Analytical Paper
Love is a crazy and powerful thing. When you love someone, you can convince yourself of things that may not be real or do things that you ordinarily would never do. In Jean Rhys’ novel, Wide Sea Sargasso, Bertha Antoinette Mason is driven insane because of her love for Rochester. It is a hot and passionate love that is not reciprocated and therefor leads her to insanity. In the movie, Jane Eyre, Jane and Rochester fall madly in love with one another, but Jane terminates their relationship for the sake of her self respect.
In the novel, Wide Sea Sargasso, Antoinette is never good enough throughout her entire childhood. She is unloved by her mother and betrayed by her only friend. A riot ended with her entire home being burned down and a few years later she is sent to a desolate school to live an extremely lonely childhood. Antoinette never really knows what it means to be loved or to have someone love you. She avoids people at all costs because they speak rumors about her and harass her for being a different race than them. Antoinette prefers to take a back road with no path or track for her to walk because she feels that “. . . If the razor grass cut my legs and arms I would think ‘It’s better than people.’ Black ants or red ones, tall nests swarming with white ants, rain that soaked me to the skin. . . All better than people” (Rhys 28). She detests being around others and would rather inflict physical pain upon herself than be around others. When she reaches the age of seventeen, Richard Mason, her step-father, visits her and tells her of an arrangement that he has made for her to come and live with him and an English acquaintance of his. Leaving her school and entering the real world terrifies Antoinette because she has been confined to her school for so long. In the past, Antoinette struggled with other people because of their hatred and abuse towards her, and she does not know how she will do in the real world now that she is a grown woman.
Antoinette and Rochester marry six weeks or so after meeting. The majority of this time, Rochester is severely ill. Richard Mason paid Rochester’s family a great deal of money for Antoinette to marry Rochester. As their marriage progresses, Antoinette develops strong feelings for Rochester, but he feels nothing for her. Every now and then he has a sexual attraction to her, but he does not love her. On the day of their wedding, Rochester said “. . . It meant nothing to me. Nor did she, the girl that I was to marry” (Rhys 76). Antoinette has never been loved and now that she has a husband, she cannot help but put all that she has into loving him. Antoinette is not oblivious, she knows that Rochester does not love her back. She tries all that she can to make him love her; she wears clothes he likes and tries to do all that she can to make him happy. All of her attempts fail so she turns to her old servant, Christophine. Antoinette knows that Christophine works the black magic known as Obeah and that she is very skilled in it. Antoinette and Christophine discuss the powers that Christophine has and Antoinette says, “‘Yes you can, I know you can. That is what I wish and that is why I came here. You can make people love or hate. Or. . . or die’” (Rhys 112). Antoinette wishes for Christophine to fix her a spell to cast on Rochester to make him love her again. Antoinette loves Rochester so much that she is willing to use magic in order to make him love her again, even if it is just for one evening. In her right mind, Antoinette would never have to do this, but the love that she has is so strong and so overpowering that she sees no other options. Her magic works for one night, but after that evening it all goes downhill for Antoinette and Rochester. Antoinette literally goes insane and they both develop a strong hatred for one another. While packing to leave for England Rochester says, “ You hate me and I hate you. We’ll see who hates best” (Rhys 170). The rejection from Rochester drives Bertha Antoinette Mason insane to the point where she no longer acts or looks like a normal human.
In the 2011 version of the movie Jane Eyre, Jane and Rochester fall madly in love. Similar to Antoinette’s rough upbringing, Jane is unloved by her aunt and all of her cousins. She is sent to a school where she is treated very harshly as a student and teacher. Around the age of 19, she takes a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall teaching Adele Varens, Rochester’s child. Upon his first visit to Thornfield, Rochester takes an immediate liking to Jane. He finds her to be peculiar and extremely intriguing. As the time passes, they both develop strong feelings for one another. The feelings are so strong that Jane is willing to hide her feelings for Rochester while he marries another woman. She tells him that she will need to seek other employment, but she keeps her feelings a secret because all that she wants is for him to be happy. After he asks her how she feels about him, she tells him that she is madly in love with him, and he tells her that he feels the same.Jane has always been pusillanimous around male figures, so it is very unlike her to be so upfront and blunt with Rochester about how she feels. It works in her benefit though because after he hears this, he proposes to her in this scene and they begin to rapidly plan the wedding. As Jane and Rochester are standing at the altar, Richard Mason barges in and stops the wedding because Rochester is still married to Bertha Antoinette Mason. After this, Rochester shows Bertha to Jane and from that point on, Jane knows that she can no longer marry Rochester. She tells him that she must leave him in order to respect herself. Jane loves Rochester with all of her being, just as Antoinette did, but Jane does the unthinkable and leaves Rochester. If Bertha was never in the picture, Jane would have stayed with him in a heartbeat, but she did not want to let herself be disrespected any longer, so she leaves.
Love is a tricky thing. We can love unconditionally and never be loved back, just as Antoinette does, or we can love unconditionally just to be broken in the end, just as Jane is. Both Antoinette and Jane do things that are uncommon for them due to their passionate love for Rochester. In an attempt to win Rochester’s love Antoinette puts a spell on him for an evening. In an attempt to respect herself, Jane leaves the one person that she loves the most in the world. Which is the best testament of true love? We may never know.
