this story is not trying to ruin jane eyre, it simply allowing the audiance to realise that there is 2 sides to a story. this story gives the 'mad woman in the attic', Antoinette, a voice and demonstrates why she decends into madness. so i like this movie. i just think of it as a seperate story from jane eyre. so it doesnt make me mad at all.
@nadeleter1 same here - people need to get over it, in Jane Eyre the Creole woman Bertha was made out to be the monster. These people need to read the book or realise that Antoinette is a tortured soul, it's not all about Mr Rochester!
Bronte wrote to her readers that she did not intend for Bertha to be a true villain (Jane DOES call out on Rochester's abuse in the book thus giving her a reason to flee from him until his character develops). Bronte DID wanted Bertha to be sympathetic, but she mentioned in her letter that she did fumble with the portrayal.
Fans of Jane Eyre who get mad about WSS have clearly not read WSS. Rochester in WSS isn't simply some evil man. He's a tool of his brother and father-it's just as a man in a patriarchal society he can lock Antoinette in a tower and travel the world to deal with his problems. Antoinette has no option but to go nuts.
Both JS and WSS are great books. And this version of WSS is Rebecca Hall is top notch too!
@wildcatste agreed. I read both WSS and Jane Eyre and liked both though I will admit to not liking Rochester in either book. Its just that WSS explores the circumstances that made both Rochester and Antoinette into the people that we see in Jane Eyre. I see no reason for Jane Eyre fans to get so upset about this.
Rebecca Hall is a fantastic actress and WSS has always been one of my favourite reads. I can see why Bronte fans get angry, neverthless given Rhys' own history, she writes a moving account and justifies the madness that overtakes Antoinette / Bertha.
How can this be called a prequel to Jane Eyre when it was written by a completely different author? That's complete crap. Come up with your own characters instead of stealing and ruining other people's.
@ashleydee521 Noone ruined the characters. Jean simply gave an insight into Bertha's life and story. Whereas Bronte's novel was focussed on Jane's life.
@Safura1601 Except that it wasn't Jean Rhy's place to give insight into Bertha's life. Bertha is not her character. The only person who can tell us Bertha's story is Charlotte Bronte.
The is just another take on the character of Rochester's 1st wife.I dont believe that it was written in prejudice in Bronte's version, but that the wife was indeed mad, and not simply discriminated against because of her race. After all, Rochester did marry her. And Rochester was by no means, someone who cared about race, class or society's expectations in the books. Though this is a different take on the character, I don't agree with it in terms of JAne Eyre. But. To each his/her own.
I appreciate Jean Rhys because she gave the "mad woman "a voice we only heard one part of the story which is unfair.. But wide sargasso's Sea has made me dislike Rochester to the Core
@221Verona I think WSS the book (and this version with Rebecca Hall) are quite good. Both Rochester and Antoinette are basically tools of the people around them. It's just that Rochester, as a man in a patriarchal world, can deal with his problems by going off travelling the world and drinking. Doesn't excuse Rochester- but you don't end the film or the book hating him. Antoinette doesn't have the options Rochester does- all she can do is lose her mind.
Ugh. Has no one read Jane Eyre?! If so how could you possibily be okay with they way Rochester is being show in this story? This is utter rubbish. Why not, lets all just jump on the bandwagon of making the male characters in good books out to be monsters - should we start a slander darcy fest too? Rochester is my all time favorite male character in literature and this is complete trash about him that doesn't go along with the person Bronte wrote.
And last, Bertha may actually represent Bronte's society views of sins in women that needs to be locked up and hidden and kept from society.. because women are supposed to be gentile, modest, and suppressed like Jane Eyre, but also brave and strong internally. And although you can't eliminate the "sins" and "sexuality" of women from society, you can certainly try to hide it by severe suppression (which is the symbolism of Bertha in the attic).
Second, if he was as bad as its portrayed, he'd lock her up in the villa and not take her to Thornfield, but refused because he still wanted to put her in a decent home (as mentioned in the novel).. Lastly, he could have easily pushed her to her death during the fire, instead of reaching for her when she jumped.
this looks rubbish and comletely not like the novel at all...Antoinette is supposed to have a Dominican accent becuase she has lived there all her life hence her being CREOLE so why oh why is her accent out and out BRITISH...what an utterly rubbish rendition...slanderous to the amazing book by Jean Rhys!
The reason why I don't respond well to this book is that I read Jane Eyre 1st and it was published 1st. Because of that I see WSS as a "what if", as in what someone fancies the situation between Rochester and his wife may have been. But in my mind it was what Bronte said it was. All of this of course is fiction but when people start characterizing the Rochester from JE as the man in WSS it bothers me. To me Rochester's character is only defined by JE and WSS should never be considered a prequel.
@Kimmywibi i was so affected by this novel though i did read JE first. i never really admired roch to begin with and WSS made me hate him with a passion.
no doubt WSS can be read as a "what if" but, there is also a "what you did not know" and what those who have been "silenced" aspect that Rhys is trying to bring up. that is really the main point of WSS i suppose...
@Kimmywibi I certainly agree. First, in Jane Eyre, Bronte writes that Rochester didn't loathe Bertha and locked her up because she was mad, but because prior to the full blown insanity, she was a drunk and had a filthy mouth, and her family pretty much tricked him into the marriage with very little interaction, so how is this novel a prequel? Rochester also says that if Jane was a lunatic, he'd care for her tenderly as he wouldn't Bertha because the violence in Bertha's madness was pre-existing
@Kimmywibi this isn't just about giving jane eyre a backstory. jean rhys's novels are post-colonial, & dealt w/ individualism, prejudice & oppression. she had "terrifying insight & passion for stating the case of the underdog." also, i see Wide Sargasso Sea as an homage to, or continuation of, the work of Anne Bronte. unlike her 2 sisters, who wrote in the romantic style w/ violent leads like rochester & heathcliff, she was an early realist; the violence in her book was real & not likeable.
@Kimmywibi AMEN!! This story makes be so angry - beyond angry. This is not the Rochester that Bronte wrote - she wouldn't have had her heroine end up with a monster. I wish people would stick with original stories and leave the classics alone - be satisfied with the way the story was written without all this additional garbage. Grrr....so angry.
@Koschnitzgirl Mr Rochester becomes a 'monster. in WSS because he feels so alienated and deceived in the foreign world of the Caribbean. Readers of WSS may pity him as he is pressured into the marriage with Antoinette, he is certainly not portrayed as a monster but as a confused and damaged man.
@Koschnitzgirl Jean Rhys's postcolonial retelling of the english classic is as valid and important as the original Jane Eyre. Rhys gives voice to the previously silenced subaltern, and in doing so she creates an alternative narrative that is as neccessary as it is compelling. Please read the book before randomly labeling it garbage. Btw, Charlotte Bronte was racist and xenophobic like most of her peers. I say this as a bronte fan. I've read her novels countless times.
@Koschnitzgirl this comment actually proves that you didnt read Jane Eyre properly, Jane 'ends up' with Rochester after he changes and realises his mistakes. Bronte wrote how Rochester locked his wife in an aireless attic, The author of wws, was a creole woman, the same as bertha, she 're-writes' bertha, in order to show an colonising readership what really happened over seas, and how difficult it would have been growing up between two worlds.
...I thought Rochester's wife's name was BERTHA. Is this name changing explained, or did they just go with a different, prettier name? I always thought Bertha didn't sound very exotic for a creole woman. I know she is called Bertha Antionetta Mason at one point... bah. And Rochester with short hair? BLASPHEMOUS!
