Wide Sargasso Sea

Truth can lie between two different realities.

In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester’s plans to marry Jane are frustrated by the revelation that the long-suffering man is already married and in fact, his mad wife is locked in the attic. But what is her story? And if she is ‘mad’, how did she get that way?

The wife is Antoinette Bertha Mason Rochester, nee Cosway; she prefers Antoinette. Rhys is masterful showing the descent of Antionette’s life and mind as well as the gradual rise of Rochester’s contempt and control of her. The evolution of Antoinette’s voice from clarity to ‘madness’ is exquisite and sad.

Like Rhys herself, Antoinette is of Creole descent. We meet her growing up in Dominica with her widowed mother and disabled brother. From the beginning, Antoinette is unsure of who she is. As white Creoles, they are rejected by both the English and the Blacks, who call them “white cockroaches.” As women, they lack status or agency. After the Emancipation Act frees the slaves, Antoinette’s slaveholding family, once wealthy, becomes destitute.

Antoinette’s mother pursues the only option she believes is open to her, and marries a rich white carpetbagger, Mr. Mason. Mason decides to replace the family’s remaining servants with Eastern coolie workers. The staff overhears, however, and they set fire to the home, Coulibri, resulting in the death of Antoinette’s brother and leading to her mother’s emotional devastation.

Mr. Mason abandons his mad wife to abusive caretakers and sends Antoinette to convent school. It is his responsibility to identify a husband for her, howe

ver, and he does. It’s an unnamed English gentleman, though readers of Jane Eyre will recognize him as Mr. Rochester.

As a second son, Rochester needs the money bequeathed to Antoinette by her stepfather. They wed, and at first the match seems successful. Rochester breaks down Antoinette’s reserve through affection and physical passion. Antoinette responds, opening herself to experience a happiness her childhood had trained her to never expect.

Yet Rochester has a nagging distrust of his exotic Creole wife, and antipathy for Dominica.

Geography becomes a proxy for the perceptions and misperceptions of the spouses. Neither view the home of the other as “real.” Antoinette sees England as cold and dark; in her eyes Dominica is lush, beautiful and fragrant. Rochester views the technicolor Dominica as ominous and threatening, as if he were about to be devoured by a giant Venus flytrap.

And then there is the Sargasso Sea, a dead-calm oceanic mire that Dominica borders upon. For Antoinette, it’s a metaphor for her deepest fears. For Rochester, it is a physical barrier between himself and his beloved England.

Rochester receives a letter received from a man who may or may not be Antoinette’s brother by her father and one of his slaves. The letter warns Rochester he was tricked into marrying a degenerate girl with a family history of madness. These allegations prey on Rochester’s insecurities and cause him to abruptly reject Antoinette. Her fragile sense of identity shaken and desperate to win back her husband’s affection, Antoinette resorts to means which unintentionally goad Rochester into acting on his worst impulses. The rift between them devolves into a chasm leading to her own undoing.

Rochester drags his broken wife to cold and dark England, where he confines her to the attic, under the care of servants paid for their discretion.

The Wide Sargasso Sea is a stunning work of understanding and empathy for all characters in this book – and the next.

This is one of my all-time favorite novellas. It feels like a book ahead of its time, considering how it challenges paternalistic structures and shifts modern perspectives on a classic literary work. Bronte certainly pushed the envelope in Jane Eyre by creating a heroine who bucked traditional feminine ideals, but Rhys takes it one, large step further. Bertha is no longer the beastly villain. Rather, Rhys humanizes her and fleshes out her backstory, and we as readers come to appreciate the complex powers at play in Antoinette's life--colonialism, racism, sexism, spirituality, psychology... Antoinette defies categorization, and so she is stripped of her individuality, dehumanized, and reshaped into a more palatable (read: submissive) woman. This is an important book for women worldwide, and I share it with all my friends. Such an enduring masterpiece!

