Comprehensive in-depth textual analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. The analysis is categorised into characterisation, relationships, themes, literary device/ technique. Relevant quotes are highlighted. Written by an IB 45/45 Pointer.
WIDE SARGASSO SEA
CONTEXT:
An exile within her own family, a "white cockroach" to her disdainful servants, and an oddity in the
eyes of her own husband, Antoinette cannot find a peaceful place for herself. Going far beyond the
pitying stance taken by Bronte, Rhys humanizes "Bertha's" tragic condition, inviting the reader to
explore Antoinette's terror and anguish.
The Author, Jean Rhys Born in Dominica, the daughter of a Welsh doctor and a white Creole
mother.
Came to England when she was sixteen chorus girl, mannequin, artist’s
model.
Had three failed marriages.
Both Rhys and Antoinette were ghosts in their lifetimes Rhys at one
point completely dropped out of sight and lived in relative poverty and
obscurity, even thought to be dead.
WSS was published in 1966.
Jean Rhys was born in Dominica, one of the Windward Islands in the
Caribbean, in 1890. The daughter of a Welsh doctor and a white Creole
mother, Rhys grew up in the final days of England's colonial heyday, a time
that witnessed the waning of an aristocratic and exploitative Creole culture.
Her parents' heritage situated Rhys between two competing ideologies—
one that sought to exoticize Caribbean life and one that incorporated the
racial pluralism of West Indian values. Rhys was further influenced by the
black servants who raised her and introduced her to the language, customs,
and religious beliefs of the native Caribbeans.
While Wide Sargasso Sea reflects the distinct sensibilities of a West Indian
writer, it also bears the stamp of European modernism. At sixteen, Rhys left
her home in Dominica and moved to England, aligning herself more closely
with her father's Welsh heritage. A feeling of displacement that
characterizes both Rhys's own life and the lives of her characters left her
unable to root herself to her ancestors' home.
Social context of 1820s English ladies of high society were meant to carry themselves with the
and 1830s proper social graces as was customary at that time—demure, gentle,
impeccably dressed, restrained much unlike the sensuous abandon of
the Caribbean and Antoinette.
Context of the setting of Just after the passing of the Emancipation Act in 1833. White Creole
the novel plantation owners made bankrupt with the loss of slaves. Led to the influx
of wealthy Europeans from England coming to exploit the slump in trade
brought about by the loss of unpaid labour. Resulted in the displacement
of the white Creole from a position of social superiority, who are now
classified as an inferior group.
Significance of the title Lies between Europe and the West Indies representative of her and
‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ Antoinette’s mixed identity, neither English nor Caribbean.
Was also treacherously difficult to navigate just like the human
situations presented in the novel.
Wide Sargasso Sea as a Was extremely moved to indignation by the unjust portrayal that Bertha
response to Jane Eyre Mason had been subjected to in Jane Eyre mad Creole locked away
haunting her tormented husband and the innocent Jane felt a sense of
kinship, for both were of Creole identity.
Rhys felt that Jane Eyre was biased in telling the story from an exclusively
English Point of view, hence she decided to write a prequel to show that
‘there is always the other side, always’ through WSS, Rhys dispelled the
gender bias (demure lady VS vicious creature) + racial bias (English lady
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, VS Creole madwoman) in Jane Eyre + underpinnings of colonialisation
E.g. Masters used to change the names of their slaves at will.
NOTE: Rochester is never named in the novel, merely alluded to.
The result is one of literature's most famous prequels, a novel that seeks to
humanize the racially-pejorative characterization of a West Indian
madwoman. By fleshing out Brontë's one-dimensional madwoman, Rhys
enables us to sympathize with the mental and emotional decline of a human
being. An aesthetic experiment in modernist techniques and a powerful
example of feminist rewriting, Wide Sargasso Sea gives voice to a
marginalized character and transforms her original tragic demise into a
kind of triumphant heroism determinedly taking a stand and breaking
free of the constrains of patriarchy.
