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Theme of wide sargasso sea
Various themes portrayed on the wide Sargasso sea
Various themes portrayed on the wide Sargasso sea
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The Sargasso Sea as an Underlying Metaphor in Wide Sargasso Sea
Why did Jean Rhys name her novel about the Creole madwoman in the attic from Jane Eyre after a mysterious body of water in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? As there is no mention made of the Sargasso Sea in the novel itself, one might wonder why she chose to title her novel after it. In a 1958 letter to a friend and colleague, she describes her changing titles for the novel: “I have no title yet. ‘The First Mrs. Rochester’ is not right. Nor, of course is ‘Creole’. That has a different meaning now. I hope I’ll get one soon, for titles mean a lot to me. Almost half the battle. I thought of ‘Sargasso Sea’ or ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ but nobody knew what I meant” (Raiskin 136). Since titles and naming hold such significance for Rhys, we must assume that the Sargasso Sea is in some way a larger metaphor that encompasses the whole novel and that it holds meaning and implications that add value to our understanding of the novel.
First, one must beg the question, why does Rhys choose an allusion that nobody will understand? Rhys was fully aware that the title would not lend itself to easy interpretation. Why, then, did she stick with Wide Sargasso Sea instead of the more obvious ‘The First Mrs. Rochester’ or even ‘Creole’? Her seemingly unusual title choice is in actuality a carefully crafted selection that echoes her decision to write about the madwoman in the attic in Jane Eyre; it requires unpacking, just like Bronte’s Bertha. Like the lunatic in the attic, Rhys is asking the readers to not take her at surface value, but to question her reasons: “the reason why Mr. Rochester treats her so abominably and feels justified, the reason why he thinks she is mad and why of course s...
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...ulative natures; and between the uncanny aspects of both the Sargasso and the novel.
Works Cited
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Raiskin, Judith L., ed. Wide Sargasso Sea: Backgrounds, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.
Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: W.W. Norton, 1966. Print.
Sharda. "The Sargasso Sea Mystery And Myths." Marine Insight. N.p., 3 May 2013. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
Webster, George. "Mysterious Waters: From the Bermuda Triangle to the Devil's Sea." CNN. Cable News Network, 31 May 2011. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
"What Is the the Sargasso Sea?" National Ocean Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014. .
Kirby, David. Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2012. Print.
Antoinette’s initial exposure to exile with her mother and brother forces her to grow up assuming all men are dishonest. Throughout Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette clearly has some trust issues. While she initially feels Rochester drawing her in like a moth to the flame, she has second thoughts about marrying him and almost cancels their wedding. Without giving much of a reason, she simply says, “I’m afraid of what may happen” if she were to marry him (Rhys 46). Readers, not left with much context, can easily infer that she is untrusting by Rochester’s next line. He says, “I’ll trust you if you’ll trust me. Is that a bargain?” (Rhys 47). With the promise of peace, Rochester is able to convince Antoinette to marry him; however, he only keeps his
Schroeder, Richard C. “Should We Scuttle the Admiral of the Ocean Sea?” The Times of the Americas. 29 May 1991: 20+. (CIRS Schroed1.ART)
5. Kellert, S.R. and E.O. Wilson, editors. 1993 The Biophilia Hypothesis. Island Press, Washington, DC
The sense of fear attributed to the setting in 'Wide Sargasso Sea' may have been influenced by Rhys' own experiences as a creole woman growing up in the Caribbean. Rhys' great-grandfather's house was burned down by members of the local black community in an act of revenge, as he was a slave-owner. This event is often considered to have inspired Rhys to write about the arson of Coulibri. This supports the idea that Rhys was influenced by her own feelings of fear in her own home, which indicates that fear is a vital part of the setting in the
The Bermuda Triangle is the home of approximately just under a thousand “unexplained” disappearances in the past five hundred years. This area has generated unproven tales that have served as “explanations” for these disappearances. The triangle is also known for its unique weather and other “unnatural” occurrences. However, each story or occurrence within the Bermuda Triangle can be explained.
Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre depicts the passionate love Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester have for each other, and as Bertha Mason stands in the way of the happiness of Brontë's heroine, the reader sees Mason as little more than a villainous demon and a raving lunatic. Jean Rhys' serves as Mason's defendant, as the author's 1966 novella Wide Sargasso Sea, a prequel to Jane Eyre, seeks to explore and explain Bertha's (or Antoinette Cosway's) descent into madness. Rhys rejects the notion that Antoinette has been born into a family of lunatics and is therefore destined to become one herself. Instead, Rhys suggests that the Cosways are sane people thrown into madness as a result of oppression. Parallels are drawn between Jane and Antoinette in an attempt to win the latter the reader's sympathy and understanding. Just as they did in Jane Eyre, readers of Wide Sargasso Sea bear witness to a young woman's struggle to escape and overcome her repressive surroundings. Brontë makes heavy use of the motif of fire in her novel and Rhys does the same in Wide Sargasso Sea. In Rhys' novella, fire represents defiance in the face of oppression and the destructive nature of this resistance.
The Bermuda triangle, or the devil’s triangle, is an imaginary area located off the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States. It is the greatest modern mystery of our supposedly well understood world. It is noted for a very high incidence of unexplained losses of ships, small boats, and aircraft. The tips of the triangle are generally thought to be Bermuda, Miami, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Many theories attempting to explain the many disappearances have been offered throughout the history of the area. The most practical seem to be environmental and those that involve human error. Some reports even go as far as to saying that there are UFO’s kidnapping ships and planes, and that the lost city of Atlantis is below the Bermuda triangle.
Kusche, Larry. The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved. Ed. Larry Yung and William A. Sauck. 2nd ed. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1995. Print.
Rhys, Jean, and Judith L. Raiskin. "Wide Sargasso Sea." Wide Saragossa Sea: Backgrounds, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. 3-112. Print.
the history of our mission to conquer the underwater world.” Geographical Aug. 2005:54+. Student Edition. 3 Nov. 2009 .
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as Devil’s Triangle is an imaginary triangle located between the points of San Juan, Miami, and Bermuda. Christopher Colombus was the first to report odd happenings in the triangle. He claimed that odd lights appeared in the area, and that his compass was acting odd. Afterward, countless reports of missing ships and planes in the area have been noted. No one has an answer to the mystery, however several theories have been developed. The Devils Triangle is a common mystery and a contreversial subject because of the mystery that surounds it, the specific disapearances and paranormal activity that has been publicized, and researchers attention to the topic by their efforts to formulate theories and explanations to solve the mystery.
The Bermuda triangle is a place that boggles many scientists, even in this day and age. The Bermuda Triangle, referred to by some as the Devil's Triangle, is in a western region of the North Atlantic Ocean where countless aircraft, ships and people have inexplicably disappeared. Throughout the years of 1955 and 1975 more than 428 vessels disappeared, along with 100 ships and 1000 lives (Obringer1). Where did these people and ships disappear off too and how come no remains were found is the mysterious question people yearn to find out. Back in the 1964, the Bermuda triangle was often nicknamed The Devil's Islands, because sea travelers could hear various different screeching noises coming off the shores (Obringer1).
The brief snatches of trivial dialogue interspersed with interior thought perfectly encapsulates the couple’s ambling pace, a transient moment of marital bliss. Whilst Rhys uses dialogue to sustain the journey narrative, like Conrad, she also uses cyclic repetition of image patterns. These give structure, pace and purpose to potentially monotonous journeys. In Wide Sargasso Sea these are primarily of fire and heat, linking to the novel’s pivotal Coulibri blaze and intertextually to the Thornfield fire in Jane Eyre. Likewise, Conrad uses black and white imagery to link different stages of the journey.