Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favorite novels.  So when I discovered that there was actually a book about Mr. Rochester's infamous, attic-dwelling wife, I had to read it.

The first time I read Jane Eyre was about eight years ago as a requirement for one of my literature courses, and it instantly became a hit with me.  Of course, I loved Jane's story.  But it is completely impossible to read this classic without feeling haunted, bewildered, and affected by the madwoman in the attic.  A short, quick, and creative story, Wide Sargasso Sea cleverly explains how Antoinette Bertha Cosway goes from being a Creole heiress to Mr. Rochester's insane wife.

I remember feeling outraged when I learned that the woman in the attic was actually Rochester's wife.  What would possess a man to lock his spouse in an attic and keep her a secret from the outside world?  But as I've recently learned, Antoinette Bertha Cosway came from a troubled and tragic past which led to her insanity.  By the end of Jane Eyre I developed a sense of pity and favor for Rochester; but in Wide Sargasso Sea my initial feelings of distrust were ignited once again through his authoritative dominance over his wife.  Granted, "Bertha" clearly has a genetic predisposition to mental illness and a seduction to Creole obeah (a type of voodoo or witchcraft); but Rochester's behavior and attitude certainly contribute to the problem, a problem that becomes wildly out of control in both novels.