Historical Background of Wide Sargasso Sea

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Historical Background of Wide Sargasso Sea

• By Malka Hirsch

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Authors background

• 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.

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Rhyss life difficulties

• 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

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Reasons for writing her Novel

• 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 Brontes nineteenth
  century English culture and social status.
• Rhyss many difficulties led her to empathize
  with all kinds of human suffering regardless of
  the cause.

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• Rhys develops the complex character of Antoinette
  Cosway, who Bronte describes as a mere lunatic in
  the novel Jane Eyre.
• Rhyss empathy for Bertha/Antoinette leads her to
  chose Bertha Masons 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.

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Colonialism in Jamaica

• 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 1640s.
• There was a high demand for sugar after the
  British Empire seized control of the Island.

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• 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.

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Antoinette Life in the West Indies

• Antoinette, the narrator for the first half of
  the story describes the difficulties of growing
  up in the 1830s 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.

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• Antoinettes characters 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.

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Antoinette Marriage to Rochester

• Antoinettes 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.

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• 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.

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Works Cited

• Lagretta, Lenker T. "Cyclopedia of Literary
  Characters." MagillOnLiterature Plus. Salem
  Press, Feb. 1998. Web. 10 Apr. 2011.
• Meyers, Linda J. MagillOnLiterature Plus. Salem
  Press, Mar. 1995. Web. 10 Apr. 2011.
• Mikolajek, Stanley J. "The History of Jamaica
  From Colonialism and Slavery to Emancipation and
  Independence, Page 8 of 8." Associated Content
  from Yahoo! - Associatedcontent.com. 4 Feb. 2011.
  Web. 11 Apr. 2011. lthttp//www.associatedcontent.c
  om/article/6261402/the_history_of_jamaica_from_col
  onialism_pg8.html?cat37gt.
• Stiffler, Tiffany E. "Masterplots."
  MagillOnLiterature Plus. Salem Press, Nov. 2010.
  Web. 10 Apr. 2011.
• Ziskin, Alan. "Identities Issues in
  Literature." MagillOnLiterature Plus. Salem
  Press, Sept. 1997. Web. 10 Apr. 2011.