Some postmodernist literature make a new spin on an old story, telling it from a new perspective, one that was likely ignored or marginalized in the original tale. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys shows the perspective of the character that was most marginalized in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre: Bertha Mason, the mad wife of Mr. Rochester. In Jane Eyre, Bertha was presented as a monster: dark, unkempt, and insidiously jealous of Jane. Jean Rhys humanizes the woman who was described as a beast, looking through her eyes, showing her hopes and her fears, and revealing her inner torment that led her to despairing madness. Through this portrayal, Rhys even questions the perception of “madness” and how it had come about. The fragmented structure of the story, in which bare snippets of various moments in her life are described, reflects the consciousness of the narrator, who for the most part is Bertha—though in Rhys’ story her real name is her middle name, Antoinette. However, Wide Sargasso Sea is not a retelling of Jane Eyre—hardly any of the characters or events in the novel are present, excepting Mr. Rochester and Antoinette—but a new story altogether, showing the progression of Antoinette’s mental breakdown.
Wide Sargasso Sea is hardly a conventional tale: two perspectives are shown, neither of which tell the complete story, and the timing of the events that take place are vague, blurring the separation between past and present. As a more modern novel than the story that inspired it, Wide Sargasso Sea stands more as a critique of colonial mores and a challenge to the reverence of old but certainly not unprejudiced works. Rhys clearly means no disrespect towards the original material: after all, Jane Eyre was the inspiration behind the whole novel; but she does bring to light the racism present in the story’s characters, as Mr. Rochester (who is unnamed in the novel) views the blackness of his wife as ugliness. But even Bertha holds some racist beliefs towards her black fellows, and she is impulsive to a fault, so Rhys does not paint her as a perfect innocent in light of the events that brought tragedy to her life. Rhys also sheds light on the aspects of Mr. Rochester’s personality that must have made some readers of Jane Eyre (such as myself) pause and wonder, “What does Jane see in him?” such as his temper and destructive selfishness. Though once again, even more inexplicably, we see Bertha falling dangerously in love with him. The reader knows the story won’t end well for Antoinette, but one can’t help but hope with Christophine, Antoinette’s caretaker since childhood, that she’ll wake up and escape her fate.
Jean Rhys does not tell the whole story leaving some interpretation up to the reader, such as whether Antoinette was really mad, or whether the madness was induced by the distress she experienced while she was with Mr. Rochester. With this fragmented narrative, Rhys suggests that the reader may take both Antoinette and Mr. Rochester’s stories, both full of regret and despair, with a grain of salt. She has presented two sides to the story to tell a more complete tale, while reminding us who has the power and privilege, and who is at a disadvantage.
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