This novels got commentary on racial issues, cheating in relationships, power, and culture. Decent read, but some of the translated material is difficult to understand at times.

** may contain some spoilers**

I really enjoyed the idea of this book, being a big fan of Jane eyre. I think my biggest frustration was that the beginning portion of the book was told from berthas point of view, but the portion in which she actually became crazy switched to Mr Rochesters point of view. Because of this, the book does not directly answer the question as to whether Bertha was crazy in and of herself or whether it was a result of her marriage. Although this was really frustrating it did seem in touch with how Jane eyre itself was written which made it forgiveable to me, if still frustrating.

All in all a good read and definitely a must for anyone who likes Jane eyre.

Was hard to read for me. I couldn't get a rhythm on the style of speaking and writing. So many characters were introduced at once so I couldn't keep them straight

(Warning for spoilers)

When we finished reading Jane Eyre in my British Literature class, and my teacher told us one of our final project options would be this book right here, I was sooo excited. Bertha was by far the most interesting character of the whole book for me, even though I liked Jane herself too. I liked imagining what drove Bertha to be this way, what her life must have been like before Mr. Rochester, etc. etc. and so when I found out this book existed I wasted no time in buying it because I was so sure I would love it.

Well, that was a big disappointment.

A lot of the other negative reviews on this website have already mentioned my technical problems with it: the sudden emotions for no apparent reason, the high description of nature but not-as-much description of why a character feels a certain way, the sudden change in POV with no real warning (especially during Part Two where it's Mr. Rochester for 99% but then it's Antoinette again for WHATEVER REASON).

And, the awkward grammar. Oh my gosh the awkward grammar. I understand that newly-freed slaves would probably speak the way they do speak in this book but outside of the newly-freed slaves the grammar of the whole book can sometimes get confusing. There were times when commas were skipped when they should have been there, and there are a lot of times where I had to re-read a sentence like three times to understand what the heck Jean is trying to say.

And yes all of that is bad, but what is worse than the technical problems, at least to me, is Antoinette herself. SHE'S A RACIST. She pretends to 'like black people' but she calls her supposed black 'friend' Tia a cheating N word, and then thinks she can just waltz up to Tia after that and be her friend again. NAH SON. YOU CALLED HER THE N WORD. THAT'S NOT WHAT A 'FRIEND' DOES. Even with Christophine, who goes above and beyond for her, she at one point calls 'the black devil from h***'.

And even though I have this strong hatred for Antoinette, does that mean I'm on Mr. Rochester's side? HECK NO. HE CAN BACK OFF TOO. He had all the signs that HE was the reason she was going mad, he had all the signs that HE was the problem, but yet he wants to act all high-and-mighty and 'oh woe is me'.

Point is, I hate both of them. All of them. Except maybe Christophine. And I will stick instead to the Bertha I have thought up inside my head. I will continue to write my essay on this for my final project because I have a lot to say, but literally none of it is positive.

I hope I never have to read this book again in my life.

There are so many comprehensible good books why bother with this

This book changed my view of Mr. Rochester. I always thought of him as poor Mr. Rochester, forced into an arranged marriage with a mad woman and how kind of him not to put her in an asylum. Now I think, with all of his money, he could have cared for her much better. But, it was punishment, not kindness. This book was a quick read and wonderfully written. I never gave Antoinette much thought although Jane Eyre has always been one of my favorite stories. Very good book.

I read a lot of fan fiction knowing it is not the original classic work. I had high hopes for the one, but had a hard time getting into it. Is it a plausible backstory for Bertha? Yes. Is it as dreary as Jane Eyre? Yes. But unlike Jane Eyre, this had no heroine. All the characters were unlikeable (perhaps from the continual drinking of rum).

I literally have to read this because of my professor. If it was up to me I wouldn’t have gotten this book. The dialogue switch between the characters is weird and hard to keep up with. If you’re into depressing stories this one is for you.