@Laneh there is a very deep and profound meaning to this, which makes Antoinette paranoid and hateful towards Edwin Rochester. She revels in the fact that she is a Creole Woman, on the island the Creole Society places themselves high above the slaves. The slaves names were changed by their masters without their permission stripping them of their identity and their culture, which born a great hatred and disgust of them by the slaves.
@Laneh Now consider this, by Rochester changing Antoinette's name, he strips her of her identity and her culture. In essence he is telling her that there is nothing special about her, she is no more above the slaves on the island, than she is of him. Listen closely at how he speaks of her home, and how he looks at her and the slaves.
@ladyfrady Rochester changed her name. By Rochester changing Antoinette's name, he strips her of her identity and her culture. In essence he is telling her that there is nothing special about her, she is no more above the slaves on the island, than she is of him. Listen closely at how he speaks of her home, and how he looks at her and the slaves.
1993 was way better anntoinette was supposed to be exotic and creole but this girl looks 100 percent white not creole or mixed blood at all. 1993 girl was beautiful better than this film. More like the book.
@Chader97 well in jane's mind creole meant that she was WHITE creole...meaning born in the carribean...lol...there are different definitions of creole...anyway if it means anything the girl who play anntoinette IS half black....her mom is light skinned opera singer
*shudders* her promise at 1.32 made cold thrills run down my back. only after i finished watching that part did i realise the depth of her spiteful promise.
Well, that's not true. If you read the book carefully, you'll find that Rochester (who is never called so) is portrayed sympathetically; most of the story is even told by his POV! We learn,by several hints, that he hated his family, the way they trainded him, how he had never learnt to express his own feelings.
Bronte is quick to describe Jamaica as a lustful and immoral land, not suited for an honest man, but Rhys makes clear that the English man's real fear is himself, his unexpressed feelings and wants. His real fault wasn't being scared or even hating the place, but not understanding that his wife felt the same about the arranged marriage, about their new lives, their future.He chose to solve things his way, putting himself above everything,not listening to what Antoinette had to say.
Were they meant for each other? Of course not, they didn't really decide to get married themselves. BUT things might have turned differently, if R had been generous enough to put himself aside a little, and trying to live a better life with Antoinette. He didn't want to because, though he naver says so, he thinks it's up to the woman to do that, to give herself up. Rhys' character is not so different from Bronte's: he tries to minimize Jane Eyre too, saying she's "his", and so on.
I'm going to expand on what trinapinks said, and suggest that it would be fine if Rhys took the characters from Bronte and added something more to make something creative. However, if she's going to change Bronte's Rochester entirely, she might as well have rewritten the story with different characters because it is then pointless to make her man Rochester. All it is doing is cheaply drawing on readers' preexisting relationships with the characters to advance her own narrative end, but adding
Get the norton critical edition of WSS to read the letters written by Jean Rhys.. She mentioned in one of her letters that she believes that Bronte had some animosity towards the West Indies, perhaps she viewed it as a dark, untamed place-- In Villette one of the characters got caught in a storm on/near Guadeloupe, and then the depiction of Creoles. It is merely a reimagining of a classic novel, c'est toute. Love Jean Rhys, and it's not because she is Dominican, like I am
watercolourhazar:it is not a matter of whether you like sequels or prequels or not,it has to do w/ understanding the point and the reason why Jean Rhys wrote this book. It's not that she stole Charlote Brionte's characters, she tried to show her point of view as regards them... Try to read and become acquainted with some post colonial reading and theory and you'll probably understand a bit of it...otherwise save yourself the comments. He who comments in ignorance...must not be listened to.
Please, try to understand that i do NOT criticise the plot of her novel or author's reasons or her work at all - but i'm talking about the FACT of her using Bronte's characters. I know other books which were written under the influence of JE. The authors depicted everything they wanted to depict _without_ stealing someone else's characters.
I will definitely read the book and will tell my opinion then. But that will be completely different conversation.
I think it's mean and tactless to use Charlotte Bronte's characters. She's the best writer I've ever read, and who did that Jean Rhys think she was to presume to write books after Charlotte Bronte's novel?!
and these words " mean" and "tactless" to describe what she did about Bronte's book is not quite the accurate ones to describe Jean Rhys' work. She had reasons to write this story this way. And if one doesn't know them, for sure, one would probably find it difficult to understand everything she wanted to express. So, judging her unless you really see what she meant in it is not fit, in my opinion.
I think there is some misanderstanding between us. The point is I don't like ANY sequels or prequels written by other authors to the books written not by them.
to my opinion it can be some fan-art or in other case it's a pure plagiarism.
I like the story too. I'm also curious to know more about Rochester's youth. But it's not the reason for me to imagine i'm as good writer as Bronte and to steal her characters to feed my curiosity.
What about "Godfather 2?" That is as good or better than the original. Only Bronte knows what she intended for her characters, others can make assumptions but they are not definative.
I agree that you have to treat both as separate literature. This book was written many many years after Jane Eyre was fist published, it's unfair to have ill judgment on either one.
I am kinda confused I read Jane Eyre and Loved Mr. Rochester, Many people are commenting that they hate him after reading this book. I read it and it is not even the same character as in Jane Eyre. This book came out years and years after Jane Eyre to me they are not really related. This is a good novel but dont relate them they are not the same character. Rochester wouldn't have cheated on his wife he had to many principals .
What's new with that movie? Looks entertaining and all. It's like everytime I see a "new movie with six stars and all" they are normally very long and predictable, due to the time and surrounding?
You can't take what Jane Rhys wrote as how Bronte intended to portray her characters. You have to treat Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre as two separate pieces of literature. Each writer creates their own universe.
I've read the book, and I'm feeling so sorry for Antoinette. I pity her a lot. Sorry, but I can only feel spite towards Rochester. I think he knew he had chances to be happy with her but he wasted them. I'll probably feel more simpathy for him in Jane Eyre.
This Rochester and antoinette are not the same characters as the ones in jane eyre they are very different. I do not understand why Rhys did not just write this story without using Bronte's characters. It would have been the same story with some slight differences. I do not think Bronte would have appreciated wild sargasso sea refered to as a prequel to her Jane eyre.
You need to read Jean Rhys' "explanations" about it. Otherwise, how do you want to understand the reasons why she wrote it. I, personally, don't care about what Bronte would think of this book. And for your information: I already KNEW that this Rochester and Antoinette are different from Bronte's book.
Whatever jean rhys explanations were for using Bronte's characters it was still a very disrespectful thing to do to another author. To use another writer's characters their lifes work in such a way so that they would be completely unrecognizable form the characters the original author intended them to be is wrong and disrespectful. If you were a writer you would not like someone using your characters and twisting them around for their own purpose.
@trinapinks I agree - and if you are going to use someone's characters than you better darn well keep the essense of what makes them that character the same! The only thing the same about this Rochester is his name....book burning party anyone?
read this book and jane eyre while doing humanities with the open university, absolutely hated bronte books before doing course but doing the course and seeing jane eyre and wide sargasso sea with adult eyes i absolutely loved both books and couldn't put them down. although jane was still my favorite.
My FAVORITE book ever, i live on a formally colonial island and i can easily relate to the issue of the story. Rhys just made a great job, this culture class is so complex, it can still be felt nowadays too...
I read this book after I read Jane Eyre, and they are my two favorite novels. I feel that although Wide Sargasso Sea is a
"prequel" to Jane Eyre, it easily stands on its own. I don't despise Rochester after reading it, although there are reasons to. Both Rochester and Antoinette suffered because of many things, and that it can't only be blamed on the poor man, even if he did have a lot of blame in the matter.
