 Wide Sargasso Sea was
Written in 1966 by a
Dominica born author
Jean Rhys.
 She was born in 1894 and moved to England when she was 16 years old (1910).
 Upon her arrival Jane
Eyre was one of the first novels she read.

 Rhys never adjusted to the move from the west indies to
England.
 Rhys always felt cold and removed and imagined that the character Bertha Mason from the novel Jane Eyre must have felt the same.
 Rhys had chronic financial difficulties, she was marries three times and two of her husbands spent time in jail.
She was also a heavy drinker

 The portrayal of Bertha in Jane
Eyre always disappointed her.
 Since she came from the west indies and had difficulties adjusting in England the story had special significance to her.
 Rhys wrote Wide Sargasso
Sea as a response to stereotypes informed by
Bronte’s nineteenth century
English culture and social status.
 Rhys’s many difficulties led her to empathize with all kinds of human suffering regardless of the cause.

 Rhys develops the complex character of Antoinette
Cosway, who Bronte describes as a mere lunatic in the novel
Jane Eyre .
 Rhys’s empathy for
Bertha/Antoinette leads her to chose Bertha Mason’s ill fated marriage as a perfect subject to explore. Rhys takes the reader deep through her psyche as a way to better understand Bertha/Antoinette and the cause of her madness.

 Rhys and her character Antoinette both grew up in the
British controlled colony of Jamaica.
 The British Empire formally ruled Jamaica from 1670 as a result of the Treaty of Madrid.
 Sugar became a luxury commodity ever since the development of large scale sugar plantations during the 1640’s.
 There was a high demand for sugar after the British Empire seized control of the Island.

 By 1750 Jamaica was the most important British colony in the west indies.
 In 1834 the British parliament abolished all forms of slavery in their colonies.
 The sudden loss of a large slave population was devastating for the
Jamaican economy.

 Antoinette, the narrator for the first half of the story describes the difficulties of growing up in the 1830’s in Jamaica.
 There was a strong feeling of isolation and loneliness that she experienced as a white
Creole child in a predominantly black West
Indies.

 Antoinette’s character’s family were once rich and owned many slaves, but experienced a decline in their fortunes and status after the abolition of slavery.
 One night locals surrounded her house and burnt it down leaving both Antoinette and her mother scarred.
 Antoinette was so traumatized that she is forced to go to a convent to recover. On the other hand the extent of the trauma leads her mother to go insane.

 Antoinette’s step father arranges her marriage to
Rochester when she is 17 years old.
 Rochester moves to
Jamaica to be with her and early on they are happily married.
 When Rochester leans about her mother's insanity he distances himself from her and their marriage deteriorates.

 As a result of a distanced marriage Antoinette begins to drink and attempts to use Voodoo to renew his interes.
 Rochester tries to subdue his wife but none of his tactics work, so he decides to take her back to England and lock her in the attic.

• Lagretta, Lenker T. "Cyclopedia of Literary Characters."
MagillOnLiterature Plus . Salem Press, Feb. 1998. Web. 10 Apr.
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• Mikolajek, Stanley J. "The History of Jamaica: From Colonialism and
Slavery to Emancipation and Independence, Page 8 of 8."
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2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
<http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6261402/the_history_of_j amaica_from_colonialism_pg8.html?cat=37>.
• Stiffler, Tiffany E. "Masterplots." MagillOnLiterature Plus . Salem
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