the omission and corrects the exploitative context. Jane Rhys writes the story of Bertha’s life as she is not satisfied with the ending of Jane Eyre. Rhys enhances the common elements in both novels such as dreams, the gothic style and irony through the characters Bertha and Antoniette. 

         To begin with, the character Bertha, the first wife of Mr. Rochester, is a character from Jane Eyre and is a minor character. Although the background of Antoniette is narrated in Wide Sargasso Sea, it is important to keep in mind that some characters call Antoniette Bertha. Here, the postmodern device intertexuality paves the way to uncover the meanings in the text. Yes, this is the character Bertha from Jane Eyre.  Just like Jane of Brontë, Rhys takes the character of Bertha from Jane Eyre and narrates her life story with another name. She begins to narrate the story of Bertha just like Jane Eyre -from childhood to maturity.  This genre is called Bildungsroman. Rhys narrates the life story of Antoniette from the childhood and emphasizes her rejection by other people. Antoniette is an ignored child and is devoid of love; but, the end of the story is different. Jane gets stronger in time but Antoniette is very weak in the end. Rhys challenges the conventions and make Antoniette defeated by the problem in her life unlike Jane. She lives isolated hopelessly with her cultural identity and is not matured in time. Therefore, Wide Sea Sargasso cannot be called a Bildungsroman like Jane Eyre. The norms are shaken and the meanings are scattered. The character in such a condition makes the reader think in a new and different way. It seems absurd to the reader. Although in Jane Eyre Bertha gains her freedom by committing suicide, she cannot gain anything but lose her sanity. 

         Another common element in connecting both characters is dreams. We all know that dreams reveal our future hopes and repressed feelings and desires. The dreams reveal the suppressed feelings, fears, desires of the two characters. We get the chance to know their unconscious mind and understand them better. By using the dream concept, Rhye preserves the main structure of the novel and enhances it in her own way. The difference is that Rhys does not reveal Antoinette’s fate by a dream but leaves it open. She remains as innocent unlike violent in Jane Eyre and only dreams of doing such a violent thing. 

         In addition, Gothicism creates a mysterious atmosphere for both characters. Gothic genre was famous in 19th century when jane Eyre was written. In Jane Eyre, Brontë uses a ghost and supernatural events to create a spooky atmosphere with the dark, gloomy setting Thornfield. By not giving so much detail about Rochester’s marriage to Bertha, Brontë leaves some mystery to the reader. Rhys borrows also this element for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea. The novel is full of supernatural and magical Caribbean beliefs, such as the love poison that Antoniette wants. Both of the protagonist’s’ mother suffer from madness; and, the worries  and fears they suffer from also create a very gloomy atmosphere.  

         Moreover, in Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys has references from the events, feelings, experiences and locations from her own life story and reflects it with Antoniette, which is called structural irony. She wants to tell the reader that being an outcast is a very difficult experience. She creates another ironical tone with situational irony by developing unexpected experiences. To give an example, Antoinette’s love potion makes Rochester ironically betray her.

         As a conclusion, we have stated the intertextual elements in the novels Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea . The intertextual elements are the subjects of the two novels, the concept of dream, gothic atmosphere and irony. Rhys writes Wide Sargasso Sea as a response to Jane Eyre by uncovering the story of Bertha and giving her a voice. The author sheds light on the unspoken with borrowing several aspects from Jane Eyre to create such an atmosphere. The use of these aspects are crucial to the postmodern characteristic and make reader think. In the end, we accept Kristeva’s theory that there is no originality in literature that there are no texts but intertexts.