Wide Sargasso Sea

Prompt A- Relationship between men and women, and the differences in their role in society, are central considerations in many works of literature. Discuss the part they plan in Wide Sargasso Sea.
Thesis: Men and women in the nineteenth century typically existed in a patriarchal or male dominated society. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette and Rochester can be seen as stereotypically gendered characters. Examining the couple’s relationship demonstrates preset notions of gender roles as they manifest through economic dominance, societal expectations, and the presence of sisterhood.
Topic Sentence 1: Men of the nineteenth century dominated women economically based on patriarchal ideology. In the marriage of Antoinette and Mr. Rochester, we can clearly see a play of economic power and dominance. Antoinette is forced to be subversive.
Evidence:

·      In one scene, Antoinette runs to Christophine for advice on how to make Mr. Rochester pay attention to her and make him love her again because that is her only alternative to leaving him. Antoinette understands that she is in a situation where she is economically powerless, “He will not come after me. And you must understand I am not rich now, I have no money of my own at all, everything I had belongs to him…that is the English law” (Rhys, 69). When Mr. Rochester comes to the island to marry Antoinette he is offered Antoinette’s dowry and her estate. According to English laws at the time, the husband becomes the rightful owner of any wealth or estate the wife might have had prior to their marriage. Antoinette’s choices are limited. She is dependent on her husband and cannot leave him to make a better life for herself.

Topic Sentence 2: Mr. Rochester and Antoinette conform to certain social expectations that define masculinity and femininity.
Evidence:

·      Mr. Rochester thinks that Antoinette is irrational and interprets her rage as madness that she has inherited from her mother. In a patriarchal society, men define women’s verbal and physical attacks as a sure sign of madness. Women who show physical and verbal rage are abandoned by men as “crazy”, as well as “unfeminine”. Rage is Antoinette’s own way of rejecting Mr. Rochester’s dominance and the many years of being colonized. She is refusing his superiority.

·      His expectations of women of his class are based on nineteenth century English values of sexual reticence and respectability

·      When Antoinette fails to reach these standards in his eyes, he starts to see her beauty as being deceitful and as non-English, alien and Other

·      He uses his dominance to injure and imprison her. He not only renames her but calls her his marionette, his puppet as well as his mad girl. Defining her as mad also puts her in his power.

·      The importance of appearance in constructing a woman's identity

·      Appropriate behavior for a young woman of her class is taught at the convent school. It is not intellectual, but focused on accomplishments, passivity and obedience to Catholic teaching of a relaxed kind

·      Her infidelity defies the Christian model of chastity. There are intimations that Antoinette has had a relationship with Sandi that continued after her marriage

Topic Sentence 3: Sisterhood is present in this novel, especially in Antoinette and Christophine’s relationship. Sisterhood is a challenge against patriarchal oppression. Men do not understand sisterhood. Sisterhood threatens men and their position in a patriarchal society.
Evidence:

·      Attempting to make Mr. Rochester pay attention to her, Antoinette visits Christophine to get a “love potion”. Antoinette slips the potion into Mr. Rochester’s wine which makes him restless and sleepy. Mr. Rochester later realizes that it is the combination of Antoinette and Christophine and the alliance they have that makes him loose control.

·      Subsequently, he believes that the sisterhood of Antoinette and Christophine can affect his position as a dominant figure in his marriage. Mr. Rochester tries to break up this sisterhood. In one scene, he tries to convince Antoinette that Christophine is nothing but trouble. “Christophine is an evil woman and you know it as well as I do,...She won’t stay here very much longer”. Mr. Rochester threatens to call the police to remove Christophine from the island.