Works Cited
Jane Eyre. Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga. Perf. Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender. Focus Features and Universal Pictures, 2011. Netflix.
Rhys, Jean. Wide Sea Sargasso. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1966. Print.
In the novel, Wide Sea Sargasso, Antoinette is never good enough throughout her entire childhood. She is unloved by her mother and betrayed by her only friend. A riot ended with her entire home being burned down and a few years later she is sent to a desolate school to live an extremely lonely childhood. Antoinette never really knows what it means to be loved or to have someone love you. She avoids people at all costs because they speak rumors about her and harass her for being a different race than them. Antoinette prefers to take a back road with no path or track for her to walk because she feels that “. . . If the razor grass cut my legs and arms I would think ‘It’s better than people.’ Black ants or red ones, tall nests swarming with white ants, rain that soaked me to the skin. . . All better than people” (Rhys 28). She detests being around others and would rather inflict physical pain upon herself than be around others. When she reaches the age of seventeen, Richard Mason, her step-father, visits her and tells her of an arrangement that he has made for her to come and live with him and an English acquaintance of his. Leaving her school and entering the real world terrifies Antoinette because she has been confined to her school for so long. In the past, Antoinette struggled with other people because of their hatred and abuse towards her, and she does not know how she will do in the real world now that she is a grown woman.
Antoinette and Rochester marry six weeks or so after meeting. The majority of this time, Rochester is severely ill. Richard Mason paid Rochester’s family a great deal of money for Antoinette to marry Rochester. As their marriage progresses, Antoinette develops strong feelings for Rochester, but he feels nothing for her. Every now and then he has a sexual attraction to her, but he does not love her. On the day of their wedding, Rochester said “. . . It meant nothing to me. Nor did she, the girl that I was to marry” (Rhys 76). Antoinette has never been loved and now that she has a husband, she cannot help but put all that she has into loving him. Antoinette is not oblivious, she knows that Rochester does not love her back. She tries all that she can to make him love her; she wears clothes he likes and tries to do all that she can to make him happy. All of her attempts fail so she turns to her old servant, Christophine. Antoinette knows that Christophine works the black magic known as Obeah and that she is very skilled in it. Antoinette and Christophine discuss the powers that Christophine has and Antoinette says, “‘Yes you can, I know you can. That is what I wish and that is why I came here. You can make people love or hate. Or. . . or die’” (Rhys 112). Antoinette wishes for Christophine to fix her a spell to cast on Rochester to make him love her again. Antoinette loves Rochester so much that she is willing to use magic in order to make him love her again, even if it is just for one evening. In her right mind, Antoinette would never have to do this, but the love that she has is so strong and so overpowering that she sees no other options. Her magic works for one night, but after that evening it all goes downhill for Antoinette and Rochester. Antoinette literally goes insane and they both develop a strong hatred for one another. While packing to leave for England Rochester says, “ You hate me and I hate you. We’ll see who hates best” (Rhys 170). The rejection from Rochester drives Bertha Antoinette Mason insane to the point where she no longer acts or looks like a normal human.
In the 2011 version of the movie Jane Eyre, Jane and Rochester fall madly in love. Similar to Antoinette’s rough upbringing, Jane is unloved by her aunt and all of her cousins. She is sent to a school where she is treated very harshly as a student and teacher. Around the age of 19, she takes a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall teaching Adele Varens, Rochester’s child. Upon his first visit to Thornfield, Rochester takes an immediate liking to Jane. He finds her to be peculiar and extremely intriguing. As the time passes, they both develop strong feelings for one another. The feelings are so strong that Jane is willing to hide her feelings for Rochester while he marries another woman. She tells him that she will need to seek other employment, but she keeps her feelings a secret because all that she wants is for him to be happy. After he asks her how she feels about him, she tells him that she is madly in love with him, and he tells her that he feels the same.Jane has always been pusillanimous around male figures, so it is very unlike her to be so upfront and blunt with Rochester about how she feels. It works in her benefit though because after he hears this, he proposes to her in this scene and they begin to rapidly plan the wedding. As Jane and Rochester are standing at the altar, Richard Mason barges in and stops the wedding because Rochester is still married to Bertha Antoinette Mason. After this, Rochester shows Bertha to Jane and from that point on, Jane knows that she can no longer marry Rochester. She tells him that she must leave him in order to respect herself. Jane loves Rochester with all of her being, just as Antoinette did, but Jane does the unthinkable and leaves Rochester. If Bertha was never in the picture, Jane would have stayed with him in a heartbeat, but she did not want to let herself be disrespected any longer, so she leaves.
Love is a tricky thing. We can love unconditionally and never be loved back, just as Antoinette does, or we can love unconditionally just to be broken in the end, just as Jane is. Both Antoinette and Jane do things that are uncommon for them due to their passionate love for Rochester. In an attempt to win Rochester’s love Antoinette puts a spell on him for an evening. In an attempt to respect herself, Jane leaves the one person that she loves the most in the world. Which is the best testament of true love? We may never know.
Works Cited
Jane Eyre. Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga. Perf. Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender. Focus Features and Universal Pictures, 2011. Netflix.
Rhys, Jean. Wide Sea Sargasso. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1966. Print.