Wide Sargasso Sea: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Short description|1966 novel by Jean Rhys}}

{{other uses|Wide Sargasso Sea (disambiguation)}}

{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}}

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| language = English

| genre = [[Postmodern literature|Postmodern novel]]

| publisher = [[André Deutsch]] (UK) & <br>[[W. W. Norton]] (US)

| release_date = October 1966

| isbn = 0-233-95866-5

| oclc= 4248898

| preceded_by = [[Jane Eyre]]

|dewey= 823.912

|congress=PR6035 .H96

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| followed_by =

}}

'''''Wide Sargasso Sea''''' is a 1966 novel by [[Dominica]]Dominican-born British author [[Jean Rhys]]. ItThe isnovel aserves feministas anda anti-colonial{{citation[[Postcolonial neededliterature|date=Aprilpostcolonial]] 2021}}and response[[Feminism|feminist]] [[prequel]] to [[Charlotte Brontë]]'s novel ''[[Jane Eyre]]'' (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point- of- view of his mad wife [[Bertha Mason|Antoinette Cosway]], a [[Creole peoples|Creole]] heiress. Antoinette Cosway is Rhys's version of Brontë's devilish "[[TheBertha Madwoman in the AtticMason|madwoman in the attic]]". Antoinette's story is told from the time of her youth in [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]], to her unhappy marriage to a certain unnamedan English gentleman, Mr. Rochester, who renames her Bertha, declares her mad, takes her to England, and isolates her away from the rest of the world in his mansion. Antoinette is caught in an oppressive [[patriarchal]] society in which she fully belongs neither to Europe nor to Jamaica. ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' explores the power of relationships between men and women and developsdiscusses [[Postcolonial literature|postcolonial]]the themes, such asof racismrace, displacementCaribbean history, and [[cultural assimilation|assimilation]] as Antoinette is caught in a white, [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] society in which she fully belongs neither to Europe nor to Jamaica.

Rhys lived in obscurity after her previous work, ''[[Good Morning, Midnight (Rhys novel)|Good Morning, Midnight]]'', was published in 1939. She had published other novels between these works, but ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' caused a revival of interest in Rhys and her work and was her most commercially successful novel.

In 2022, it was included on the "[[Big Jubilee Read]]" list of 70 books by [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] authors, selected to celebrate the [[Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Ynpj933DJ2YG5nsMS6fn8k/a-literary-celebration-of-queen-elizabeth-iis-record-breaking-reign|title=The Big Jubilee Read: A literary celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's record-breaking reign|website=BBC|date=17 April 2022|access-date=15 July 2022}}</ref>

==Plot==

The novel, initially set in [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]], opens a short while after the [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833]] endedabolished slavery in the [[British Empire]] on 1 August 1834.<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/rights/emancipation.htm "Emancipation"], ''The Black Presence'', National Archive.</ref> The protagonist Antoinette relates the story of her life from childhood to her arranged marriage to an unnamedEnglish gentleman, Mr. EnglishmanRochester.

The novel is in three parts:

'''Part One''' takes place in Coulibri, a sugar plantation in [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]], and is narrated by Antoinette as a child. Formerly wealthy, since the abolition of slavery, the estate has become derelict and her family has been plunged into poverty. Antoinette's widowed [[Martinique]] mother, Annette, must remarry to wealthy EnglishmanEnglish gentleman Mr. Mason, who is hoping to exploit his new wife's situation. Angry at the returning prosperity of theirthe oppressors[[planter class]], freedemancipated slaves living in Coulibri burn down Annette's house, killing Antoinette's mentally disabled younger brother, Pierre. As Annette had been struggling with her mental health up until this point, the grief of losing her son weakens her sanity. Mr. Mason sends her to live with a couple who torment her until she dies,. andWhen Antoinette doesvisits nother after the fire, Annette refuses to see or speak to her. againAntoinette visits her mother once more when she is older but is alarmed at the abuse she witnesses by the servants to her mother and goes away without speaking to her.

