Insanity in Wide Sargasso Sea

The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys revolves around a creole woman who is driven to insanity by her torn identity and skewed society that can drive any woman mad. The novel is written as a rewriting of the popular novel by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre. The mad woman in Jane Eyre, Bertha Mason, is actually Antoinette Mason in Wide Sargasso Sea and is given a rich background that allows the reader to question the way non-Western characters are portrayed in Victorian Literature. In Victorian Literature, the concept of women and madness often go hand in hand and Rhys uses this to place the novel in the Victorian context but also through a postcolonial feminist lens. Specifically, the postcolonial feminism in the novel allows Rhys to write back to the popular notion that feminism is only for Western women. Antoinette’s gradual mental instability can be traced back to her feelings of entrapment in a patriarchal society. Through creating a character that is both female and Creole in Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys is able to critique the universalizing tendencies of mainstream feminist ideas and argues that women living in non-Western countries are misrepresented. Examining the Wide Sargasso Sea in chronological order demonstrates the manner in which Rhys altered her narrative styles in order to emphasize Antoinette’s context to justify her mental deterioration in the end of the novel, the male colonizer versus colonized power dynamics in marriage as perceived by Rochester, and a genuine account of Antoinette’s thoughts after she has been driven to madness. All this allows Rhys to redefine the concept of insanity that is portrayed not only in Jane Eyre, but in Victorian literature, thus allowing an effective critique of the literature of the time.    

Part 1 of the novel sets a rich background and childhood for Antoinette that allows the reader to build a connection with her and later justify how she is portrayed as insane as shown later in the novel and in the novel of Jane Eyre. Firstly, Antoinette’s interactions with secondary characters develop her characterization and allow the audience to understand the internal and external conflicts she faces as not only a woman, but a Creole woman. Rhys makes it clear in the beginning of the novel that Antoinette and her family do not belong to one racial sector, specifically, nor the white or the black community. Following the emancipation act, Antoinette’s family lost much of their money and power and were looked at as lower than slaves. Through her interactions with Tia, it is clear that Antoinette has a longing for belonging to the black community. The black community often attacks her and her family verbally, calling them “white cockroaches”, and showing that they have no intention of allowing Antoinette and her family into their community. From this, Antoinette has an external conflict with both racial groups and an internal conflict with a torn identity. After her family’s home burns down and she is rejected by her mother, the reader begins feeling sympathy for Antoinette. In this way, it takes away from her moral ambiguity as a character because Rhys places Antoinette in a position that makes it difficult for the reader to label her as insane. In fact, as her mental state deteriorates towards the end of the novel, the reader cannot simply declare her insane because of the sympathy built in part 1 of the novel. In this way, it forces the reader to question her external conflicts, specifically her husband, Rochester, and his role as a double oppressor. This also allows for the reader to question the portrayal of Antoinette in Jane Eyre. In Jane Eyre, “Bertha Mason” is shown as a mad Creole woman. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the background that is given in part 1 of the novel is a direct attack at Bronte’s novel because the reader realizes that external conflicts drove Antoinette mad, rather than her Creole blood. This questions the supposed concept of madness and craze in non-Western women. By using madness, something common in the Victorian context, Rhys places her Creole character in that Victorian context, thus questioning the concept that feminism only considers Western women. Part 1 allows the reader to heavily consider the external conflicts and realize that the madness that was portrayed in later parts of the novel and the novel of Jane Eyre was portrayed through a Western lens. Antoinette was not only portrayed as insane because of the fact that she is a woman, but also the fact that she is a Creole woman. It is important to recognize that Rhys makes the clear distinction between being insane as a result of her racial identity and being driven to insanity as a result of patriarchal and colonial oppression.

