8-14

When Rochester touches the rose 'the petals dropped', Rhys uses this as a symbol for the destruction of nature, purity, and ultimately, innocence. The Rose offers a symbol for Antoinette, she is wild compared to Rochester's Upper-Class English sensibilities and arguably part of nature; it is nature that Antoinette feels comfort in, nature provides the mother care that Antoinette's biological mother failed to provide; while Annette 'pushed her away', Antoinette is welcomed by the nature surrounding the Caribbean islands. When Rochester destroys the rose he is also destroying nature, this foreshadowing his destruction of Antoinette. The idea that 'the petals dropped' expresses the delicate nature of the rose, and with this the delicate nature of Antoinette. However, unlike the rose, Antoinette is not delicate physically but mentally; her mental capacity is on the verge of collapse like her mother. Just as Rochester easily destroys the rose, he can easily destroy Antoinette through rejection; Rochester is the symbol of male dominance and destruction, like Annette, Antoinette is doomed by the dominance of man tied through marriage. Rochester is the parallel of Mason with Anette.

Rhys uses features of the landscape to symbolise Antoinette; Rochester describes seeing a ravine hidden within the islands precipitous landscape, "one side the wall of green, on the other a steep drop below", this illustrates the idea that, although Antoinette on the surface seems beautiful, natural and ultimately 'sane'. Yet, like the steep drop that lies behind the 'wall of green', Antoinette has the darkness of insanity suppressed under her cover of sanity and beauty. Rhys continues the threatening association with nature with "those hills will close in on you", "an extreme green" - this resonates the idea that lunacy is inherited, and so natural, to Antoinette. The hills close in on Rochester as lunacy closes in on Antoinette's sanity. Furthermore, the language Rochester uses in association to nature is almost always negative, Rhys uses this to portray Rochester's inability to accept both Antoinette's culture and her home 'too much purple, extreme green'; Rochester is made uncomfortable by the islands inability to be tamed, also Antoinette's wild nature ('throwing like a boy') as it represents a threat to Rochester's male dominance- (highlights the divide between the two even further).

Antoinette's 'uncertain mind' is highlighted in doubts as to whether 'poisonous snakes' inhabit the island, repeatedly changing her mind as to whether they do or not, Antoinette's fragmented mind means she is unable to string concise sentences together. She is obviously conscious of her depleting mentality as she expresses this doubt to Rochester 'Afraid of what? Everything. Nothing. I'm afraid of what might happen" 'what might happen' is Antoinette losing her mind, falling into insanity as did her mother.

Daniel Cosway informs Rochester through a letter of the families inherited insanity, as well as illustrating the Cosway's somewhat, corrupt, past involving slavery and promiscuousness, adultery.

Antoinette becomes utterly dependant on Rochester; Rochester is the only figure in Antoinette's life that has shown her any type of intimate affection, naturally, she must cling on to this as her mother's rejection has left her insecure about her ability to 'love' or be 'loved'. For Antoinette, the sex Rochester gives her each death equates to love, she believes that she loves Rochester and vice versa, thus becomes  dependant on him as a source of protection, security, he tells her she is 'safe'; for Antoinette this represents the first time she has ever actually been 'safe' in her life. Unfortunately, for Rochester sex equates for nothing but pleasure and does not feel the same affection for Antoinette as she to him, from this point Antoinette is doomed. Rochester will eventually break from Antoinette as he will grow bored of her pleasure, as Antoinette is dependant on him this will force her into lunacy; repressed feeling of rejection from her mother, father and society will flood her mind, Antoinette will become 'Bertha'.

Ben Allen

Wide Sargasso Sea, Part Two 1-7.

The opening lines of part two are now narrated by, whom we assume to be Rochester from ‘Jane Eyre’, and are undoubtedly pessimistic; the list-like language that the speaker uses, each point separated by a short pause, creates a slow rhythm that mimics the feeling of dread that, evidently, Rochester feels: ‘So it was all over, the advance and the retreat, the doubts and hesitations.’ The language that the speaker uses emphasizes the end of a life rather than a ‘new beginning’ that a wedding symbolises; Rochester views the imminent life with Antoinette as doomed rather than hopeful. The speaker references the wedding ceremony ‘for better or for worse’, yet, due to the underlining pessimism in the language used previously, the reference is read in a satirical tone- emphasizing the negative ‘for worse’.