'''Part Two''' alternates between the points of view of Antoinette and her husband during their honeymoon excursion to her mother's summer estate Granbois, [[Dominica]]. Likely catalysts for Antoinette's downfall are the mutual suspicions that develop between the couple, and the machinations of Daniel, who claims he is Antoinette's illegitimate half-brother; he impugns Antoinette's reputation and mental state and demands money to keep quiet. Antoinette's old nurse Christophine openly distrusts theMr. EnglishmanRochester. His apparent belief in the stories about Antoinette's family and past aggravate the situation; her husband is unfaithful and emotionally abusive. He begins to call her Bertha rather than her real name and flaunts hisan affairsaffair in front of her to cause her pain. Antoinette's increased sense of paranoia and the bitter disappointment of her failing marriage unbalance her already precarious mental and emotional state. She flees to the house of Christophine, the servant woman who raised her. Antoinette pleads with Christophine for an [[obeah]] potion to attempt to reignite her husband's love, which Christophine reluctantly gives her. Antoinette returns home but the love potion acts like a poison on her husband. Subsequently he refuseshardens Christophine'shis offerheart ofagainst helpreconciling forwith his wife and takesdecides to take her toaway from Granbois out of Englandspite.

'''Part Three''' is the shortest part of the novel; it is from the perspective of Antoinette, renamed by her husband as Bertha. Mr. Rochester's father and brother have died, so he has returned to England with Antoinette to claim his sizeable inheritance. She is largely confined to "the attic" of [[Thornfield Hall]], the mansion she calls the "Great House". The story traces her relationship with Grace Poole, the servant who is tasked with guarding her, as well as her disintegrating life with theMr. EnglishmanRochester, as he hides her from the world. He makes empty promises to come to her more but seesnever less of herdoes. HeAntoinette venturesis awaythought tomad pursueby relationshipsthose withwho other women{{mdash}}and eventuallyinteract with the young governess. Antoinette is clearly madher and has little understanding of how much time she has been confined. She fixates on optionsdreams of freedom, includingwhen she remembers, and writes to her stepbrother Richard in Jamaica who, however, willsays nothe cannot "interfere legally" with her husband,. soDesperate and enraged, she attacks him with a stolen knife bought in secret. She later forgets this encounter. Expressing her thoughts in [[Stream of consciousness writing|stream of consciousness]], Antoinette dreams of flames engulfing the house and her freedom from the life she has there, and believes it is her destiny to fulfill the vision. Waking from her dream she escapes her room, and sets theout candle in firehand.

==Major themesThemes==

===Postcolonialism===

Since the late 20th century, critics have considered ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' as a [[Postcolonial literature|postcolonial]] response to ''[[Jane Eyre]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://readers.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141185422,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928031021/http://readers.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141185422,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 September 2007 |title=''Wide Sargasso Sea'' at The Penguin Readers' Group |publisher=Readers.penguin.co.uk |date=3 August 2000 |access-date=2 January 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/colonial3c.html |title=The Empire Writes Back: ''Jane Eyre'' |publisher=Faculty.pittstate.edu |access-date=2 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101216091547/http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/colonial3c.html |archive-date=16 December 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Rhys uses multiple voices (Antoinette's, her husband's, and Grace Poole's) to tell the story, and 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 peoples|Creole]] heritage (a rejection shown to be critical to Antoinette's descent into madness). The novel is also considered a feminist work, as it deals with unequal power between men and women, particularly in marriage.

