What is in a name? Warped sense of self and identity in Wide Sargasso Sea

"My, my name was safest in your mouth, and why'd you have to go and spit it out?"- Camila Cabello

Welcome back to the home of Unoriginal Thoughts. The past few blog posts have centred on female representation in Contemporary Literature and Film. This blog will still be focusing on female identity but this time through an examination of Victorian Literature. Like most of my great ideas, this post was inspired by a song. After some deep delving into the discography of Camila Cabello, I had some questions of my own (the song is called I Have Questions, this was a terrible pun). It's a great song detailing the impact of a horrific breakup on the singer who is left with questions about not only herself but the relationship itself.

There is something quite profound in her lyrics. Specifically, she recognizes that people have very little control over their own image. Our names, our identities, and our beings can be easily taken from us. This is an issue that is quite clearly dealt with in Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. As a novella that is an adaptation of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Rhys provides an opportunity to understand the character of Bertha Mason. As the voiceless villain of Bronte's original novel, readers have never gotten to understand her beyond the opinions of others. She is to be taken at face value as the mad woman in the attic who stands between the clear love of Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre. This narration though does a disservice to the character Bertha Mason. She is denied her own story and is merely depicted as a voiceless villain. She is in no way capable of defending her actions or her character because she is not given the opportunity to speak for herself. Rather all the information we received about Bertha is from our narrator Jane and other characters such as Mr. Rochester. I would argue though that neither Jane nor Mr. Rochester can remain objective in their assessment of Bertha. Bertha is presented as the antithesis of English femininity; unlike Jane, she is not white and she is not virginal. All that is known about Bertha is her inability to be the ideal woman. Thus, Bertha Mason cannot be truly understood by readers. As an individual her identity largely remains hidden, preventing anyone from empathizing with her plight.

Jean Rhys offers Bertha Mason the opportunity to reclaim her own identity. At least partially. In Wide Sargasso Sea, readers are reintroduced to the idea of Bertha Mason before she becomes the woman in the attic; Antoinette. While this adaptation was written in 1966, approximately 120 years after Jane Eyre, it can still be understood to be a very impactful reimagination of the original novel. Antoinette is given the origin story that was denied to Bertha Mason; she is able to contextualize her journey from her home to the attic at Thornfield Hall. Rhys emphasizes that as a white Creole woman, Antoinette had always struggled with her sense of belonging. Her identity had been largely tied to her heritage and her family's complicated involvement with the plantations. While it is easy to delve into the moral and ethical implications of her family profiting off slavery, this can often minimize the experiences of the individuals. Antoinette as a child is a victim of circumstance who had no control over her family's actions. However, this knowledge further impacts her sense of identity as she cannot see herself beyond the image that society has created of her. Her existence itself largely depends on uncertainty as her ethnicity and heritage operate in between two opposing binaries the native who worked on the plantations and the English who exploit their work from overseas. Antoinette cannot depend on either binary to wholly claim her as their own. Rather she must be excluded and punished socially for not being able to commit herself to either part of her identity. This feeling of loneliness is further exasperated by her name being stripped from her by both locals and the English. She is often referred to as a "white cockroach" by the local children for being different (Rhys, 102). At the same time, she has heard the "English women call us [her family] white niggers" (102). Rhys repeated reference to taunts further aids the readers in seeing Anoinette's complicated existence. Since her birth, Antoinette has struggled with her sense of identity and has been incapable of controlling her outward perception.

However, Antoinette's transformation into Bertha Mason does not happen during her childhood. In fact, her complete separation from her remaining sense of self takes place after her unfortunate marriage to Rochester. Antoinette's childhood scars of abandonment and exclusion are further exasperated by Rochester's need for control and colonial morals. As an Englishman, Rochester views himself as the safeguarder of moral order. As a result, this white Creole woman he has married is the combative force that threatens his ability to restore order. This is an opinion that is echoed in the works of Ciolkowski who believes that Rochester needs to regain control of his home as his wife challenges him to continue the order of the English household (344). His feelings towards Antoinette, are largely hostile and speak to his ideas of femininity. It is a rigid perception of feminity that largely centres itself on examples set by white, Christian, and English society. Mr. Rochester does not see Antoinette as an individual but as an opposing figure to English womanhood. She does not present herself as he believes a true English woman, or more importantly, a "real" woman should. Rochester would not be alone in his sentiment as he is merely re-establishing the Western understanding of femininity. As stated by Burton, the "Anglo-Saxon Woman" was believed to be the standard of womanliness by British feminists (296). For obvious reasons, Antoinette is unable to compete against this archetype set by British women. Once more Antoinette is forced to reassess her outward presentation and her wavering sense of identity to appease her new husband. Her inability to conform to the desires of her husband and be molded into his acceptable ideas of femininity further confuses her relationship with herself. He refuses to recognize her not only as his wife but as a woman; every aspect of her being becomes subject to his manipulation. Rhys continues the cycle of a warped sense of identity by stripping Antoinette's name. While Rochester explains that the name Bertha is one that he "is particularly fond of," there is much more to the situation. It is a further claim of her identity and another attempt made by Rochester to transform Antoinette. As their marriage further derails and becomes increasingly hostile, Antoinette is further conditioned by her renaming and notes that "He never calls me Antoinette now" (Rhys 68).

Reading Wide Sargasso Sea, it helps to demystify the character of Bertha Mason. While she may not be seen as the ideal, virtuous heroine of the novella, she is certainly not the villain that Charlotte Bronte imagined her to be. Like many other women in strained relationships, Antoinette is no different. She struggles with her own self-image and identity. In attempts to reconcile her marriage, she is pushed further into the role of an English woman that she cannot occupy.

For my next blog post, we are going to do a little college work.

Stay Unoriginal.

Secondary Reading:

Burton, Antoinette. "The White Woman's Burden: British Feminists and the Indian Woman, 1865-1915." Women's Studies International Forum, vol .13, 1990, pp. 295-308.

Ciolkowski, Laura E.. "Navigating the Wide Sargasso Sea: Colonial History, English Fiction, and British Empire." Twentieth Century Literature, vol.43, no. 3, Autumn 1997, pp.339-359.

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. Penguins Classics, 2000.

Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6hq5UyX8GiM38ZVXh7HYG5?si=TAVfsPOnReWCoxyEdT5frg