Rhys uses pathetic fallacy to emphasize the feeling of dread, the narrator describes finding ‘shelter’ under ‘heavy rain’; however, the rain could also symbolise the release of emotions that would normally be associated with a marriage, the release of tears and joy; the pair shelter under it as their marriage is utterly emotionless.

Amelie is laughing at Rochester because she recognises the corrupt nature and sense of ‘doom’ that surrounds their loveless marriage; she urges that the pair ‘be very happy’ sarcastically, since it is obvious that the pair have no emotional connection to each other. Rochester recognises that Amelie can see through his charade, he blames it on his recent ‘fever’ and attempts to persuade himself that he ‘is not [himself] yet’. Yet, it is Rochester’s own inability to love Antoinette coupled with his ‘doubts and hesitations’ that make the marriage doomed.

Antoinette speaks to Rochester ‘anxiously’; this could symbolise Antoinette’s eagerness to please Rochester, we could argue that since her mother’s rejection, she is determined to make the marriage with Rochester work, she cannot face another rejection, simply yearning for love and protection.  So, although it may be clear that Rochester has no emotional attachment to her, Antoinette conforms to the role of ‘the caring wife’ in an attempt to please him and form some kind of emotional bond, an attraction. Alternatively, this could also symbolise Antoinette being submissive to Rochester; although Antoinette matches Rochester in structure she is undoubtedly below him in status; she feels the need to please him, illustrating the dominance that Rochester has over her, simply because he is male.

Rochester reluctance to accept Antoinette’s culture is shown in the negative language he uses to describe the tropical island and its inhabitants; he describes the sea as ‘creeping stealithy’ upon him, as if he feels threatened by the islands inability to be tamed- after all Rochester grew up in the civilised upper-class English society, so naturally feels threatened by an island that seems ‘wild’ to him. Furthermore, he sees the colourful nature of the Jamaican people as ‘gaudy’ rather than positively ‘vibrant’; his refusal to enter the house of the island native shows his reluctance to socialise and accept the culture that surrounds him, he would rather be soaked by the rain than enter the ‘hut’ owned by an individual who would probably be his slave back in England. Interestingly, his use of the word ‘hut’ rather than ‘home’ to describe the woman’s residence could also show Rochester’s distance from the culture that seems so ‘Alien’ to him, ‘they are not English, or European either’.

In this section it is easy to feel empathy for Rochester as the ‘outsider’; we could argue that he is neglected of having a voice in Antoinette’s culture in his inability to understand the social norms of the culture so alien to him. Furthermore, he cannot even understand his company’s conversations; they speak in a ‘French patois’, which divides him from the community further. Rochester illustrates his distress himself describing how (the rain soaking him) ‘added to my feeling of discomfort and melancholy’.

Wide Sargasso Sea Q’s

The burning of Coulibri foreshadows the fire at the end of the novel, both Antoinette’s dream of burning the house, and the fire that destroys Thornfield in Jane Eyre. However, we could also argue that the burning of Coulibri symbolises the ‘burning passion’ that inherits Antoinette’s character, Antoinette holds a passion inside her that captivity cannot extinguish; she is both fiery in temperament but also in her overt sexuality. The ‘red dress’ that she adores later in the novel is a symbol of her sexual nature ‘I looked at the red dress on the floor and is was as if the fire had spread across the room’; Rochester detests and finds Antoinette ugly when wearing the red dress as it emphases her sexual nature, something that Rochester Is afraid of. Yet, Rochester is sexually aroused when he sees Antoinette in her white dress, because white traditionally symbolises the purity and chastity in a woman, the ‘virginal bride’. Rochester is attracted to her here because, unlike the overt sexuality presented in the white dress, the virginal bride is a symbol Rochester is able to relate to, coming from an upper class, English, family. The burning of Coulibri is also a physical portrait of the ‘fire’ destroying the workings of Antoinette’s mind, driving her to lunacy, insanity.

