I took some time and consideration before writing this blog. I contemplated thematic possibilities and kept ideas on my to-do list for months— rewriting them as a goal each week. At first, I planned to draw a comparison between Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys; however, drawing such a comparison would not cover the depth of Jean Rhys’s writing and research or the colonialist attitude of Charlotte Brontë and the society and belief systems in which she grew up.
I decided to split the blog into two: “Me Before You: Jane Eyre and White Feminism” and “Wide Sargasso Sea: An Attempt to Correct Brontë.” Each blog discusses two sides of misogyny’s coin: racism and sexism. Jane Eyre ultimately portrays white feminism in both the description and depiction of Bertha Antoinette Mason and Wide Sargasso Sea, portraying Bertha Antoinette Mason before she was oppressed and locked in an attic for fifteen years.
With this in mind, I sought to prove that Wide Sargasso Sea, although an accurate account of white Creole displacement by colonizers, is indeed a prequel to Jane Eyre, as Jean Rhys intended. The common thread between the two books is Mr. Rochester; thus, the first section of my analysis is focused on Rochester’s behavior and how it aligns with his character in Jane Eyre. The second section is the typical analysis based on the Bechdel-Wallace and other tests.
Rhys was annoyed when she read Jane Eyre because she thought: ‘That’s only one side of—the English side’ and she chose to write a prequel, rather than a sequel to Jane Eyre to determine the colonial underpinnings of Rochester’s thoughts and actions…
Introduction, Wide Sargasso Sea p. XVII
Bronte’s assertion of english colonialist values upon a creole woman is an assertion of cultural and moral superiority. Jean Rhys, a white Creole herself, sought to rectify that.
Wide Sargasso Sea is about Bertha Antoinette Mason’s childhood, adolescence, and subsequent marriage in Jamaica. She is a white (or white-presenting) creole and the daughter of a prominent slave-owner, Alexander Cosway. Immediately, Antoinette launches into the ostracism her family faces after the ruin of Cosway’s prospects as a plantation owner and his death, followed by her remaining family’s struggle to survive.
They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. But we were not in their ranks. The Jamaican ladies had never approved of my mother.
Wide Sargasso Sea, page 5
Within three concise sentences, Rhys described tensions between the English and the French, the Jamaicans and the Martiniques, “pretty privilege,” racism and sexism. Annette (Antoinette’s mother) was originally from Martinique, a French colony at the time (though it had been fought over by the French and British for some years). In contrast, Jamaica was originally a Spanish colony which became an English colony by 1655. Competition and disdain between the three countries (France, Spain, and the British Empire) were systemically passed to their colonies.
Annette, described as a beauty in both Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, was ostracized particularly for her questionable race, her beauty, and her family’s background. Annette was ignored by white women because she was Creole and from Martinique. Taking into account that 90% of Martinique’s current population is of mixed European and African descent and Antoinette’s cousin, Sandi, being a person of color (POC) it is likely that Annette had POC in her family or was a white-appearing POC herself— thus, white Jamaican and British women ignore her.
Her family background in slavery and the daughter and widow plantation owners, she is ostracized by Jamaican women of color as well (as is their right since slavery had been abolished in 1838). A widow, traumatized by her deceased husband, and now the head of a impoverished household, Annette works with her friend and former servant, Christophine, to maintain the land and house— Coulibri. Annette marries Mr. Mason—an Englishman hoping to restore Coulibri.
During their marriage, Antoinette is introduced to the idea and adoration of whiteness, portrayed in the art Mr. Mason introduces to the household —
So I looked away from her at my favorite picture, ‘The Miller’s Daughter’, a lovely English girl with brown curls and blue eyes and a dress slipping off her shoulders.
Wide Sargasso Sea, Page 18
— and in the lessons Mr. Mason teaches Antoinette—
“Once, I would’ve said ‘my cousin Sandi’ but Mr. Mason’s lectures had made me shy about my colored relatives”
Wide Sargasso Sea page 28
Similarly, Annette is introduced to stricter gender norms and race hierarchy, which she consistently pushes back against, eventually leading to her confinement.
Aunt Cora, Antoinette’s aunt, sends Antoinette to a boarding school where she can receive an education after Mr. Mason’s abandonment of both Antoinette and Annette. Mr. Mason does not re-enter Antoinette’s life until her nuptials have been arranged to Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester and Antoinette are married and Mr. Rochester receives thirty thousand pounds as Antoinette’s dowry. Antoinette explains Jamaican culture to Rochester despite his disdain and contempt for the natural beauty and vivacity.
“When they don’t hold their dress up it’s for respect,” said Antoinette. “Or for feast days or going to Mass.”
“And is this a feast day?”
“She wanted it to be a feast day.”
“Whatever the reason it is not a clean habit.”
“It is. You don’t understand at all. They don’t care about getting a dress dirty because it shows it isn’t the only dress they have. Don’t you like Christophine?”
“She is a very worthy person no doubt. I can’t say I like her.”
“It doesn’t mean anything,” said Antoinette.
“And she looks so lazy. She dawdles about.”
“Again, you are mistaken. She seems slow, but every move she makes is right so it’s quick in the end.”
Wide Sargasso Sea, pages 52-53
Indeed, Rochester sees the natural flora and beauty of Jamaica as he would a woman: someone who needs to be tamed, conquered, and found out all their secrets.