I haven't seen this adaption of it, but I think I'm going to look into now :)
its Christophines fault....inferfering in love, especially when Antionette was already so fragile from her mother...not that i blame her, i blame Tia..bitch
in this movie it was Mr.Rochesters fault that the girl became the way she became. She was a good person but he made her crazy. If you see the older movie from 92 or 94 u see what made her get mad. He locked her up there what made her crazy. She was fine. So i do not feel sorry for Mr.Rochester here. It is sad how his wife became because of his faults
I always felt sorry for Mr Rochester. I have a family member who married someone who is very unstable and although it saddens me to think this lady so wounded, I feel he has sacrificed too much for her. He has no love for her, only a sense of responsibility. He takes such good care of her, he knows she has no one else in the world and he feels duty bound to her but I wish he could of broken away. Maybe that's why I have always felt for Mr Rochester.
Sure, but he, at least can count on some readers' sympathy (and there is a happy end for him in store), while she is presented by Bronte in a much less favourable way as evil, mischievous, inarticulate and beastly, hardly a human being.
It is quite a popular theme, to take a book and reverse the character of one or more people in the book. (Rececca's tale after the book Rebecca by Daphne DeMorney comes to mind) It is interesting, but for some reason I can't explain it does not sit comfortably with me. Does anyone else feel the same?
As for WSS, I do not think the character of Antoinette/Bertha was reversed in any way. Having read "Jane Eyre" (and ignorant of WSS) I felt nothing but sympathy for the deranged woman and despised Rochester for all he had done to her, always believing that it was her who was his victim, not the other way round (after all, he had cheated on her with at least THREE women) and that she could not have gone mad if he really had loved her.
I didn't like him in Jane Eyre (I don't like controlling men) and personally, I didn't want Jane with him. After readin Wide Sargasso Sea, like you, I positvely hated him!!
Unfortunately one reading of Jane Eyre shows that there is deep prejudice against the "foreign-ness" of the first wife. She is the wild and crazy one, not the good, Christian, English rose. I heard this interpretation, it sounds very convincing.
he was a bastard and women were generally speaking treated like shite. the underlying real cause of her assumed 'madness' is the fact that she likes to make love. reread please.
Interesting that no-one has mentioned Jean Rhys in all of this. Usually I avoid discussing the author, but WSS, as well as all her other novels are autobiographical. I recommend reading them in order, from Quartet (1928) to Good Morning, Midnight (1939) which was her masterpiece. She plays on all the nuances mentioned & it becomes clear how Antoinette's madness was innate and made worse by Rochester. WSS is an intertextual feat & if you have an exam I doubt you'll be able to blag it w/o reading.
hey i have a uni exam in this tomorrow and havnt read it, is it basically about rochester and the mad wife in his attic in thornfield when they got married and about her going mad?? does anyone think watching this would help at all? like is it quite similar to the book?
The '93 version is pretty trashy, with some questionable acting. I haven't seen this version yet but it looks MUCH better and quite a bit classier. The two minutes of this trailer are far more compelling than the '93 version in its entirety. I'd much rather watch this than sit through the other again.
i loved this book.. so deep antoinette just only wanted to be loved she represented what the caribbean epitomized vibrance.. and when he took her out of it.. he took away the last thing that gave her a reason to live .. " I hate you and before i die ill show how much i hate you". did this book back in high school
What a sad story, but probably more real then Jane Eyre unfortunately.
The story of an immature young man who was - understandably - not prepared to handle such a huge cultural and climat difference and such intensity and the complexities of life as it was in the Caribbean. I actually had the feeling he was going out of his mind more then her.
He got very scared and did not have the tools to deal with her. Too bad; as the servant, I feel sorry for both, a bit more for Antoinette maybe.
I think that Antoinette became mad because Rochester stiffeled her need to love and be loved in return. He let gossip poison their love, I mean my heart ached for Antoinette at the end of the book. Rochester took her identiy, her name, and in the end took her out of her homeland. Rochester suficates her by changing her identiy to Bertha a very English and proper name from Antoinette a very exotic name you can say and taking her to England which leads to her suicide, by burning the house down.
According to the book there was no love between Rochester and Antoinette. Antoinette was in love with him but he was only using her for her money and his sexual gratification. "I watched her die many times, in my way not hers...in sunlight, in shadows, by moonlight.... . In his narration he said openly that he did not love her but played the part because that was what he expected to do. I do agree with all the rest of what you said.
i think he loved her initially but he couldnt understand her much like the country itself .. and what u dont understand u begin to hate.. sadly thats what happened
interesting. r u basing that on the book or the movie. i haven't seen the movie. I would like to but in the book in Rochester's narration he clearly says that he did not love her. I agree that he clearly did not understand her and was overwhelmed by her world. He was fascinated by it and her and might have even come to love her in time had it not been for the interference. But as for loving her initially, i'm not convinced. Check it out and tell me what u think.
hmm...well to me bertha was simply a woman who was just as passionate as rochester himself, perhaps even more so! to me she didn't seem like the woman to bow down to english society's restrictions on women...i feel that those restrictions were enough to make her mad. in addition, by marrying an english those restrictions were even more pronounced on her, which is not good at all for her being. i feel that she was simply misunderstood and severly ignored and trapped in a sort of "gender prison".
I fully agree. At that time a passionate and bad tempered woman could easily be labeled as "mad". Women were supposed to be fragile and pure, just like Jane, while men were allowed to have many vices: Rochester had many mistresses and he tries hard not to swear, yet what does he say about his wife? That she was intempered and unchaste, and had a bad language. The English laws were very stricts about women-there were nothing but man's property. Won't you girls get mad about it?
I feel that Jane and Bertha's contrast mirror one another. Bertha, to me, is what Jane could of been if she was passionate and a bit more intune to herself. It is almost like Jane was always too restrained but if she let her heart dictate, she would be a lot like Bertha. There is evidence within the book that shows this.
completly agree with you if you read it closly i think Jane's reaction is like she's holding up to a mirror to herself, well what she would be like if she acted more on her passionate nature, which is defintly within her
@Geezyone It means that every time and era has its own thoughts, ideas & principles that change according to the culture one lives in. For instance, if you read a modern book where a woman is working and independent, it's no big deal as it is our daily routine but if the same story was written say 200 years ago, then it would have been considered as a rebellious book promoting feminist propaganda. Same thing here, when one reads Bronte, one has to keep in mind the Victorian sense of superiority.
my english teacher gave it to me becoz she knew i loved jane eyre, and iread it...being a rochestermaniak, i must say i've been quite angry with it! the series look faithful to the book yet.this is a very good story, touching, and sensuous, but i don't like to link it with jane eyre...narrow minded?hum perhaps!
One last comment: despite Rhys's book (and I like it a lot), I still like Jane Eyre. In fact the two novels do mesh together in some way, and, as one person suggested here, Rochester's final predicament could be looked at as the gods punishing him -- a fine Victorian convention if any!/Cheers
Hello/A comment: do any of you remember Rochester telling Jane he had mistresses of German, Italian and French descent? They all had major character defects: the German was dull, the Italian violent, and Céline... Well, we all know that story./Bronte's novels are full of prejudices (just read Villette, a violent attack on Roman Catholicism, if ever there was one.)/Perhaps this could be put to British Imperialism, Bronte's being a clergyman's daughter, and maybe something else./Cheers
May be it is just a coincidence that these ladies has to be German, Italian and French? Bronte needed to give Rochester lovers outside England. I guess, because there moral was more strict, or he doesn't want any neighbours to know.
humph, villette was mostly against the power of roman catholic establishment, but not against the roman catholics people!mr.paul IS a catholic, remember!
i agree dat the stories shld be looked at from diff perspectives. WSS should b read in view of post-colonial lit. rhys questioned the fact dat the madwoman has to b creole. y can't she be an ENGLISH madwoman? she's mentally unstable, yes, but rochester's view of her as a madwoman was further intensified by the fact dat he was (as an Englishman), prejudiced against her (bcoz she's creole). we all fear wat we don't know much abt.
