Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea

Hey there, chirping cuckoo, welcome back to the Asylum. This week's dose of letters is provided by Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, a novel that serves as a backstory for Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. In this novel, the reader can gain a profound insight about how Thornsfield's "madwoman in the attic," Rochester's wife, the Jamaican creole Antoinette Cosway ended up in England. Even though the writer's style can't compare to the gripping, Victorian original, the book is certainly a useful reading for anyone who is fond of Jane Eyre and is curious about the gloomy secret of Thornfield.

What makes this novel credible and effective is the narrative technique. Namely, the story starts with Antoinette telling about her days of adolescence in Jamaica and her mother's going mad. Part II is narrated by Rochester before and after about his wedding with Antionette (whom he later christens Bertha), with a small intermezzo told by the wife. Finally, Part III takes place in Thornfield, by the time Antoinette has become the "madwoman in the attic," and is told by her nurse and herself. This fragmanted structure underpins the plot because the contrast in the tone and voice of the characters also uncovers the differences in their mental state. Whereas in Part I Antoinette is merely a witness of what she will have to endure and writes in a slightly inconsistent and confusing way, in Part II Rochester can see the signs of inherited peculiarity in her eyes and writes in a coherent an easily understandable manner. It is through his eyes that we can see how the girl goes mad, as a result of which the man's love turns into hatred. By the time the narration switches back to Antoinette in Part III, her sanity is completely lost. She doesn't believe that she is indeed in England, and she perceives the house as a "cardboard box."

The transformation of Rochester's and the "mad girl's" relationship also portrays the process of Antoinette's falling to dementia in a realistic way. At first Rochester seems to love her unconditionally, begging her not to leave him when she wants to call off the wedding. However, later they exchange roles; it is Antoinette who loves Rochester and the man wants to escape. But his strong hatred, anger for being deceived, and desire for revenge keeps her beside the mad woman, hindering her from even the hope of a happy life: "She is mad, but mine, mine."

It is also remarkable how traits of Jane Eyre have been woven into the plot. For example, we learn that the house of Antoinette's family burnt down, and this memory later led her to set fire on Thornfield. We can hear the madwoman's thoughts and pictures of her troubled mind right before the tragedy. And, knowing the premises and her motives, it's not so hard to understand her anymore. Perhaps that is the biggest shot of the whole novel: by turning the point of view upside down, by taking a temporal circle, it manages to evoke empathy and compassion in the reader towards a character who was depicted as an obstacle of the happiness of our beloved Jane Eyre.