It was a beautiful place— wild, untouched, above all untouched, with an alien, disturbing, secret loveliness. And it kept its secret. I’d find myself thinking, ‘What I see is nothing —I want what it hides —that is not nothing.‘
Wide Sargasso Sea, page 54
Rochester attempts to play the suitor— “When I last met her I bowed, smiled, kissed her hand, danced with her. I played the part I was expected to play.” (Page 46)— but as he asserts his dominance time and time again, just as he does with Jane fifteen years later—“…but Mr. Rochester had such a direct way of giving orders, it seemed a matter of course to obey him promptly” (Jane Eyre, pg. 166)— Antoinette denies his wishes and, often, explains her reasoning.
As their honeymoon continues, Rochester notes what he perceives as racial differences between himself, Antoinette, and Amelie. He love bombs Antoinette, then beds Amelie in the adjoining room. Antoinette, confused and upset, asks Christophine for guidance. Christophine advices her to leave Rochester. Antoinette still wants to be with him so Christophine appeals to Rochester herself. Yet, Rochester will not release her as, according to English law, Antoinette and all of her property are his. Rochester takes a catatonic Antoinette to Thornbury Field where Antoinette hopes he will release her.
The abuse Rochester shows towards Bertha Antoinette Mason in both Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea are similar. Rochester also shows psychological abuse and threats of physical violence against Jane Eyre — the woman he supposedly loves. Rochester is not ignorant to his behavior; he goes so far as to admit it to Jane when he says:
To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither sounds nor hearts— when they open to me a perspective of flatness, triviality, and perhaps imbecility, coarseness, and ill-temper…
Jane Eyre, page 27
According to Rochester, that could be anyone, as he had labeled Antoinette as “unchaste,” “intemperate,” and “her caste of mind common, low, narrow, and singularly incapable of being led to anything higher…that kindly conversation could not be sustained between us, because, whatever topic I started, I immediately received from her a turn at once to coarse and trite, perverse and imbecile…”
Based on Antoinette’s behavior in Wide Sargasso Sea, told from his misogynistic and racist perspective, Antoinette did disagree with him, cutting the conversation short.
Sometimes she’d [Hilda – a maid] smile a sweet childish smile, sometimes she would giggle very loudly and rudely, bang the tray down and run away.
‘Stupid little girl,’ I’d [Rochester] say.
‘No, no. She is shy. The girls here are very shy.’ [Antoinette]
Wide Sargasso Sea, page 56
And
‘Why do you hug and kiss Christophine?’ I’d say.
‘Why not?’
‘I wouldn’t hug and kiss them,’ I’d say, ‘I couldn’t.’
Wide Sargasso Sea, page 57
Rochester’s racism further extends to Antoinette in both Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre.
I found her a fine woman, in the style of Blanche Ingram; tall, dark, and majestic. Her family wished to secure me, because I was of a good race; and so did she.
Jane Eyre, page 86
Long, sad, dark alien eyes. Creole of pure English descent she may be, but they are not English or European either.
Wide Sargasso Sea, page 40
Overall, Rochester shows a blatant disregard for differences in opinion, character, and culture, and chooses only to see his narrative of Jamaica and his wife’s history. By the end of the book Rochester thinks, foreshadowing Antoinette’s future:
You hate me and I hate you. We’ll see who hates best. But first, first I will destroy your hatred. Now. My hate is colder, stronger, and you’ll have no hate to warm yourself. You will have nothing.
Wide Sargasso Sea, page 110
Rochester proves throughout Jane Eyre that he is abusive and manipulative; proving the accuracy in his portrayal in Wide Sargasso Sea.
Despite Bertha Antoinette Mason having nothing in Jane Eyre or in Wide Sargasso Sea, she defies society, colonialism, and imperialism at every turn. She succeeds in escaping: warming herself with fire instead of cold hatred.
| Test | Pass/Fail | How |
| Bechdel-Wallace | Pass | Antoinette speaks to her mother, her friend Tia, Christophine and others. |
| POC! Bechdel Test | Fail | Although there are people of color in this book, the majority of the time, they speak to white/white-presenting characters or they speak about white characters. Most depth is provided to give contrast to the white character’s stories instead of making them a fully developed character. See Christophine’s discussion with Antoinette in Wide Sargasso Sea, pages 67-75 |
| The Native Bechdel Test | Fail | There are no native characters within the book as the Awaraks were killed/died off when the Spanish invaded Jamaica in 1494. |
| The DuVernay Test | Fail | Again, people of color do not have conversations within this book. |
| Mako Mori Test | Fail | During this time period, it was uncommon for women to have goals beyond marriage. Although Antoinette portrays a childish freedom in Jamaica and refuses to be controlled by Rochester, her narrative arc condemns her to be imprisoned by him. |
| Raleigh Becket Test | Fail | Rochester is sexually involved with two of the women characters in Wide Sargasso Sea. |
| Vito Russo Test | Fail | Sexual identity not hinted at with any of the characters. |
| Sexy Lamp Test | Pass | If the reader replaces Antoinette’s character with a sexy lamp, the entire story will fall a part because Antoinette is shaped by her surroundings and the people she comes in contact with just as she is shaped by them as well. |