If he was prejiduce to Creoles why did he has to marry her at the first place? He fell in love with her beauty. I can agree that since he disliked her the fact that she was Creole just intensified it. May be she can't be English woman, because Bronte needed to give him a wife who lived far away unknown to everybody around Thornfield? The only obvious prejiduce I felt in the book is to anything French.
oh yes charlotte brontë had something against french people:D but french people have nothing against her:P but even then, she acknowledges that it is better to be the bastard of a french dancer(poor adele)than the daughter of a rich english family who would despise her!
Actually, I saw a lot of prejiduces towards British in French movies and literature. Unfortinately, it is not uncommon for neighboring countries to dislike each other.
alexandre dumas'ones?really?well, i guess i didn't see them because i am french myself!but according to some english people I know, i have some englishness in me..let me think about it anyway..which one more precisely?you're really interesting me:D
I remember that D'Artanian in Three Musketeers (spell) disliked English language. I've recently saw Pimpernel which has scenes of French people who disliked English. IMO every country has prejiduces to its neighbour. I like to have conversations on an interesting topics.
oh pity! my own copy of it is at a friend's home, and i can't remember...i read it so long ago:( did he?he disliked milady, for sure, but..the french queen was in love with an english king, if i remember well...i can't tell about the other, i didn't see it!i like interesting topics too!
i guess every country has prejudice against every other but look, C.Brontë didn't like us, nor thackeray, i think(didn't read him, so i only think)and so many others!i don't even speak about modern movies!
oh okay:D i read both, i love jane eyre,i always have my copy with me(pathetic?yeah a bit)but WSS disturbed me...the way it shows rochester didn't please me
Somebody told me that WSS was written for political reasons. Something about JE showed Creoles as a menatlly disturbed person. This book wants to show that it was Rochestor's fault. Another version that it was important to show that she was mad before coming to Britain.
i read WSS recently and have also read Jane eyre. i thought Rochester was portrayed as naive in WSS unlike how he is in Jane eyre. i still sympathised with him, regardless of his actions. i still liked him as a character too although i have seen this film version. why did it disturb you?
iv read the novel!:) Never knew there was a movie on it
Safura1601 1 month ago
3bertha.
ReindeerOfTheRoc123 2 months ago
OH! i would have never known it was the prequel to Jane Eyre! thats AWESOME. im glad i read the description hahaha
jessssheheh 3 months ago
this story is not trying to ruin jane eyre, it simply allowing the audiance to realise that there is 2 sides to a story. this story gives the 'mad woman in the attic', Antoinette, a voice and demonstrates why she decends into madness. so i like this movie. i just think of it as a seperate story from jane eyre. so it doesnt make me mad at all.
nadeleter1 4 months ago 5
@nadeleter1 same here - people need to get over it, in Jane Eyre the Creole woman Bertha was made out to be the monster. These people need to read the book or realise that Antoinette is a tortured soul, it's not all about Mr Rochester!
1992VoodooChild 3 months ago
I just finished watching 2006 JE... this makes me a little angry... :(
123myusernamesucks 4 months ago
Not sure what Rochester is like in WSS, but even if he WAS awful, we kind of knew that, didn't we? The depth of his remorse in JE redeems him.
abelyss 4 months ago
Bronte wrote to her readers that she did not intend for Bertha to be a true villain (Jane DOES call out on Rochester's abuse in the book thus giving her a reason to flee from him until his character develops). Bronte DID wanted Bertha to be sympathetic, but she mentioned in her letter that she did fumble with the portrayal.
AliaSparrow 4 months ago
Hmm it's not really a prequel, is it, because it exists on a different set of assumptions?
Tuilelen 9 months ago 4
Fans of Jane Eyre who get mad about WSS have clearly not read WSS. Rochester in WSS isn't simply some evil man. He's a tool of his brother and father-it's just as a man in a patriarchal society he can lock Antoinette in a tower and travel the world to deal with his problems. Antoinette has no option but to go nuts.
Both JS and WSS are great books. And this version of WSS is Rebecca Hall is top notch too!
wildcatste 10 months ago
@wildcatste agreed. I read both WSS and Jane Eyre and liked both though I will admit to not liking Rochester in either book. Its just that WSS explores the circumstances that made both Rochester and Antoinette into the people that we see in Jane Eyre. I see no reason for Jane Eyre fans to get so upset about this.
amalawr 5 months ago 2
Rebecca Hall is a fantastic actress and WSS has always been one of my favourite reads. I can see why Bronte fans get angry, neverthless given Rhys' own history, she writes a moving account and justifies the madness that overtakes Antoinette / Bertha.
maidenofrohan 10 months ago
How can this be called a prequel to Jane Eyre when it was written by a completely different author? That's complete crap. Come up with your own characters instead of stealing and ruining other people's.
ashleydee521 11 months ago
@ashleydee521 Noone ruined the characters. Jean simply gave an insight into Bertha's life and story. Whereas Bronte's novel was focussed on Jane's life.
Safura1601 1 month ago
@Safura1601 Except that it wasn't Jean Rhy's place to give insight into Bertha's life. Bertha is not her character. The only person who can tell us Bertha's story is Charlotte Bronte.
ashleydee521 1 month ago
The is just another take on the character of Rochester's 1st wife.I dont believe that it was written in prejudice in Bronte's version, but that the wife was indeed mad, and not simply discriminated against because of her race. After all, Rochester did marry her. And Rochester was by no means, someone who cared about race, class or society's expectations in the books. Though this is a different take on the character, I don't agree with it in terms of JAne Eyre. But. To each his/her own.
PureLightHealer 11 months ago
Neat.
Capt777harris 1 year ago
lol, is a very interesting perspective to the story@221 verona, remember its a different setting and a different writer..but for me i enjoyed it `:)
mysticalraven2 1 year ago
I appreciate Jean Rhys because she gave the "mad woman "a voice we only heard one part of the story which is unfair.. But wide sargasso's Sea has made me dislike Rochester to the Core
mysticalraven2 1 year ago 3
@mysticalraven2 O: dislike Rochester! Thats it i'm not watching it!... Is it good? You might just tempt me:)
221Verona 1 year ago
@221Verona I think WSS the book (and this version with Rebecca Hall) are quite good. Both Rochester and Antoinette are basically tools of the people around them. It's just that Rochester, as a man in a patriarchal world, can deal with his problems by going off travelling the world and drinking. Doesn't excuse Rochester- but you don't end the film or the book hating him. Antoinette doesn't have the options Rochester does- all she can do is lose her mind.
wildcatste 10 months ago 3
Ugh. Has no one read Jane Eyre?! If so how could you possibily be okay with they way Rochester is being show in this story? This is utter rubbish. Why not, lets all just jump on the bandwagon of making the male characters in good books out to be monsters - should we start a slander darcy fest too? Rochester is my all time favorite male character in literature and this is complete trash about him that doesn't go along with the person Bronte wrote.