===RaceSlavery and ethnicity===

Antoinette and her family hadwere been[[Planter slaveclass|planters]] who ownersowned upslaves until the passage of the [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833|Slavery Abolition Act]], andwhich subsequentlyresulted in the family lostlosing their wealth. They are pejoratively called "[[white nigger]]" or "white cockroach" by the Islandisland's blackBlack inhabitants because of their poverty and are openly despised., Rochesterharassed, asand anassaulted. EnglishmanThe villagers, looksinadvertently downor onnot, kill Antoinette's becausebrother, shesetting isfire ato [[Creolethe peoples|Creole]].home Antoinetteand isseem notpoised Englishto andmurder yetthe herrest of the family historyif reflectsnot for the apparition of an ill omen - their dying green parrot. Meanwhile, Rochester looks down on Antoinette because of her status as a white[[Creole womanpeoples|Creole]]. Scholar Lee Erwin describes this paradox through the scene in which Antoinette's firstchildhood home houseCoulibri is burned down and she runs to Tia, a black girl her own age, to "be like her". Tia attacks Antoinette, isthrowing rebuffeda byrock violenceat fromher Tia,head. leadingAntoinette tothen hersays seeingshe sees Tia "as if I saw myself. Like in a looking glass". Erwin argues that "even as she claims to be seeing "herself," she is simultaneously seeing "the other", that which only defines the self by its separation from it, in this case literally by means of a cut. History here, in the person of a former slave's daughter, is figured as refusing Antoinette", the daughter of a slave owner.<ref name="erwin">{{cite journal |last1=Erwin |first1=Lee |title='Like in a Looking-Glass': History and Narrative in ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' |journal=Novel: A Forum on Fiction |year=1989 |volume=22 |number=2 |jstor=1345800 |pages=143–158|doi=10.2307/1345800 }}</ref>

In ''Widethe Sargasso Sea''novel, Rhys drawsalso attentionexplores tothe legacy of colonialismslavery and the [[Atlantic slave trade|slave bytrade]], whichfocusing Antoinette'son ancestorshow hadabolition madedramatically theiraffected fortune.the Thestatus novelof doesAntoinette's notfamily shyas away from uncomfortable truths about British history that had been neglectedplanters in Brontë'scolonial narrativeJamaica. Scholar Trevor Hope remarkshas noted that the "triumphant conflagration of Thornfield Hall in ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' may at one level mark a vengeful attack upon the earlier textual structure". The destruction of Thornfield Hall occurs in both novels; however, Rhys epitomises the fire as a liberating experience for Antoinette. If Thornfield Hall represents domestic ideas of Britishness, then Hope suggestshas ''Widesuggested Sargassothat Sea''the isnovel "taking[takes] residence inside the textual domicile of empire in order to bring about its disintegration or even, indeed, its conflagration.".<ref name="hope">{{cite journal|last1=Hope|first1=Trevor|title=Revisiting the Imperial Archive: ''Jane Eyre'', ''Wide Sargasso Sea'', and the Decomposition of Englishness|journal=College Literature|year=2012|jstor=23266040 |volume=39 |number=1 |pages=51–73|doi=10.1353/lit.2012.0001 |s2cid=170983861 }}</ref>▼

===Colonialism===

▲In ''Wide Sargasso Sea'', Rhys draws attention to colonialism and the slave trade by which Antoinette's ancestors had made their fortune. The novel does not shy away from uncomfortable truths about British history that had been neglected in Brontë's narrative. Trevor Hope remarks that the "triumphant conflagration of Thornfield Hall in ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' may at one level mark a vengeful attack upon the earlier textual structure". The destruction of Thornfield Hall occurs in both novels; however, Rhys epitomises the fire as a liberating experience for Antoinette. If Thornfield Hall represents domestic ideas of Britishness, then Hope suggests ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' is "taking residence inside the textual domicile of empire in order to bring about its disintegration or even, indeed, its conflagration."<ref name="hope">{{cite journal|last1=Hope|first1=Trevor|title=Revisiting the Imperial Archive: ''Jane Eyre'', ''Wide Sargasso Sea'', and the Decomposition of Englishness|journal=College Literature|year=2012}}</ref>

==Publication and reception==

Rhys's editor [[Diana Athill]] discusses the events surrounding the publication of the book in her memoir. The book came out of a friendship between Rhys and [[Selma Vaz Dias]] who encouraged her to start writing again. At the time, Rhys was living in a shack made of [[corrugated iron]] and [[tar paper]] in a slum neighborhoodneighbourhood of [[Cheriton Fitzpaine]]. The book was virtually completed in November 1964 when Rhys, who was 74 years old and complained of the cold and rain in her shack, suffered a heart attack. Athill cared for Rhys in the hospital for two years, keeping a promise not to publish the book until Rhys was well enough to compile the manuscript and add a few final lines. The income from the book provided enough money for Rhys to improve her living conditions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Athill |first1=Diana |title=Stet: a memoir |date=15 October 2014 |publisher=Open Road + Grove/Atlantic |isbn=0802191541978-0802191540}}</ref>

On 5 November 2019, ''[[BBC News]]'' listed ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' on its list of the [[BBC list of 100 'most inspiring' novels|100 most influential novels]].<ref name=Bbc2019-11-05/>

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===Awards and nominations===

*Winner of the [[WH Smith Literary Award]] in 1967, which brought Rhys to public attention after decades of obscurity.

