Browsing by Author "SHOUROUK HENNOUS"

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    Dreams and the unconsconscious in wide sargasso sea: a psychoanalytic - feminist study
    (2026) SHOUROUK HENNOUS
    The present thesis examines the role of dreams and fragmented narration in Wide Sargasso Sea from a psychoanalytic-feminist perspective. It investigates how Jean Rhys employs the unconscious as a narrative space through which female subjectivity resists patriarchal and colonial forms of oppression. While previous scholarship has predominantly focused on postcolonial and feminist interpretations of the novel, this study redirects attention towards the psychological significance of dreams as modes of unconscious expression rather than mere manifestations of madness or emotional instability. The methodology combines psychoanalytic theory, feminist narrative criticism, and close textual analysis. The study primarily draws upon Sigmund Freud’s theories of dreams, repression, and the unconscious, alongside Jacques Lacan’s concepts of the Symbolic Order, the Imaginary, and fragmented identity. This interdisciplinary framework facilitates a deeper exploration of trauma, repression, silence, and psychological resistance within the novel. Through an analysis of recurring dream sequences, fragmented narration, and symbolic imagery, including fire, mirrors, and forests, the thesis demonstrates that dreams function as alternative spaces in which suppressed fears, desires, and conflicts of identity emerge despite social and symbolic constraints. Furthermore, the study reveals that Rochester’s narrative authority and his renaming of Antoinette constitute forms of symbolic violence aimed at erasing female subjectivity. Ultimately, the thesis argues that Wide Sargasso Sea transforms the unconscious into both a psychological and political site of resistance through which a silenced female identity seeks to reclaim voice, agency, and selfhood