Koschnitzgirl 1 year ago 5
wow I went overboard with the comments there didn't I... LOL
katchitifyoucan 1 year ago
And last, Bertha may actually represent Bronte's society views of sins in women that needs to be locked up and hidden and kept from society.. because women are supposed to be gentile, modest, and suppressed like Jane Eyre, but also brave and strong internally. And although you can't eliminate the "sins" and "sexuality" of women from society, you can certainly try to hide it by severe suppression (which is the symbolism of Bertha in the attic).
katchitifyoucan 1 year ago
Second, if he was as bad as its portrayed, he'd lock her up in the villa and not take her to Thornfield, but refused because he still wanted to put her in a decent home (as mentioned in the novel).. Lastly, he could have easily pushed her to her death during the fire, instead of reaching for her when she jumped.
katchitifyoucan 1 year ago 2
omg this novel is AMAZING. i cant wait to start watching
MissExecutive 1 year ago
this looks rubbish and comletely not like the novel at all...Antoinette is supposed to have a Dominican accent becuase she has lived there all her life hence her being CREOLE so why oh why is her accent out and out BRITISH...what an utterly rubbish rendition...slanderous to the amazing book by Jean Rhys!
aprilalexander 1 year ago 3
I really loved this movie but I felt like it was too short, and there was too much missing from it.
3timesmama 1 year ago
Going to be reading this for my A Level english, doesn't look too bad i guess..
xkweendilemmax 1 year ago
@xkweendilemmax its amazing. i hope u'll like it
MissExecutive 1 year ago
The reason why I don't respond well to this book is that I read Jane Eyre 1st and it was published 1st. Because of that I see WSS as a "what if", as in what someone fancies the situation between Rochester and his wife may have been. But in my mind it was what Bronte said it was. All of this of course is fiction but when people start characterizing the Rochester from JE as the man in WSS it bothers me. To me Rochester's character is only defined by JE and WSS should never be considered a prequel.
Kimmywibi 1 year ago 2
@Kimmywibi agreed!
hcarter0730 1 year ago
@Kimmywibi i was so affected by this novel though i did read JE first. i never really admired roch to begin with and WSS made me hate him with a passion.
no doubt WSS can be read as a "what if" but, there is also a "what you did not know" and what those who have been "silenced" aspect that Rhys is trying to bring up. that is really the main point of WSS i suppose...
MissExecutive 1 year ago
@Kimmywibi I certainly agree. First, in Jane Eyre, Bronte writes that Rochester didn't loathe Bertha and locked her up because she was mad, but because prior to the full blown insanity, she was a drunk and had a filthy mouth, and her family pretty much tricked him into the marriage with very little interaction, so how is this novel a prequel? Rochester also says that if Jane was a lunatic, he'd care for her tenderly as he wouldn't Bertha because the violence in Bertha's madness was pre-existing
katchitifyoucan 1 year ago
@Kimmywibi this isn't just about giving jane eyre a backstory. jean rhys's novels are post-colonial, & dealt w/ individualism, prejudice & oppression. she had "terrifying insight & passion for stating the case of the underdog." also, i see Wide Sargasso Sea as an homage to, or continuation of, the work of Anne Bronte. unlike her 2 sisters, who wrote in the romantic style w/ violent leads like rochester & heathcliff, she was an early realist; the violence in her book was real & not likeable.
icak9 1 year ago 3
@icak9 I like the way Anne didn't romanticize violence, too. In fact I wrote my master's thesis on the subject :)
lostonthemoor 1 year ago
@Kimmywibi AMEN!! This story makes be so angry - beyond angry. This is not the Rochester that Bronte wrote - she wouldn't have had her heroine end up with a monster. I wish people would stick with original stories and leave the classics alone - be satisfied with the way the story was written without all this additional garbage. Grrr....so angry.
Koschnitzgirl 1 year ago 11
@Koschnitzgirl Mr Rochester becomes a 'monster. in WSS because he feels so alienated and deceived in the foreign world of the Caribbean. Readers of WSS may pity him as he is pressured into the marriage with Antoinette, he is certainly not portrayed as a monster but as a confused and damaged man.
TheLeoPanthera 9 months ago 10
@Koschnitzgirl Jean Rhys's postcolonial retelling of the english classic is as valid and important as the original Jane Eyre. Rhys gives voice to the previously silenced subaltern, and in doing so she creates an alternative narrative that is as neccessary as it is compelling. Please read the book before randomly labeling it garbage. Btw, Charlotte Bronte was racist and xenophobic like most of her peers. I say this as a bronte fan. I've read her novels countless times.
morphinemoniza 5 months ago
@Koschnitzgirl this comment actually proves that you didnt read Jane Eyre properly, Jane 'ends up' with Rochester after he changes and realises his mistakes. Bronte wrote how Rochester locked his wife in an aireless attic, The author of wws, was a creole woman, the same as bertha, she 're-writes' bertha, in order to show an colonising readership what really happened over seas, and how difficult it would have been growing up between two worlds.
pinderemma90 1 month ago 3
I CAN'T BREATHE
rupertinit 1 year ago
I'm just glad I read Jane Eyre before WSS! Rochester was pretty duplicitous in JE but now i think he was just as mad if not more then Antoinette.
lowrungmail 1 year ago
...I thought Rochester's wife's name was BERTHA. Is this name changing explained, or did they just go with a different, prettier name? I always thought Bertha didn't sound very exotic for a creole woman. I know she is called Bertha Antionetta Mason at one point... bah. And Rochester with short hair? BLASPHEMOUS!
ladyfrady 1 year ago
@ladyfrady In the book, Rochester changes Antoinette's name to Bertha without her permission. Part of his paranoia and hatred towards her.
Laneh 1 year ago
@Laneh there is a very deep and profound meaning to this, which makes Antoinette paranoid and hateful towards Edwin Rochester. She revels in the fact that she is a Creole Woman, on the island the Creole Society places themselves high above the slaves. The slaves names were changed by their masters without their permission stripping them of their identity and their culture, which born a great hatred and disgust of them by the slaves.
cassopia09 1 year ago
@Laneh Now consider this, by Rochester changing Antoinette's name, he strips her of her identity and her culture. In essence he is telling her that there is nothing special about her, she is no more above the slaves on the island, than she is of him. Listen closely at how he speaks of her home, and how he looks at her and the slaves.
cassopia09 1 year ago
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@ladyfrady Rochester changed her name. By Rochester changing Antoinette's name, he strips her of her identity and her culture. In essence he is telling her that there is nothing special about her, she is no more above the slaves on the island, than she is of him. Listen closely at how he speaks of her home, and how he looks at her and the slaves.
cassopia09 1 year ago
1993 was way better anntoinette was supposed to be exotic and creole but this girl looks 100 percent white not creole or mixed blood at all. 1993 girl was beautiful better than this film. More like the book.
Chader97 1 year ago
@Chader97 well in jane's mind creole meant that she was WHITE creole...meaning born in the carribean...lol...there are different definitions of creole...anyway if it means anything the girl who play anntoinette IS half black....her mom is light skinned opera singer
ilovecronaldo7 1 year ago
*shudders* her promise at 1.32 made cold thrills run down my back. only after i finished watching that part did i realise the depth of her spiteful promise.
trailbreakerprime 1 year ago
the voiceover is so distracting!
lafillenoir 2 years ago
nothing to the characters themselves
Tuilelen 2 years ago
Well, that's not true. If you read the book carefully, you'll find that Rochester (who is never called so) is portrayed sympathetically; most of the story is even told by his POV! We learn,by several hints, that he hated his family, the way they trainded him, how he had never learnt to express his own feelings.
Niniane17 2 years ago 2
Bronte is quick to describe Jamaica as a lustful and immoral land, not suited for an honest man, but Rhys makes clear that the English man's real fear is himself, his unexpressed feelings and wants. His real fault wasn't being scared or even hating the place, but not understanding that his wife felt the same about the arranged marriage, about their new lives, their future.He chose to solve things his way, putting himself above everything,not listening to what Antoinette had to say.
