Plot Overview
Part 1:
Wide Sargasso Sea’s opening scene explains the circumstances of the novel, and gives us the background information the reader needs to truly understand and analyze the main character, Antoinette. The audience learns that this white daughter of ex-slave owners is living on a plantation, the Coulibri Estate, with her widowed mother and sick brother. Antoinette’s one friend, Tia, was the daughter of a slave and unfortunately betrays her. This opening scene automatically draws the line between Antoinette, Annette, and their surroundings. They’re ostracized for being different and experience injustice because of their race. An English man named Mr. Mason asks Antoinette’s mother for her hand in marriage, and soon the new couple go off on a honeymoon to Trinidad. Antoinette and her brother Pierre stay behind on the island with their Aunt Cora. Mr. Mason has the mansion fixed and buys new servants, trying to make the mansion and the family what they once were. Unfortunately, the black population decides to display their growing tensions and unhappiness by protesting outside Antoinette’s home. The house is set on fire, Pierre is injured, and Antoinette suffers from a blow to her forehead from Tia. Antoinette is ill for several weeks and recovers to discover her brother has died. Her mother, Annette, has finally gone completely insane, and Antoinette barely recognizes the woman who violently pushes her away.Antoinette enrolls in school as her family goes their separate ways. Aunt Cora moved to Britain, and Mr. Mason leaves Jamaica for months at a time. On one of his visits, Mr. Mason tells Antoinette that he hopes to introduce her to society and marry her off, for she has finally come to the age of seventeen. This is the last that the reader hears from Antoinette’s point of view, and the end of Part 1.
Part 2:
Part 2 opens in the voice of Antoinette’s nameless husband, speaking of a wedding ceremony and honeymoon. This man shares he chose to marry Antoinette only a couple of days before, after Mr. Mason had offered him $30,000 for his proposal.The couple’s new home is Granbois, Antoinette’s inherited estate. Her husband grows uncomfortable and wary in the presence of the slaves, Antoinette, and her substitute mother Christophine. This tension grows when he receives a letter from Daniel Cosway, warning him of the dangers of the family and Antoinette’s emotional instability. In response to the growing tensions, Antoinette asks Christophine for a magic love potion to make her husband stop hating her and start loving her. However, her and her husband get into a heated argument about her life story, leading him to think he has been poisoned and is sick. To feel better, the nameless man decides to have sex with a servant girl. Antoinette is able to hear everything from the next room that she is sitting in. One day, Antoinette shows up at the house completely mad, and bites into her husband’s arm after refusing to go by the name of “Bertha”. Her husband makes the decision to leave Jamaica with her, closing Part 2 of the novel.
Part 3:
Part 3 opens with Antoinette’s narration once again, but this time from across the Atlantic Ocean in England. She finds herself locked in a dark room in her husband’s home. A strange woman named Grace Poole watches over her and cares for her. Unfortunately, Antoinette has no sense of time or place, and a terrible memory. This is proven when she attacks her stepbrother, Richard Mason, with a knife yet has no recollection of it. After having several repeated dreams of setting the mansion ablaze, Antoinette finally decides to act on it. The novel ends with her holding a candle and descending from her confinement upstairs. The significance of this final scene is crucial; with Wide Sargasso Sea being a companion novel to Jane Eyre, the reader is fully aware of what tragedy comes next. Antoinette is preparing for her final jump and will make a decision that proves to be life altering for everyone. Many believe that this final scene is where Antoinette experiences true freedom and free will. The fire in which she burns could symbolize her contained anger and frustrations that she uses as a tool for revenge.
Wide Sargasso Sea’s opening scene explains the circumstances of the novel, and gives us the background information the reader needs to truly understand and analyze the main character, Antoinette. The audience learns that this white daughter of ex-slave owners is living on a plantation, the Coulibri Estate, with her widowed mother and sick brother. Antoinette’s one friend, Tia, was the daughter of a slave and unfortunately betrays her. This opening scene automatically draws the line between Antoinette, Annette, and their surroundings. They’re ostracized for being different and experience injustice because of their race. An English man named Mr. Mason asks Antoinette’s mother for her hand in marriage, and soon the new couple go off on a honeymoon to Trinidad. Antoinette and her brother Pierre stay behind on the island with their Aunt Cora. Mr. Mason has the mansion fixed and buys new servants, trying to make the mansion and the family what they once were. Unfortunately, the black population decides to display their growing tensions and unhappiness by protesting outside Antoinette’s home. The house is set on fire, Pierre is injured, and Antoinette suffers from a blow to her forehead from Tia. Antoinette is ill for several weeks and recovers to discover her brother has died. Her mother, Annette, has finally gone completely insane, and Antoinette barely recognizes the woman who violently pushes her away.Antoinette enrolls in school as her family goes their separate ways. Aunt Cora moved to Britain, and Mr. Mason leaves Jamaica for months at a time. On one of his visits, Mr. Mason tells Antoinette that he hopes to introduce her to society and marry her off, for she has finally come to the age of seventeen. This is the last that the reader hears from Antoinette’s point of view, and the end of Part 1.
Part 2:
Part 2 opens in the voice of Antoinette’s nameless husband, speaking of a wedding ceremony and honeymoon. This man shares he chose to marry Antoinette only a couple of days before, after Mr. Mason had offered him $30,000 for his proposal.The couple’s new home is Granbois, Antoinette’s inherited estate. Her husband grows uncomfortable and wary in the presence of the slaves, Antoinette, and her substitute mother Christophine. This tension grows when he receives a letter from Daniel Cosway, warning him of the dangers of the family and Antoinette’s emotional instability. In response to the growing tensions, Antoinette asks Christophine for a magic love potion to make her husband stop hating her and start loving her. However, her and her husband get into a heated argument about her life story, leading him to think he has been poisoned and is sick. To feel better, the nameless man decides to have sex with a servant girl. Antoinette is able to hear everything from the next room that she is sitting in. One day, Antoinette shows up at the house completely mad, and bites into her husband’s arm after refusing to go by the name of “Bertha”. Her husband makes the decision to leave Jamaica with her, closing Part 2 of the novel.
Part 3:
Part 3 opens with Antoinette’s narration once again, but this time from across the Atlantic Ocean in England. She finds herself locked in a dark room in her husband’s home. A strange woman named Grace Poole watches over her and cares for her. Unfortunately, Antoinette has no sense of time or place, and a terrible memory. This is proven when she attacks her stepbrother, Richard Mason, with a knife yet has no recollection of it. After having several repeated dreams of setting the mansion ablaze, Antoinette finally decides to act on it. The novel ends with her holding a candle and descending from her confinement upstairs. The significance of this final scene is crucial; with Wide Sargasso Sea being a companion novel to Jane Eyre, the reader is fully aware of what tragedy comes next. Antoinette is preparing for her final jump and will make a decision that proves to be life altering for everyone. Many believe that this final scene is where Antoinette experiences true freedom and free will. The fire in which she burns could symbolize her contained anger and frustrations that she uses as a tool for revenge.