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Wide Sargasso Sea
First edition cover
First edition cover
Author Jean Rhys
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Postmodern Novel
Publisher Deutsch (UK) & W. W. Norton (USA)
Publication date October 1966
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 192 pp
ISBN ISBN 0-233-95866-5

Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1966 postcolonial parallel novel by Dominica-born author Jean Rhys. Jean Rhys ( August 24, 1890 - May 14, 1979) born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a mid 20th century Dominican The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain tendencies in post- World War II literature Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view W W Norton & Company is an American book publishing company that has remained independent since its founding A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a Book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with Cloth Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. The year 1966 in literature involved some significant events and new books Post-colonial literature (or "Postcolonial literature" sometimes called "New English literature(s" is a body of literary writings that reacts to the discourse A parallel novel is a work of Fiction that exists within or derives from the framework of another work of fiction by another Author. The Commonwealth of Dominica, commonly known as Dominica, is an Island nation in the Caribbean Sea. Jean Rhys ( August 24, 1890 - May 14, 1979) born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a mid 20th century Dominican After many years of living in obscurity since her last work, Good Morning, Midnight, was published in 1939, Wide Sargasso Sea put Rhys into the limelight once more and became her most successful novel. Good Morning Midnight is a 1939 modernist novel by author Jean Rhys.

The novel acts as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's famous 1847 novel Jane Eyre. A prequel is a work that portrays events and/or aspects of a previously completed narrative but is set prior to the existing narrative Charlotte Brontë (ˈbrɒnti (21 April 1816 &ndash 31 March 1855 was a British Novelist, the eldest of the three famous Brontë sisters whose Novels Jane Eyre (dʒeɪn ɛə by Charlotte Brontë, published by Smith Elder & Company of London in 1847, is one of the most influential and It is the story of the first Mrs. Rochester, Antoinette (Bertha) Mason, a white Creole heiress, from the time of her youth in the Caribbean to her unhappy marriage and relocation to England. For the languages see Creole language. For other meanings see Creole (disambiguation. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Caught in an oppressive patriarchal society in which she belongs neither to the white Europeans nor the black Jamaicans, Rhys' novel re-imagines Brontë's devilish madwoman in the attic. Jamaica (ˈdʒəˈmeɪkə} is an Island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. As with many postcolonial works, the novel deals largely with the themes of racial inequality and the harshness of displacement and assimilation.

Contents

Plot introduction

The opening of the novel is set a short while after the 1834 emancipation of the slaves in British-owned Jamaica. Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Jamaica (ˈdʒəˈmeɪkə} is an Island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. The protagonist Antoinette conveys the story of her life from childhood to her arranged marriage to an unnamed Englishman (implied as Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre). As the novel and their relationship progress, Antoinette, whom he renames Bertha, descends into madness.

The novel is split into three parts. Part One takes place in Coulibri, Jamaica and is narrated by Antoinette. Describing her childhood experience, she includes several facets of her life, such as her mother's mental instability and her learning disabled brother's tragic death.

Part Two is from the point of view of her husband following their marriage and is set in Granbois, Dominica. The Commonwealth of Dominica, commonly known as Dominica, is an Island nation in the Caribbean Sea. One of the likely catalysts for Antoinette's downfall is the suspicion with which they both begin to view each other, fuelled by the machinations of a relative of Antoinette's, Daniel Cosway (Boyd). Antoinette's old nurse Christophine's constant mistrust of the husband and Rochester's unwavering belief in Boyd further aggravates the situation. This increased sense of paranoia tinged with the disappointment of their failing marriage unbalances Antoinette's already precarious mental state.

The shortest part, Part Three, is once again from the perspective of Antoinette, now known as Bertha, as she lives in the Rochester mansion, which she calls the "Great House". It traces her relationship with Grace, the servant who is tasked with 'guarding' her in England. Narrating in a stream of consciousness Bertha decides to take her own life as she believes it to be her destiny.

Comparison to Jane Eyre

The most striking difference between the two novels is that Wide Sargasso Sea transforms Rochester's first wife from Bertha Mason, the infamous "madwoman in the attic," to the lively yet vulnerable Antoinette Cosway. She is no longer a cliché or a "foreign," possibly "half-caste" lunatic, but a real woman with her own hopes, fears, and desires. Wide Sargasso Sea tells her side of the story as well as Rochester's, detailing how she ended up alone and raving in the attic of Thornfield Hall. It gives a voice not only to her, but to the black people in the West Indies whom Rochester regards with such loathing.

The characters of Jane Eyre and Antoinette are very similar. They are both independent, vivacious, imaginative young women with troubled childhoods, educated in religious establishments and looked down on by the upper classes - and, of course, they both marry Mr Rochester. However, Antoinette is more rebellious than Jane and less mentally stable, possibly because she has had to live through even more distressing circumstances. She displays a deep vein of morbidity verging on a death-wish (making her more similar perhaps to the character of Helen from Jane Eyre) and is not so overtly Christian as Jane.

There are several differences between the chronology of Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, most notably Antoinette's age. The "Bertha" Jane sees at Thornfield Hall is middle-aged; Antoinette in Rhys' novel is about five to ten years younger. Wide Sargasso Sea is also set much later than the events of Jane Eyre. In Brontë's novel, Jane receives a book published in 1805. Wide Sargasso Sea is set after the abolition of slavery, placing it roughly around 1836 - nearly three decades later.

Major themes

Wide Sargasso Sea is usually taught as a postmodern and postcolonial response to Jane Eyre. The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain tendencies in post- World War II literature Post-colonial literature (or "Postcolonial literature" sometimes called "New English literature(s" is a body of literary writings that reacts to the discourse [1][2] Rhys uses multiple voices (Antoinette's and her husband's) to tell the story, and deeply intertwines her novel's plot with that of Jane Eyre. In addition, Rhys makes a postcolonial argument when she ties Antoinette's husband's eventual rejection of Antoinette to her Creole heritage (a large factor in Antoinette's descent into madness). For the languages see Creole language. For other meanings see Creole (disambiguation. As postmodern and postcolonial literature have taken a greater place in university curricula, the novel has been taught to literature students more often in recent years.

Feminist criticism would view the world in which Antoinette lives as a patriarchal society, with the convent where she is sent by her Aunt Cora representing a matriarchal bubble within this patriarchal world. Her descent into madness and eventual death (although the latter is not shown in the novel) can be seen as her spirit being crushed by the oppressive male world around her as her husband removes her identity. Her name, Antoinette Cosway, a symbol of her selfhood, is gradually taken from her: when her mother remarries she becomes Antoinette Mason, when she herself marries she becomes Antoinette Rochester and finally her husband insists on calling her Bertha.

Awards and nominations

Adaptations

References

  1. ^ Wide Sargasso Sea at The Penguin Readers' Group Website
  2. ^ The Empire Writes Back: Jane Eyre
  3. ^ Time Magazine list of All-Time 100 Novels

External links

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