Niniane17 2 years ago 5
Were they meant for each other? Of course not, they didn't really decide to get married themselves. BUT things might have turned differently, if R had been generous enough to put himself aside a little, and trying to live a better life with Antoinette. He didn't want to because, though he naver says so, he thinks it's up to the woman to do that, to give herself up. Rhys' character is not so different from Bronte's: he tries to minimize Jane Eyre too, saying she's "his", and so on.
Niniane17 2 years ago
I'm going to expand on what trinapinks said, and suggest that it would be fine if Rhys took the characters from Bronte and added something more to make something creative. However, if she's going to change Bronte's Rochester entirely, she might as well have rewritten the story with different characters because it is then pointless to make her man Rochester. All it is doing is cheaply drawing on readers' preexisting relationships with the characters to advance her own narrative end, but adding
Tuilelen 2 years ago
@Tuilelen AGREEEEE
happy9999angel 2 years ago
@Tuilelen I hate how this story totally changes Mr. Rochester.
happy9999angel 2 years ago
1:11 AND 1:18 who are the actresses?
WolfsbaneRevolution 2 years ago
Get the norton critical edition of WSS to read the letters written by Jean Rhys.. She mentioned in one of her letters that she believes that Bronte had some animosity towards the West Indies, perhaps she viewed it as a dark, untamed place-- In Villette one of the characters got caught in a storm on/near Guadeloupe, and then the depiction of Creoles. It is merely a reimagining of a classic novel, c'est toute. Love Jean Rhys, and it's not because she is Dominican, like I am
Curlylocks 2 years ago 3
watercolourhazar:it is not a matter of whether you like sequels or prequels or not,it has to do w/ understanding the point and the reason why Jean Rhys wrote this book. It's not that she stole Charlote Brionte's characters, she tried to show her point of view as regards them... Try to read and become acquainted with some post colonial reading and theory and you'll probably understand a bit of it...otherwise save yourself the comments. He who comments in ignorance...must not be listened to.
sisicocobebus 2 years ago
Please, try to understand that i do NOT criticise the plot of her novel or author's reasons or her work at all - but i'm talking about the FACT of her using Bronte's characters. I know other books which were written under the influence of JE. The authors depicted everything they wanted to depict _without_ stealing someone else's characters.
I will definitely read the book and will tell my opinion then. But that will be completely different conversation.
WatercolourHazard 2 years ago
I think it's mean and tactless to use Charlotte Bronte's characters. She's the best writer I've ever read, and who did that Jean Rhys think she was to presume to write books after Charlotte Bronte's novel?!
WatercolourHazard 2 years ago
Um, have you studied Wide Sargasso Sea? if you did, you would understand why Jean Rhys did so.
LOLAICHINA 2 years ago 2
Does it matter why she did so? I'm speaking about respect towards the author - towards the person.
I'm trying to overcome my indignation and to make myself read (or watch) it.
WatercolourHazard 2 years ago
Of course, it matters.
and these words " mean" and "tactless" to describe what she did about Bronte's book is not quite the accurate ones to describe Jean Rhys' work. She had reasons to write this story this way. And if one doesn't know them, for sure, one would probably find it difficult to understand everything she wanted to express. So, judging her unless you really see what she meant in it is not fit, in my opinion.
LOLAICHINA 2 years ago
I think there is some misanderstanding between us. The point is I don't like ANY sequels or prequels written by other authors to the books written not by them.
to my opinion it can be some fan-art or in other case it's a pure plagiarism.
I like the story too. I'm also curious to know more about Rochester's youth. But it's not the reason for me to imagine i'm as good writer as Bronte and to steal her characters to feed my curiosity.
WatercolourHazard 2 years ago
What about "Godfather 2?" That is as good or better than the original. Only Bronte knows what she intended for her characters, others can make assumptions but they are not definative.
roseijaz 2 years ago
I agree that you have to treat both as separate literature. This book was written many many years after Jane Eyre was fist published, it's unfair to have ill judgment on either one.
pmoonie 2 years ago 2
rebecca is so beautiful
ERASER1091988 2 years ago
I am kinda confused I read Jane Eyre and Loved Mr. Rochester, Many people are commenting that they hate him after reading this book. I read it and it is not even the same character as in Jane Eyre. This book came out years and years after Jane Eyre to me they are not really related. This is a good novel but dont relate them they are not the same character. Rochester wouldn't have cheated on his wife he had to many principals .
molivas 2 years ago
What's new with that movie? Looks entertaining and all. It's like everytime I see a "new movie with six stars and all" they are normally very long and predictable, due to the time and surrounding?
Is it just me?
Libraryize 2 years ago
You can't take what Jane Rhys wrote as how Bronte intended to portray her characters. You have to treat Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre as two separate pieces of literature. Each writer creates their own universe.
DebYinNg 2 years ago 3
I've read the book, and I'm feeling so sorry for Antoinette. I pity her a lot. Sorry, but I can only feel spite towards Rochester. I think he knew he had chances to be happy with her but he wasted them. I'll probably feel more simpathy for him in Jane Eyre.
LOLAICHINA 2 years ago
I hope you will.)) He's charming there (if not to consider the character portrayed by Jean Rhys i think...)
WatercolourHazard 2 years ago
This Rochester and antoinette are not the same characters as the ones in jane eyre they are very different. I do not understand why Rhys did not just write this story without using Bronte's characters. It would have been the same story with some slight differences. I do not think Bronte would have appreciated wild sargasso sea refered to as a prequel to her Jane eyre.
trinapinks 2 years ago
You need to read Jean Rhys' "explanations" about it. Otherwise, how do you want to understand the reasons why she wrote it. I, personally, don't care about what Bronte would think of this book. And for your information: I already KNEW that this Rochester and Antoinette are different from Bronte's book.
LOLAICHINA 2 years ago
would have thought.
LOLAICHINA 2 years ago
Whatever jean rhys explanations were for using Bronte's characters it was still a very disrespectful thing to do to another author. To use another writer's characters their lifes work in such a way so that they would be completely unrecognizable form the characters the original author intended them to be is wrong and disrespectful. If you were a writer you would not like someone using your characters and twisting them around for their own purpose.
trinapinks 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Especially using CB's Jane Eyre is very very disrespecful I think.
meranes 2 years ago
@trinapinks I agree - and if you are going to use someone's characters than you better darn well keep the essense of what makes them that character the same! The only thing the same about this Rochester is his name....book burning party anyone?
Koschnitzgirl 1 year ago 4
You are right. This story could not have been written by CB, I'm sure about that. So I agree: Rhys shouldn't call this a prequel to Jane Eyre.
meranes 2 years ago
@meranes
she didnt... critics did
aprilalexander 1 year ago
read this book and jane eyre while doing humanities with the open university, absolutely hated bronte books before doing course but doing the course and seeing jane eyre and wide sargasso sea with adult eyes i absolutely loved both books and couldn't put them down. although jane was still my favorite.
tawnylion1 2 years ago
fuck rochester
jeffmaldini 2 years ago
My FAVORITE book ever, i live on a formally colonial island and i can easily relate to the issue of the story. Rhys just made a great job, this culture class is so complex, it can still be felt nowadays too...
lilAtid 2 years ago
I read this book after I read Jane Eyre, and they are my two favorite novels. I feel that although Wide Sargasso Sea is a
"prequel" to Jane Eyre, it easily stands on its own. I don't despise Rochester after reading it, although there are reasons to. Both Rochester and Antoinette suffered because of many things, and that it can't only be blamed on the poor man, even if he did have a lot of blame in the matter.
