Rochester's estate in England recalls the estate of Coulibri
after the death of Mr. Cosway. At Rochester's house—which, although never
explicitly named in Wide Sargasso Sea, is known
to readers of Jane Eyre as "Thornfield Hall"—the
old servants have all been sent away, just as Coulibri emptied after
the death of Mr. Cosway. Suspicion pervades both estates. Just as
Annette distrusted the black servants, so Rochester distrusts his
own English ones. He offers money to Grace Poole in exchange for
her silence and discretion. Transformed into a cynical realist,
Rochester understands and accepts human greed, even though he previously
condemned it in Daniel Cosway. He knows his command over his servants
is tenuous, as was the Cosway's at Coulibri; authority cannot be
assumed, but must be bought.
In one passage, Rhys allows us to hear Grace's private
thoughts, revealing a similarity between Grace and Antoinette. Grace,
like Antoinette in her time at the convent, fears the world outside
of Thornfield Hall, feeling safe behind its thick stone walls. In
showing Grace's vulnerability, Rhys gives her a reason for playing
such a detestable part in Antoinette's cruel captivity. While Rhys
never condones Grace's immoral actions, she does explain them, lending
a fairness to her rewriting of Brontë's text.
Antoinette's narrative in Part Three works to humanize
our conception of the Creole madwoman as shaped by Brontë's novel. Given
the emptiness of Antoinette's days and her isolation from the outside
world, she necessarily loses track of time and place. Otherwise,
Antoinette seems to be lucid, as she questions the reasons for her
captivity and abuse. We feel firsthand the horror of her entrapment,
which calls to mind the slavery in her native land. The ocean voyage
from the Caribbean to England, while reversing the direction of
the transatlantic slave routes, recalls such images of terror, confusion,
and discomfort. Interestingly, the barbarity of Antoinette's enslavement
takes place on the western island that Rochester believes to be
the seat of civilized logic and reason.
