Plot Summary_ Wide Sargasso Sea
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00:00Plot Summary 56, Widesugasosee.
00:05Copyright Act 2013 Raja Sharma.
00:11Introduction
00:12Widesugasosee by Jean Rice was published in 1966.
00:19It is a post-colonial parallel novel.
00:24After the publication of her first novel Good Morning, Midnight which was published
00:29in 1939, Jean Rice was almost forgotten because she lived away from the mainstream literary
00:36circles and spent her time in obscurity, but Widesugasosee brought her back into limelight
00:43once again.
00:45It became her most successful work of fiction.
00:51She appears to be acting as a prequel to Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte.
00:57The story of the novel Widesugasosee revolves around Antoinette Causeway, who was known
01:03as Bertha Mason in Bronte's novel Jane Eyre.
01:08Antoinette Causeway happens to be a white Creole heiress.
01:13The story describes the time from her youth in the Caribbean to her unhappy married life
01:18with Mr. Rochester, and then her relocation to England.
01:25She neither belongs to the white Europeans nor the black Jamaicans, but she is caught
01:30in an oppressive patriarchal society.
01:34The author brings back to life once again Charlotte Bronte's devilish mad women in
01:39the attic.
01:42The novel is basically raised on the fundamental themes of racial inequality and the adversities
01:48of displacement and the ultimate assimilation.
01:51It is one of the greatest classic post-colonial works of fiction.
01:58Plot Summary
02:00In the year 1833 the slaves are emancipated in British and Jamaica.
02:06The story of the novel opens shortly after the emancipation.
02:13Antoinette Causeway is the protagonist of the novel.
02:17She starts narrating the story of her life from her youth to her arranged marriage to
02:22an unnamed Englishman.
02:24This Englishman is implied as Mr. Rochester from Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre.
02:33After the marriage, with the progression of time, her husband renames Antoinette as Bertha.
02:39She begins to descend into madness with this change of name.
02:46The story of the novel is divided into three parts.
02:50The first part of the novel is set in Calibri, Jamaica.
02:54It is narrated by the protagonist, Antoinette.
02:58She narrates her childhood experiences in great details.
03:03She adds various facets of her life to the story, such as the mental instability of her
03:09mother, and the tragic death of her mentally disabled brother.
03:15The second part of the novel includes the points of views of both Antoinette and her
03:20husband.
03:22This part is set in Grand Boy, Dominica, after Antoinette's marriage.
03:28Right from the start of the marriage, Antoinette and her husband begin to view each other with
03:33suspicion.
03:35Daniel Causeway, Boyd, happens to be a supposed relative of Antoinette.
03:40He adds fuel to the prevailing tension between Antoinette and her husband.
03:47Christophine happens to be Antoinette's old nurse.
03:51She does not trust Antoinette's husband.
03:55Rochester believes in Daniel Causeway.
03:58All this further aggravates the situation.
04:02Finally, her husband becomes unfaithful to Antoinette.
04:07She is mentally disturbed.
04:11The third part of the novel is the shortest.
04:15It has been presented from the perspective of Antoinette who is now known as Bertha.
04:20She lives with Rochester in the Rochester mansion.
04:24She calls that mansion the Great House.
04:29The third part of the book traces her relationship with a servant named Grace.
04:35He is given the task of guarding Antoinette in England.
04:39Rochester continues to hide her from the world, and it worsens the situation.
04:45The relationship is further tensed.
04:50Rochester often promises Antoinette to visit her more frequently, but his visits decrease
04:56in numbers because he has relationships with other women.
05:00Finally, there is his relationship with Jane Eyre.
05:06In this part of the book, Bertha's narration includes a stream of consciousness.
05:11She finally decides to commit suicide because she comes to believe that it is her destiny.
05:18The novel ends on a tragic note.
05:23Critical Analysis
05:25The novel is set in the period that sees the downfall of the English colonialism in
05:31the Caribbean.
05:32At first the black slaves were emancipated.
05:36The main story is set in the days a few days after the execution of the Emancipation Acts.
05:44The downfall of the British colonialism is one of the important themes of the novel.
05:51After the emancipation, the Calabria state is impoverished and hard times begin.
05:57The English seem to be struggling to maintain their grip over the island after the emancipation
06:02of the black slaves.
06:05People refuse to work for them, and they become a kind of hated lot.
06:11Rochester continues to dominate Antoinette, and it seems that through his character the
06:17author is trying to present the British fight to maintain their economic and legal control
06:23over a territory.
06:26In the opening of the novel, the theme of nostalgia plays a very significant part.
06:32Antoinette reflects upon her past and the prosperity of the house.
06:37All that was there in the past is gone now.
06:41She continues to long for a return of those happy days of her girlhood.
06:48There was a big garden in Calibri, but now it is all ruined.
06:52The story very descriptively presents the agony of the people who do not belong to either
06:58of the major communities, the freed black slaves and the white European ruling class.
07:06Antoinette has not seen England and she has only stories of England told by others.
07:12After her marriage she thinks that her dream will be fulfilled, but she finds a sudden
07:17change of behaviour in her husband.
07:20He is guided by the monetary aspects of the marriage.
07:24He has married Antoinette to lift himself from his impoverished state.
07:31On the other hand, Antoinette, believing that her husband will keep her happy, gives
07:36him everything that she has inherited.
07:39She has to suffer for she is too naive to understand the ways of the world.
07:45Her world had been limited to the island where she was born and brought up.
07:51On deep observation, we can conclude the Rochester viewed the period and a circumstance after
07:57his marriage only from the angle which was British, without ever trying to know the reality
08:03of Antoinette's past.
08:07Though Christophine tries to acquaint him with the reality of Antoinette's and her mother's
08:12real past life, Rochester is not ready to listen to her, because he has firmly believed
08:19that Christophine is a bad woman and she practices the dark arts, as told him by others.
08:27The readers who are familiar with Jane Eyre can easily get to the bottom of the intricacies
08:32presented in the present novel while it's a gaseousy.
08:36Though setting is different, time period is different, many of the characters are different,
08:42yet one can easily presume that the novel has been highly influenced and in fact guided
08:48and instructed by Jane Eyre.