I haven't seen this adaption of it, but I think I'm going to look into now :)
frecklemaggie 2 years ago 2
its Christophines fault....inferfering in love, especially when Antionette was already so fragile from her mother...not that i blame her, i blame Tia..bitch
TomTom0Go 2 years ago 2
in this movie it was Mr.Rochesters fault that the girl became the way she became. She was a good person but he made her crazy. If you see the older movie from 92 or 94 u see what made her get mad. He locked her up there what made her crazy. She was fine. So i do not feel sorry for Mr.Rochester here. It is sad how his wife became because of his faults
MillyPopa 2 years ago 4
Oh and thank you yes, I did mean Daphne de Maurier!
AudreyTate 2 years ago
I always felt sorry for Mr Rochester. I have a family member who married someone who is very unstable and although it saddens me to think this lady so wounded, I feel he has sacrificed too much for her. He has no love for her, only a sense of responsibility. He takes such good care of her, he knows she has no one else in the world and he feels duty bound to her but I wish he could of broken away. Maybe that's why I have always felt for Mr Rochester.
AudreyTate 2 years ago 3
Sure, but he, at least can count on some readers' sympathy (and there is a happy end for him in store), while she is presented by Bronte in a much less favourable way as evil, mischievous, inarticulate and beastly, hardly a human being.
I am sorry for your relative.
nnmakowska 2 years ago 2
It is quite a popular theme, to take a book and reverse the character of one or more people in the book. (Rececca's tale after the book Rebecca by Daphne DeMorney comes to mind) It is interesting, but for some reason I can't explain it does not sit comfortably with me. Does anyone else feel the same?
AudreyTate 2 years ago
You mean Daphne du Maurier?
As for WSS, I do not think the character of Antoinette/Bertha was reversed in any way. Having read "Jane Eyre" (and ignorant of WSS) I felt nothing but sympathy for the deranged woman and despised Rochester for all he had done to her, always believing that it was her who was his victim, not the other way round (after all, he had cheated on her with at least THREE women) and that she could not have gone mad if he really had loved her.
nnmakowska 2 years ago 3
After finishing reading the novel Wide Sargasso Sea, I hated Rochester with a passion. If I were Antonietta I would have killed him.
Spidapalooza 2 years ago 3
I did the book for Cambridge exams
brigicandice 2 years ago
I didn't like him in Jane Eyre (I don't like controlling men) and personally, I didn't want Jane with him. After readin Wide Sargasso Sea, like you, I positvely hated him!!
somerandomdude808 2 years ago 3
I started to hate him already after having read "Jane Eyre".
nnmakowska 2 years ago 3
Comment removed
Spidapalooza 2 years ago
Unfortunately one reading of Jane Eyre shows that there is deep prejudice against the "foreign-ness" of the first wife. She is the wild and crazy one, not the good, Christian, English rose. I heard this interpretation, it sounds very convincing.
Maisha2006 2 years ago 35
@Maisha2006 well said
vivascargill 1 year ago
@Maisha2006 a reasonable interpretation actually...must confessenever thought about this before but now you mentioned this I find it so true
python130 1 year ago
why is this nc17 i saw a trailer and it showed the rating
lauraingallsfan79 2 years ago
is this the movie of rochester's first marriage? wow... interesting.
Walzypandas 2 years ago
he was a bastard and women were generally speaking treated like shite. the underlying real cause of her assumed 'madness' is the fact that she likes to make love. reread please.
nichirenista 2 years ago 6
I didn't know there was a movie.
I read the book and it absolutely drove me mad. I loved it so much I reread it as soon as I finished.
Must try to get my hands on the movie now. =)
Bagbird 2 years ago 2
is this a movie? or a series on tv cause it looks great!
ImNotThere108 2 years ago
awkward...
MichaelCrawfordsFan 2 years ago
This movie is wonderful!!!
beautifuldreamer77 2 years ago
is this movie anywhere on youtube??
1niloc3 2 years ago 2
Interesting that no-one has mentioned Jean Rhys in all of this. Usually I avoid discussing the author, but WSS, as well as all her other novels are autobiographical. I recommend reading them in order, from Quartet (1928) to Good Morning, Midnight (1939) which was her masterpiece. She plays on all the nuances mentioned & it becomes clear how Antoinette's madness was innate and made worse by Rochester. WSS is an intertextual feat & if you have an exam I doubt you'll be able to blag it w/o reading.
DomesticGhost 2 years ago 21
hey i have a uni exam in this tomorrow and havnt read it, is it basically about rochester and the mad wife in his attic in thornfield when they got married and about her going mad?? does anyone think watching this would help at all? like is it quite similar to the book?
crissy1800 2 years ago
ebay .
RafeLOVER 2 years ago
Does anybody know where i can get this on DVD. I cant seem to find it anywhere.
DarkFortress66 2 years ago
The sargasso sea with rebecka hall is fantastic...shes a great actress..and so beautifull...watch it ...and know...xx
eckankarpaul 2 years ago
We're also studying Wide Sargasso Sea in class.
I'm also thinking of buying a copy of the movie off eBay.
Problem is, should I get this version or the 1993 version?
Advice appreciated!
directorman 2 years ago
The '93 version is pretty trashy, with some questionable acting. I haven't seen this version yet but it looks MUCH better and quite a bit classier. The two minutes of this trailer are far more compelling than the '93 version in its entirety. I'd much rather watch this than sit through the other again.
musime 2 years ago
i loved this book.. so deep antoinette just only wanted to be loved she represented what the caribbean epitomized vibrance.. and when he took her out of it.. he took away the last thing that gave her a reason to live .. " I hate you and before i die ill show how much i hate you". did this book back in high school
mysticalraven2 3 years ago 3
grace poole is an absolute legend in jane eyre and wide sargasso sea!!
jackdavis11 3 years ago
What a sad story, but probably more real then Jane Eyre unfortunately.
The story of an immature young man who was - understandably - not prepared to handle such a huge cultural and climat difference and such intensity and the complexities of life as it was in the Caribbean. I actually had the feeling he was going out of his mind more then her.
He got very scared and did not have the tools to deal with her. Too bad; as the servant, I feel sorry for both, a bit more for Antoinette maybe.
MariannaNYC09 3 years ago 6
I think that Antoinette became mad because Rochester stiffeled her need to love and be loved in return. He let gossip poison their love, I mean my heart ached for Antoinette at the end of the book. Rochester took her identiy, her name, and in the end took her out of her homeland. Rochester suficates her by changing her identiy to Bertha a very English and proper name from Antoinette a very exotic name you can say and taking her to England which leads to her suicide, by burning the house down.
milkchug928 3 years ago
According to the book there was no love between Rochester and Antoinette. Antoinette was in love with him but he was only using her for her money and his sexual gratification. "I watched her die many times, in my way not hers...in sunlight, in shadows, by moonlight.... . In his narration he said openly that he did not love her but played the part because that was what he expected to do. I do agree with all the rest of what you said.
kurvs1 2 years ago
i think he loved her initially but he couldnt understand her much like the country itself .. and what u dont understand u begin to hate.. sadly thats what happened
mysticalraven2 2 years ago
interesting. r u basing that on the book or the movie. i haven't seen the movie. I would like to but in the book in Rochester's narration he clearly says that he did not love her. I agree that he clearly did not understand her and was overwhelmed by her world. He was fascinated by it and her and might have even come to love her in time had it not been for the interference. But as for loving her initially, i'm not convinced. Check it out and tell me what u think.
kurvs1 2 years ago
yes i agree , what i meant was that prob without interference he would have loved her.. but he did care for her initially :)
mysticalraven2 2 years ago
he says that he 'thirsted' for her, but didnt really care or love her
Swizle13 2 years ago 2
what do people think of Christophine? we had an intresting discussion about herin class Id be intersted to see what people think!
