Plot[edit]
The novel opens a short while after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 ended slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1834.[1] The protagonist Antoinette relates the story of her life from childhood to her arranged marriage to an unnamed Englishman (implied as Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre). As their marriage progresses, Antoinette, whom he renames "Bertha" and confines to a locked room, descends into madness.
The novel is split into three parts. Part One takes place in Coulibri, Jamaica and is narrated by Antoinette. Describing childhood experiences, she reviews several facets of her life, including her mother's mental instability and her mentally disabled brother's tragic death.
Part Two alternates between the points of view of her husband and of Antoinette during their 'honeymoon' excursion to Granbois, Dominica. Likely catalysts for Antoinette's downfall are the mutual suspicions that develop between the two and the machinations of Daniel, who claims he is Antoinette's (illegitimate) brother; he impugns Antoinette's reputation and mental state and demands hush money. Antoinette's old nurse Christophine's open mistrust of the Englishman and his belief in the hateful accounts about Antoinette aggravate the situation; then he openly becomes unfaithful to her. Her increased sense of paranoia and the bitter disappointment of her failing marriage unbalance Antoinette's already precarious mental and emotional state.
Part Three is the shortest part of the novel; it is again from the perspective of Antoinette, now known as Bertha. She is now largely confined to 'the attic' of Thornfield Hall, the Rochester mansion she calls the "Great House". The story traces her relationship with Grace, the servant who is tasked with guarding her as well as her ever more disintegrating non-life with the Englishman as he hides her from the world. He makes empty promises to come to her more, but actually sees less of her as he ventures off to pursue relationships with other women—and eventually with the young governess Jane Eyre. Voicing her thoughts in stream of consciousness and believing it her destiny, Antoinette/Bertha decides to take her own life.
Major themes[edit]
Wide Sargasso Sea is usually thought of as a postmodern and postcolonial response to Jane Eyre.[2][3] Rhys uses multiple voices (Antoinette's, Rochester's, and Grace Poole's) to tell the story, and deeply intertwines her novel's plot with that of Jane Eyre. In addition, Rhys makes a postcolonial argument when she ties Antoinette's husband's eventual rejection of Antoinette to her Creole heritage (a large factor in Antoinette's descent into madness). As postmodern and postcolonial literature have taken a greater place in university curricula, the novel has been taught to literature students more often in recent years.