THEMES
Societal oppression of Role of women in society subservient to men, have no say
women in a patriarchal whatsoever.
society Aunt Cora:
‘she turn her face to the wall’
‘she should be protected, legally’
Was told by Richard Mason, ‘for God’s sake shut up you old fool and
banged the door when he left’
Symbol of ‘red and gilt bottle’ that fell to the floor women are broken
and tired, has given up and resigned to the fact that her words have no
bearing whatsoever. Also, foreshadowing of Antoinette’s future broken
and wretched wife.
Antoinette’s financial dependency Women’s childlike dependence
on fathers and husbands represents a figurative slavery that is made
literal in Antoinette’s ultimate physical captivity.
‘I am not rich now, I have no money of my own at all, everything I have
belongs to him’
‘that is English law’
‘even if I got away (and how?) he would force me back’
‘I held my right wrist with my left hand and waited’ metaphorical
shackle of oppression.
Even Amelie:
‘there are rich men in Rio’ women need men for money
CONTRAST: Independent women (as championed by Christophine)
Christophine acts as the voice of the writer in this scene.
‘women must have spunks to love in this wicked world’
‘all women, all colours, nothing but fools’
Christophine has ‘no husband, I thank my God’
‘I keep my money. I don’t give it to no worthless man’
‘a man not treat you good, pick up your skirt and walk out’
‘have spunks and do battle for yourself’
(CONTRAST/IRONY): A wedding present from the old Mr. Cosway to
Annette, Christophine is a commodified woman, but is still fiercely self-
willed. She provides a contrast to Annette in that she exercises complete
independence from men and implicitly distrusts their motives.
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, Societal pressure for women to conform to the stereotypical English
Lady in 19th century Victorian society
CONTRAST with the De Plana sisters everything that Antoinette is not,
in terms of demure nature, poise, and lady-like behaviour.
‘I admire them’
‘they sit so poised and imperturbable’
‘points out the excellence of Miss Helene’s coiffure, achieved without a
looking glass’
‘Miss Germaine’s impeccable deportment’
Two of the other Creole girls, Miss Germaine and Helene de Plana,
embody the feminine virtues that Antoinette is to learn and emulate:
namely, beauty, chastity and mild, even-tempered manners. Mother St.
Justine’s praises of the “poised” and “imperturbable” sisters suggest an
ideal of womanhood that is at odds with Antoinette’s own hot and fiery
nature.
*LINK to MOTIF of fire and the colour red representing Antoinette’s
passionate nature.
Societal pressure to conform is further perpetuated by Rochester,
who is repulsed by Antoinette’s passionate nature
‘she thirsts for anyone—not for me…’ finds Antoinette’s enthusiasm
and eagerness for sex to be repelling, felt that it wasn’t right for a lady to
behave in such a way.
‘she’ll not care who she’s loving’
she’ll ‘laugh and coax and flatter’
‘she’ll moan and cry and give herself as no sane woman would—or could’
‘till she’s drunk so deep, played her games so often that the lowest shrug
and jeer at her’ no better than a common prostitute’
*link to CONTRAST between cultures culture clash.
IRONY, even though Rochester rejected Antoinette’s love, he still
refuses to relinquish his control over her possessive male-
dominated society, deprive women of their chances at freedom and
happiness.
‘she marry with someone else. She forget about you and live happy’
‘a pang of rage and jealousy shot through me then’
‘oh no, she won’t forget’
‘made for loving? Yes, but she’ll have no lover, for I don’t want her and
she’ll see no other’
Suppression of women in English society experienced even by
Grace Poole, Mrs Eff and Leah.
‘I know better than to say a word’
‘the house is big and safe, a shelter from the world outside’
‘can be a black and cruel world to a woman’
‘the thick walls, keeping away all the things that you have fought till you
can fight no more’
Double-colonisation Obeah
Rochester the European ‘he never calls me Antoinette now, he has found out it was my mother’s
has colonised the Creole, name’
Rochester the man has ‘it is a name I’m particularly fond off’ as if it will distance Antoinette
colonised his wife from her crazy mother. IRONY for it is Rochester’s transformation of
transforms her into Antoinette into Bertha that causes her to go mad.
Bertha Mason (link to ‘I think of you as Bertha’ can force his opinions on her.
Jane Eyre) ‘on this of all nights, you must be Bertha’
‘Bertha is not my name. You are trying to make me into someone else,
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