‘We stared at each other, blood on my face, tears on hers. It was as if I saw myself’. Antoinette is searching for an Identity because her family, particularly her mother, has rejected her. Psychoanalytically, we can argue that Antoinette has begun projecting her perception of herself onto the faces of others in an attempt to see if she will become accepted by them. We could also argue that, in Antoinette seeing herself in Tia, she is actually idolizing Tia, and the black community as a generalization; Antoinette realises that, although the Black people are in poverty, they are living a life free of patriarchal oppression ‘there is never a wedding’. Antoinette recognizes the destruction caused through marriage; Mason, metaphorically, ‘clipped’ the wings of Annette and refused her right to freedom, which caused her lunacy.   

 

On waking up, from the burning of Coulibri, we learn that Antoinette has been unconscious for the majority of six weeks after becoming sick; presumably the house burning down has caused her to break down physically. It is notable that after this the narration becomes particularly fragmented; Antoinette repeatedly skips large fragments of time and key information begins to be given to the reader in a casual form: ‘she died last year, no one told me how’; the informal delivery of this information symbolises how Antoinette has become numb emotionally, foreshadowing her  lunacy. Also, the cold delivery of this information rejects any form of empathy from Antoinette, it is clear that the emotional bond between Mother and Daughter has been severed. This kind of fragmented, reported narrations reflects on Antoinette’s diminishing mind; as he mental capacity weakens, as does her ability to tell the story; this is why Rochester is given the narrative voice in the second part of the novel.

On leaving Aunt Cora’s house Antoinette becomes subject to bullying from a young black girl and an albino black boy; this again reflects on how Antoinette has become marginalised by not only the upper class whites, but the black community also. She is seen as the ‘other’ even by an albino black (we would assume he would be marginalised to some extent from the superstitious black community). Furthermore, this event symbolises the danger that lies outside for Antoinette; the outside world, for Antoinette, is filled with hate and prejudice.

The act of the nun washing Antoinette’s wounds is symbolic of cleansing; the cleansing of her wounds is a biblical reference to Jesus washing the feet, and the act of cleansing the subject itself is supposed to rid the subject of their sins, or wounds suffered through acts of hatred and prejudice. In this instance the Nun cleanses Antoinette’s wounds in an attempt to heal some of the psychological wounds created through the rejection of Antoinette’s mother, by taking up a motherly role.  It is important that the role that Jesus played has been replaced by a Nun; it represents how Antoinette feels safe within the confines of a matriarchal environment, the convent. The outside world represents danger, as it is a male dominated patriarchal society, Antoinette is susceptible to the dangers of the patriarchal world; being poor, the only way she can achieve financial comfort is through marriage. The convent represents an escape from this, a relief, ‘the convent is my refuge’.

At the end of part one, Antoinette has the recurring dream of being chased through the forest by ‘someone who hates’ her; it is significant that Rhys structures the dream at this point in the novel, as it represents the dangers Antoinette faces in leaving the safety of the convent, the matriarchal society that protected her for a short while will be replaced by the dangers of the outside world, the patriarchal world. Furthermore, the dream foreshadows the imminent arrival of Rochester; we would assume that the person with her in the dream is Rochester.

If we were to give a psychoanalytical reading of the dream, we can see, in comparison to the first dream, that here Antoinette is following the mysterious figure instead of being chased by him; we could argue that this is a physical demonstration of how Antoinette begins to become submissive to Rochester later in the novel. Instead of embracing the passion that Antoinette embodies, eventually Antoinette becomes subverted to Rochester in an attempt to reconcile his love for her. The idea that she is ‘following him’ could be seen as an attempt for her to win him back. Alternatively, we could read it as Rochester leading the relationship, embracing the dominant male role and leading her towards entrapment. The dress that Antoinette wears is obviously a wedding gown ‘white and beautiful’; this foreshadows the wedding to Rochester later in the novel and, again, shows Antoinette becoming submissive and abandoning her liberates female state.  Furthermore, within Antoinette’s dream it states how ‘the tree threw’ her; this contrasts to how Antoinette previously found protection in nature, however, nature is now rejecting Antoinette. She is a complete outsider, isolated by nature and humanity.