Part 2 of the novel is significant in the portrayal of insanity because it allowed Rhys to show that Antoinette was labeled as mad through the narration of Rochester and that it was a way for the double oppressor to assert a position of power. When Rochester’s narration begins in the novel, it directly shows the way the colonizer viewed the oppressed and the way men viewed women. Rochester makes it clear that he does not respect Antoinette and looks at her as less of a woman as a result of her hybrid race. This is seen through his confusion in her love for the West Indies and his general remarks condemning Antoinette’s actions and ways of living. The only way he is able to stay in the relationship is by mentally and physically asserting dominance and power over her. He does this by making her insecure and making her question her reality, thus driving her into a state of madness. Part 2 was significant because it allowed Rhys to establish the fact that Antoinette was labeled insane by Rochester, rather than actually being insane. His physical incarceration of her later in the novel mentally destroys her but in part 2, he justified his actions and gained power through thinking that she is mad. One way he labels her as mad is through moral madness. Specifically, through her sexuality and promiscuous nature.   In fact, Daniel Cosway finds her sexuality as a way to taunt Rochester and declare her insane. Rochester begins looking down at Antoinette as a result of the idea in his head that a proper woman should not be as promiscuous, thus allowing him to use this moral dominance he has to justify his declaration of Antoinette’s madness. Similarly, racial dominance is also significant in allowing Rochester to portray Antoinette as insane. Because he believes the English are superior, Antoinette’s hybridity is looked down upon from the beginning of his narration. In his head, the fact that she is Creole automatically gives her a genetic predisposition to being insane. Rhys plays on the dynamic of post colonialism and feminism by showing Rochester as the powerful male and the powerful colonizer. These two things feed into his need and supposed justification for dominance over Antoinette. Rhys does this for two reasons. Firstly, Antoinette’s entrapment in the patriarchal society also justifies her mental corrosion later in the novel. Secondly, and more importantly, Rochester’s skewed and tyrannical tone in his narration allows for Rhys to force the reader to question his reliability as a narrator and further question his position as a dominant male and colonizer. Combined with the sympathy that the reader has for Antoinette, Rhys shows that Antoinette being portrayed as insane by secondary characters was not a result of a real mental illness, but rather a slanted perception on the roles of women and colonized people in non-Western countries. This then directly argues back with the portrayal of insanity in Jane Eyre with Antoinette (Bertha) and shows that she was not mentally ill, but rather was driven into a state of hysteria.

            Antoinette’s narration in part 3 of the novel allows Rhys to use the stream of consciousness technique to show the reader the mentally unstable mind of Antoinette and show how she was driven into insanity. Part 3 is the shortest part in the novel, often with shorter sentences and fragmented breaks in narration. Antoinette often has flashbacks and has narration that shows a tone of mental instability. For instance, her belief that there is a ghost shows the reader that her mental state may have gone down. Ironically, this ghost is a reversal of roles in Jane Eyre, as Jane Eyre believes she saw a ghost. As a result of the reader knowing that Jane is in the household, Antoinette thinking there is a female ghost inhabiting the house may be justified. In this case, Rhys shows that Antoinette’s insanity may not be how Rochester portrayed it in part 2 of the novel. With that being said, there is a quickened pace in the novel and certain things that show that Antoinette may be slightly broken from reality. With that being said, the difference in narration between part 3 and part 1 shows that Antoinette was not always mad but was driven into madness by her husband’s role as a patriarch and a colonizer. By doing this, Rhys criticizes the insinuation in Jane Eyre that madness and insanity is an innate and a result of racial upbringings. She reverses the concept of insanity by showing it to be a result of a patriarchal social construct. Rochester drives Antoinette into insanity in order to help him gain victimization, justification, and innocence.

            Rhys effectively writes back to Bronte’s, Jane Eyre, by redefining the concept on insanity. Giving Antoinette a background forces the reader to question the patriarchal and postcolonial Victorian era that Antoinette was placed in as a result of her powerful and dominant husband. Rhys makes the point that unlike Bertha was portrayed in Jane Eyre, insanity is a result of society, and not genetics or race. She uses Rochester as a double oppressor to enforce the idea that Antoinette is not simply victimized as a woman, but more powerfully as a Creole and non-Western woman. Rhys makes the madwoman worthy of a story, thus completely shifting the concept of madness and questioning the perception of insanity and madness in women in literature that is placed in a Victorian context.