Summary
Christophine blames Rochester for Antoinette's hysterical
state. Christophine has been caring for Antoinette since Antoinette
fled Granbois the morning after Rochester's tryst with Amelie. Over
the last few days, Christophine has cared for, fed, and calmed Antoinette.
Undressing Antoinette for bed, Christophine has seen evidence that
Rochester is rough with her. Christophine says she knows all about
crimes of passion.
Rochester accusingly asks Christophine what she has done
to make his wife seem so transformed. Christophine scoffs at Rochester
when he calls Antoinette his wife. She knows that he married Antoinette
for the money and that he tried to fool her into loving him, getting
her hooked on sex to control her. Christophine accuses Rochester
of trying to "break [Antoinette] up," calling her names like "Bertha"
and "Marionette" to further fragment her. Christophine also blames
Rochester for intending for Antoinette to hear him having sex with
Amelie, another deliberate attempt to harm her. Rochester silently
admits to all of these charges.
Rochester then presses Christophine again to tell him
why Antoinette is so changed. Christophine admits to giving Antoinette
some rum to soothe her. On hearing this, Rochester accuses Christophine of
turning his wife into a drunk. Christophine, in turn, pleads with Rochester
to try loving Antoinette. Hearing that he will not, Christophine
asks him to return half of Antoinette's dowry and to put Antoinette
in Christophine's care.
Rochester considers this option until Christophine mentions
a remarriage for Antoinette, at which point Rochester orders Christophine
out of his house and threatens to call the police. He decides to take
Antoinette to see doctors in Spanish Town. Christophine spits on
the floor in anger, suspecting that Rochester will conspire with the
doctors to declare Antoinette mad and lock her away, just as Mr. Mason
treated Antoinette's mother.
After Christophine leaves, Rochester writes to his father
that he and his wife are returning to Jamaica for "unforeseen circumstances,"
insinuating that his father knows what he means. In his mind, Rochester
accuses his father of never caring for him and of conspiring to
get rid of him. As Rochester writes, a cock crows outside his window,
and he throws a book at it. Drinking rum, he sketches a childlike
drawing of a house, surrounded by tress, with a stick-figure woman
looking out from a window.
Analysis
The confrontation between Christophine and Rochester pits
the feminine world of the tropics against Rochester's more rational
and masculine—according to Rochester's worldview—English culture. Both
culture and gender collide in this encounter. Authoritative and defiant,
Christophine breaks every colonial taboo: she is a black servant
who condemns and humiliates a wealthy white man. She becomes his
judge, demanding that he explain his tryst with Amelie. Generations
of white slave owners before Rochester have slept with their servants,
but the times have now changed; a new order has replaced the old
one. Rochester, who is trying to emulate the more powerful Englishmen
before him, is surprised that he is held accountable for such an
act. His manhood and the privilege of his race consistently fail
him with Christophine, who emasculates him with her demand that
he confess. In this regard, Christophine challenges the colonial
power structure.
