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’.