*Named by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the '100 best English-language novels since 1923'.<ref>{{cite webmagazine|last=Lacayo |first=Richard |url=http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/0,24459,wide_sargasso_sea,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051022173919/http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/0,24459,wide_sargasso_sea,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 October 2005 |title=''Time'' magazine list of All-Time 100 Novels |workmagazine=Time |date=16 October 2005 |access-date=2 January 2011}}</ref>

*Rated number 94 on the list of [[Modern Library's 100 Best Novels]]

*Winner of Cheltenham Booker Prize 2006 for year 1966<ref>[{{cite web |url=https://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Cheltenham+Booker+Prize "|title=Book awards: Cheltenham Booker Prize"], |website=Library Thing.}}</ref>

==Adaptations==

*1993: ''[[Wide Sargasso Sea (1993 film)|Wide Sargasso Sea]]'', film adaptation directed by [[John Duigan]] and starring [[Karina Lombard]] and [[Nathaniel Parker]].

*1997: ''Wide Sargasso Sea'', a chamber opera adaptation with music by Australian composer Brian Howard , directed by Douglas Horton.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Brian |last=Kellow,[ |url=https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2012/12/Departments/On_the_Beat.html "|title=On the Beat: A novel that sings: Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea"], ''|magazine=Opera News'', |date=December 2012 — Vol. |volume=77, No. |number=6. Retrieved |access-date=28 October 2018.}}</ref>

*2004: ''Wide Sargasso Sea'', [[BBC Radio 4]] 10-part adaptation by [[Margaret Busby]], read by [[Adjoa Andoh]]<ref>[{{cite web |url=http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/j/je/jean_rhys___wide_sargasso_sea.html "|title=Jean Rhys – Wide Sargasso Sea"], ''|website=RadioListings.}}{{dead link |date=December 2023}}</ref> (repeated 2012, 2014, 2019).<ref>[{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m0stc "|title=Jean Rhys – Wide Sargasso Sea"]}}, BBC Radio 4 Extra.</ref>

*2006: ''[[Wide Sargasso Sea (TV)|Wide Sargasso Sea]]'', TV movie adaptation directed by [[Brendan Maher (director)|Brendan Maher]] and starring [[Rebecca Hall]] and [[Rafe Spall]].

*2011: "Wide Sargasso Sea", song written by rock 'n' roll singer [[Stevie Nicks]] about the novel and film; it appears on her 2011 album ''[[In Your Dreams (Stevie Nicks album)|In Your Dreams]]''.

*2016: BBC Radio Four dramatization (one hour) by [[Rebecca Lenkiewicz]] (repeated 2020).<ref>[{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b072zkst "|title=Wide Sargasso Sea"]}}, Drama, BBC Radio 4.</ref>

==See also==

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==External links==

* [http://themagpiepoet.deviantart.com/art/Essay-Wide-Sargasso-Sea-Bertha-and-Jane-Eyre-378946743 "Wide Sargasso Sea, Bertha and Jane Eyre"], The Magpie Poet blog

* [http://www.shmoop.com/wide-sargasso-sea/ ''Wide Sargasso Sea''], study guide, themes, quotes, & teacher resources

* [http://janeeyre.net/Wide-Sargasso-Sea-book-&-films.html Review] JaneEyre.net

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[[Category:Novels set in Jamaica]]

[[Category:Novels set in Dominica]]

[[Category:Postcolonial literaturenovels]]

[[Category:Postmodern novels]]

[[Category:Prequel novels]]

[[Category:Works based on Jane Eyre]]