The voice of the narration of the second part of Wide Sargasso Sea is mysteriously unnamed. Many critics interpret him as Mr. Rochester of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. I believe that he remains unnamed as a symbol of distance. Throughout part two, Mr. Rochester is depicted as a stranger who knows nothing of the culture/social circumstances in which he lives with his new wife, Antoinette. In many instances, people are described as glancing askance at Mr. Rochester and other at times the people who serve him are described as suppressing a mocking laugh. In addition, there are many people trying to sway his perspective. Daniel Cosway (Boyd) attempts to skew Mr. Rochester's impression of Antoinette by telling him that she will become crazy as did her mother.
It is obvious that names play an important rule in character depiction. The fact that Daniel Boyd refers to himself as a Cosway may be his way of increasing his appearance of disdain towards white people (because it greatly discredits the Cosways if he is seen as both a relative and a slave to them). Even the name Antoinette plays an important role in associating Antoinette to her mother, Annete (causing people to predict that Antoinette will end up just like her mother, that is, insane). Mr. Rochester, who lacks a name in this novel, is thus seen as a stranger. He has no place in a land such as Granois and is seen as a complete alien.
If he were to be adressed as "Mr. Rochester" in the novel, it would seem as if he were accepted which is not true. The people in Granois are hiding things from him. Even the land "kept its secrets." (52. This version of Wide Sargasso Sea was edited by Judith L. Raiskin) and Mr. Rochester has no way of discovering them because he is a true stranger: someone who does not understand the culture.
1 comment:
Good points--the sense of Rochester as a stranger in a strange land is crucial to the dynamic of his narration in part 2. I think Rhys doesn't want to give away the game too easily here--readers who think they "know" Rochester from Eyre's novel might not recognize him in this younger incarnation, and this is important. He's not *yet* the bold, "prideful," and mysteriously wounded guy from _Jane Eyre_--he's a young man trying hard to please his father and to overcome a sense that he's not valued as much as his older brother. And he brings all this baggage to the doomed relationship with Antoinette . . .
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