To be honest, I did not really like the ending of Wide Sargasso Sea. Having read Jane Eyre I already have an opinion on Bertha and Mr. Rochester, and those opinions are completely opposite of what this book tries to instill on the reader. Mr. Rochester is a very likable character who is doomed by being wedded to a lunatic without being informed of Antoinette's mental condition beforehand. Bertha Mason is presented as an animalistic, crazy, possessed woman that tries to kill Rochester and attacks her brother. Although I understand that Wide Sargasso Sea is supposed to present Bertha's story, I personally am already swayed toward Jane Eyre's perspective, and I see everything in that light. If I hadn't read that book first, I may not have seen Antoinette so crazy as her actions in reality are not that of a mentally unstable being. But already having that preconception, I see things in a different light, even in Wide Sargasso Sea.
Also, I do not really like how we do not see Rochester or Jane at the end. Everything happens in such an alienated way that I feel no connection between her and the world, and that's what I would expect from her, once again, due to having read Jane Eyre prior. In the end I do see Antoinette as crazy, the way she sees things and imagines things. However, I do pity her. The way she describes the red room with the candles and how she was desperate to light all the candles and to find the altar just seemed so childlike and hopeless. But no matter, she still came off crazy to me. And I really would like to see Antoinette's perception of Jane, and her shock and despair when she sees the veil. I think that addition would have lightened up my view on Bertha. But on the other hand, maybe that is the suspense. Maybe that is the mystery that we will never find out and what makes us think, what really happened between the two books?
1 comment:
So when someone "comes off crazy," we no longer can see the humanity in them? It's the idea that Bertha in _Jane Eyre_ is presented one-dimensionally as a "madwoman" who is "possessed" (a way of thinking about mental illness that's characteristic of an earlier century) that Rhys is trying to combat. _Jane Eyre_ only has Rochester's story to go on, and Rhys doesn't contradict any of the "facts" of that story--she just compels us to see a human being inside this "lunatic." And Rochester's version--that he was essentially "sold damaged goods," not informed of her "preexisting condition," is certainly represented in the novel--he actually gets more pages of narration than Antoinette does.
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