Would a reader of Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea miss anything essential without knowing about Jane Eyre?

Question

I read Jean Rhys's _Wide Sargasso Sea_ without ever having heard of _Jane Eyre_. I didn't see even it was a prequel to another work, because I try to avoid spoilers on the back of the book.What, if anything, would I have missed while reading _Wide Sargasso Sea_? For example, were there references to characters who are also in _Jane Eyre_? Or direct allusions to events that would happen later?In my reading, I felt the book lacked depth, and I wonder if it's because there was a whole other thread to the plot that I was completely missing.

Answer 1

“If I don’t know of the connections of “Wide Sargasso Sea” to “Jane Eyre,” do I miss anything essential?” Unfortunately, the answer to your question is: Of course.

“Wide Sargasso Sea” is the story of one of the characters central to the drama of “Jane Eyre”: Antoinette Cosway, Rochester’s mad wife. A sinister background character in “Jane Eyre,” Antoinette is the protagonist in “WSS”. Although one can read WSS without reading JE, it is because of JE that WSS has significant depth.