GabbyDee32 3 years ago
poor rochester, Bertha was a crazy alcoholic...she had it in her blood. I don't feel sorry for her, she should've died sooner than she did!
somerandomegirl 3 years ago
hmm...well to me bertha was simply a woman who was just as passionate as rochester himself, perhaps even more so! to me she didn't seem like the woman to bow down to english society's restrictions on women...i feel that those restrictions were enough to make her mad. in addition, by marrying an english those restrictions were even more pronounced on her, which is not good at all for her being. i feel that she was simply misunderstood and severly ignored and trapped in a sort of "gender prison".
he11okitty15 3 years ago 7
I fully agree. At that time a passionate and bad tempered woman could easily be labeled as "mad". Women were supposed to be fragile and pure, just like Jane, while men were allowed to have many vices: Rochester had many mistresses and he tries hard not to swear, yet what does he say about his wife? That she was intempered and unchaste, and had a bad language. The English laws were very stricts about women-there were nothing but man's property. Won't you girls get mad about it?
I would.
Niniane17 3 years ago 2
I feel that Jane and Bertha's contrast mirror one another. Bertha, to me, is what Jane could of been if she was passionate and a bit more intune to herself. It is almost like Jane was always too restrained but if she let her heart dictate, she would be a lot like Bertha. There is evidence within the book that shows this.
LexieCasteel 3 years ago 2
completly agree with you if you read it closly i think Jane's reaction is like she's holding up to a mirror to herself, well what she would be like if she acted more on her passionate nature, which is defintly within her
GabbyDee32 3 years ago
Can u watch this actual drama anywhere on You Tube?
aislingconnell 3 years ago 2
This program is copyright-protected. To post it on YouTube is illegal.
Jlinck 3 years ago
No offend But we has women tend to drive men crazy too.
Angelahoneydew 3 years ago
i mean it mite be a rubbish story.
but rafe spall is a really good actor!!
RafeLOVER 3 years ago
I don't care how long ago this stuff was written this was lame and ridiculous. What does "a product of their time" mean utter than an old idiot.
Geezyone 3 years ago
@Geezyone It means that every time and era has its own thoughts, ideas & principles that change according to the culture one lives in. For instance, if you read a modern book where a woman is working and independent, it's no big deal as it is our daily routine but if the same story was written say 200 years ago, then it would have been considered as a rebellious book promoting feminist propaganda. Same thing here, when one reads Bronte, one has to keep in mind the Victorian sense of superiority.
kahlani 1 year ago
my english teacher gave it to me becoz she knew i loved jane eyre, and iread it...being a rochestermaniak, i must say i've been quite angry with it! the series look faithful to the book yet.this is a very good story, touching, and sensuous, but i don't like to link it with jane eyre...narrow minded?hum perhaps!
rubytuesday17 3 years ago 2
One last comment: despite Rhys's book (and I like it a lot), I still like Jane Eyre. In fact the two novels do mesh together in some way, and, as one person suggested here, Rochester's final predicament could be looked at as the gods punishing him -- a fine Victorian convention if any!/Cheers
bp1963p 3 years ago
madness is not inherited - this is exactly the point Rhys was making.
dina306yt 3 years ago
Hello/A comment: do any of you remember Rochester telling Jane he had mistresses of German, Italian and French descent? They all had major character defects: the German was dull, the Italian violent, and Céline... Well, we all know that story./Bronte's novels are full of prejudices (just read Villette, a violent attack on Roman Catholicism, if ever there was one.)/Perhaps this could be put to British Imperialism, Bronte's being a clergyman's daughter, and maybe something else./Cheers
bp1963p 3 years ago
May be it is just a coincidence that these ladies has to be German, Italian and French? Bronte needed to give Rochester lovers outside England. I guess, because there moral was more strict, or he doesn't want any neighbours to know.
galinaqt 3 years ago
humph, villette was mostly against the power of roman catholic establishment, but not against the roman catholics people!mr.paul IS a catholic, remember!
rubytuesday17 3 years ago
I watched it last night
DRSHEPELEV 3 years ago
I entirely agree with Bushka99.
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klliop2 3 years ago
i agree dat the stories shld be looked at from diff perspectives. WSS should b read in view of post-colonial lit. rhys questioned the fact dat the madwoman has to b creole. y can't she be an ENGLISH madwoman? she's mentally unstable, yes, but rochester's view of her as a madwoman was further intensified by the fact dat he was (as an Englishman), prejudiced against her (bcoz she's creole). we all fear wat we don't know much abt.
bakat84 3 years ago 2
If he was prejiduce to Creoles why did he has to marry her at the first place? He fell in love with her beauty. I can agree that since he disliked her the fact that she was Creole just intensified it. May be she can't be English woman, because Bronte needed to give him a wife who lived far away unknown to everybody around Thornfield? The only obvious prejiduce I felt in the book is to anything French.
galinaqt 3 years ago 2
oh yes charlotte brontë had something against french people:D but french people have nothing against her:P but even then, she acknowledges that it is better to be the bastard of a french dancer(poor adele)than the daughter of a rich english family who would despise her!
rubytuesday17 3 years ago 2
Actually, I saw a lot of prejiduces towards British in French movies and literature. Unfortinately, it is not uncommon for neighboring countries to dislike each other.
galinaqt 3 years ago 3
oh did you?you must be right!but you see, in many english or american movies,the awful arrogant baddie is french..never mind, in fact!
rubytuesday17 3 years ago
Actually, In Scarlet Pampernel (spell) and Alexander Duma's works I saw prejiduces to British.
galinaqt 3 years ago
alexandre dumas'ones?really?well, i guess i didn't see them because i am french myself!but according to some english people I know, i have some englishness in me..let me think about it anyway..which one more precisely?you're really interesting me:D
rubytuesday17 3 years ago
I remember that D'Artanian in Three Musketeers (spell) disliked English language. I've recently saw Pimpernel which has scenes of French people who disliked English. IMO every country has prejiduces to its neighbour. I like to have conversations on an interesting topics.
galinaqt 3 years ago
oh pity! my own copy of it is at a friend's home, and i can't remember...i read it so long ago:( did he?he disliked milady, for sure, but..the french queen was in love with an english king, if i remember well...i can't tell about the other, i didn't see it!i like interesting topics too!
i guess every country has prejudice against every other but look, C.Brontë didn't like us, nor thackeray, i think(didn't read him, so i only think)and so many others!i don't even speak about modern movies!
rubytuesday17 3 years ago
We can discuss something more interesting than prejiduces. I guess Bronte is a product of her time.
galinaqt 3 years ago 2
i guess you're right..but well, about this book, what did you think?
rubytuesday17 3 years ago
I haven't read it yet.
galinaqt 3 years ago 2
I like Jane Eyre. It has a lot of good sides. I haven't read WSS.
galinaqt 3 years ago 2
oh okay:D i read both, i love jane eyre,i always have my copy with me(pathetic?yeah a bit)but WSS disturbed me...the way it shows rochester didn't please me
rubytuesday17 3 years ago 2
Somebody told me that WSS was written for political reasons. Something about JE showed Creoles as a menatlly disturbed person. This book wants to show that it was Rochestor's fault. Another version that it was important to show that she was mad before coming to Britain.
galinaqt 3 years ago 2
humph, i can't agree with this:( i mean, this isn't becoz antoinette was creole that she was mad, but becoz she was antoinette:D
rubytuesday17 3 years ago 4
i read WSS recently and have also read Jane eyre. i thought Rochester was portrayed as naive in WSS unlike how he is in Jane eyre. i still sympathised with him, regardless of his actions. i still liked him as a character too although i have seen this film version. why did it disturb you?
beth3891 3 years ago 3
hello^_^well,i thought it a bit da