Wide Sargasso Sea

            Seeing Antoinette"'"s view of what happened between her and Rochester is much different from .
             what is seen thru the eyes of Jane Eyre. Although both Charlotte Bronte"'"s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhyse"'"s .
             Wide Sargasso Sea ultimately deal the same people, they have almost opposite views of their .
             characteristics and the stories behind them. Reading Jane Eyre, we see Antoinette Mason, or '"'Bertha'"', .
             many times. She plays a major role by adding some mystery and question to the story. The readers .
             see Bertha as a raving madwomen who cannot be controlled, especially by Rochester, and just wants .
             to hurt and kill people. As we read about Bertha in Wide Sargasso Sea, we see that this is not .
             necessarily true. .
             Bertha"'"s family had a history of mental problems. Her mom had been in an asylum and her .
             brother was mentally challenged. Although she was probably predisposed to have bad mental health, .
             many things occurred in her childhood to worsen the situation. Her parents had owned slaves who .
             were now all free. As a girl, she was followed, being called a '"'white cockroach'"'. Being followed .
             scares her and could cause paranoia later in her life. She had no friends, hated by the English for living .
             with the blacks and hated by the freed black slaves because her parents had once owned them. At one .
             point, a black girl that she thought was her friend throws a stone at her, hitting her in the head. This sort .
             of betrayal could lead to her not trusting anyone. .
             Their marriage started out without love. Edward Rochester was paid a large amount of money .
             to marry Bertha. He desperately needed money, for his father gave all his money to Edward"'"s older .
             brother, leaving Edward with nothing. When Rochester hears about Bertha"'"s mental problems, he feels .
             that he was tricked by his father, his brother and Bertha"'"s stepfather, Mr. Mason. At first, Bertha .
             doesn"'"t suspect a thing about the marriage not being real, but eventually some of the angry servants .