Wide Sargasso

1. Wide Sargasso Thornfield By Rohan & Audrey

2. Thornfield “The thick walls, she thought. Past the Lodge gate a long avenue of trees and inside the house the blazing fires and the crimson and white rooms but above all the thick walls, keeping away all the things that you have fought till you can fight no more. Yes, maybe that’s why we all stay-Mrs Eff and Leah and me. All of us except that girl who lives in her own darkness.” By It suggesting crimson fires it foreshadows the future of Thornfield. The white used to describe the walls may connote the purity as no wrongs have happened yet although they soon will. The contrasting of the colours crimson and white create binary opposites that give a mixed impression of the house. She talks about the girl who lives by herself, after reading Jane Eyre us as readers know the truth about how the girl is actually herself. All of the quote seems to be a stream of consciousness as it isn’t in chronological order. Also the use of “Yes, maybe” makes it seem as if she's talking to herself, which may be a reason for Mr Rochester to think she is mad.

3. “There is one window high up-you can not see out of it. My bed had doors but they had been taken away. There is not much else in the room. Her bed, a black press, the table in the middle an two black chairs calved with fruit and flowers. They have high backs and no arms, the dressing room is very small. The room next to this one hung with tapestry.” This description of Thornfield symbolises Mr Rochester's power on Antoinette and his ability to control her. This is a perfect example of him taking away everything from Antoinette to make her go mad. Her restricted view of the outside world adds to the feeling that she’s being trapped in a room as if she was being kept a prisoner or hostage, this leaves the audience understanding why she’s been wrongly classed as mad. The use of listing of the objects in her room shows how she has been deprived of simple necessities, when she escapes in the night she then understands the difference in her life and the outside world. This contrast may be a reason for Antoinette to cause the fire.

4. “ That afternoon we went to England there was grass and olive green water and tall trees looking into the water. This I thought is England. If I could be there I could be well again and the sound in my head would stop. Let me stay a little longer I said and she sat down under a tree and went to sleep. A little way off there was a cart and horse-a woman was driving it. It was she who sold me the knife. I gave her the locket round my neck for it.” It seems that Antoinette is nostalgic by the thought of her being in England and able to get better. Her expectation of England is a huge contrast to her life at Thornfield. This leads on to her buying the knife. This creates suspense as some readers may not know what happens yet creating dramatic tension. The use of simple sentences reflects Antoinette's distorted mind thanks to Mr Rochester for controling

5. “I saw the grandfather clock and aunt Clora’s patchwork, all colours, I saw the orchids and the stephanotises and the jasmine and the tree of life in flames. I saw the chandelier and the red carpet downstairs and the bamboos and the tree firms, the gold firms and the silver, and the soft green velvet of the moss.” This extract foreshadows a lot of what’s going to happen in the future, a prime example of this is the flames, we know now after reading the book that she sets the house on fire. A lot of passion is created as she describes the red carpet connoting romance and blood together giving the scene a lot of passion. The gold and silver symbolises the wealth of Mr. Rochester which she wasn’t able to have any part of it. It’s as if she looks at the silver and gold realising what she should have had marrying Mr. Rochester.

6. Overall Antoinette's impression of Thornfield seems distorted from reality, by how she is treated by Mr. Rochester, allowing her imagination to run wild. A lot of the descriptions of her dreams foreshadows what’s going to happen in the near future. It’s as if she was planning the whole thing step by step but was thinking it was all a dream. The way Mr. Rochester treats her allows the audience to think that it’s his fault why she’s looked at as mad as anyone would become mad if they were locked in an attic like a prisoner not being able to even see out her window to the outside world. The ending could be seen as a fantasy a lot of it seems to be very dramatic as if it’s the worse case scenario that could of happened. Her becoming mad leads to her setting Thornfield on fire and not just running away, this could be maybe because she’s afraid of seeing the outside world because it’s been so long, so instead the passion she has locked inside her is released by her lighting the whole house in flames and attempting to murder Mr. Rochester.

7. THE END