In Wide Sargasso Sea, it's become pretty clear at this point that Rochester is the main villain of the novel, given his actions in the last part of Book 2. While he has now become a pretty bad person and disliked character, I still hold some sympathy for him, as he's faced many hardships since coming to the islands and marrying Antoinette, not all of them his fault.
Even though the reader often seems to be supposed to side with Antoinette (it is her story, after all, only she appears in all three books within the novel), I found myself agreeing with Rochester several times, and I actually sort of liked him during the first few chapters he was there. He seemed to at least try to be nice to Antoinette, and hoped that it would work out between them, even though he didn't really marry her by choice, which makes the fact that he doesn't seem to truly love her more reasonable. Since he wasn't going to get an inheritance meant that he had to find some other way to get money, and this marriage was something that he had to do for that purpose. This is also part of what leads to Rochester's feeling somewhat inferior over the course of the novel, which makes him more relatable, and is even something that he and Antoinette have in common and sort of bond over.
Rochester also has a lot of difficulty in his new surroundings, both with the climate and the people. He sees the island as being very "dream-like," much more alive than the London that he's used to, much more controlled by nature. The natives of the island, even Antoinette to some level, seem to resent the fact that he's sort of an outsider, and many of the blacks also sort of dislike his upper-class, privileged status. This is well-shown with his walk in the forest, where the child screaming at him and Baptiste's coldness to him show how he's still not really a part of life there.
Even when his relationship with Antoinette completely falls apart, turning him against her and turning him into a villain, I still feel like it was, in large part, not his fault. There is a bit of irony in how he ends up being poisoned. Though Antoinette's main problem with Rochester is how ignorant he is, it's her that ends up being somewhat ignorant in the end. She blindly agrees to give Rochester the potion because she trusts Christophine, even ignoring some signs that this was a bad idea, and Rochester is sort of proved right in his distrust of her. Once he is poisoned, Rochester can't be completely held responsible for his actions and for sleeping with Amelie, though it is still somewhat his fault. His anger towards her is also somewhat justified, as she has poisoned him, and this is only enhanced by the doubts he has about her because of the stories that Daniel Cosway has told him. Though he does end up going way too far, even when he's sailing away with her in captivity he still has some regret over what's happened. Although he does some terrible things to Antoinette, he's not a completely evil character, and it's easy to see how and why he has become like this and to sympathize with him.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Friday, November 6, 2015
Christianity in the Stranger
During the second book of The Stranger, Meursault is held captive and is tried for the murder of the Arab, but more for his crimes against society in terms of his personality. During this time, he is interviewed by and speaks to members of the Church, which make for some of the most interesting scenes in the book. People such as the magistrate and the chaplain seem even more unnerved than everyone else by Meursault, mostly because of his relationship with Christianity and his lack of belief in God.
The first conversation between Meursault and the magistrate, where the latter famously asks "Do you wish my life to have no meaning?" is the one that's the most detailed in the book. During their time together, the magistrate is extremely disturbed by the fact that Meursault waited between his first shot and the next four, After Meursault admits this, he goes into a long rant about how he has to repent, before discovering that Meursault doesn't believe in God and beginning to call him Monsieur Antichrist. Meursault speaks to the chaplain in the last chapter in the novel, where they talk about the nature of death and the afterlife, before Meursault explodes into a rant about how life has no meaning and how it always leads to the same place, driving the chaplain away.
I think that the two men that represent Christianity are portrayed in a fairly positive light in this book, although Meursault sees them as ignorant, Both of them refer to Meursault as a friend, are generally kind to him, and seem to really want to help him repent his sins, saying that they'll pray for him. They refuse to believe that Meursault truly has no sort of belief in God, which he doesn't like, but that seems pretty reasonable given some context. Both of the two claim that every single prisoner that they've had before has eventually began praying to God, have "turned to Him in their time of trouble." This is probably a large amount of people, and it's likely that not all of them were religious before they were convicted. The prospect of imminent death probably made some of them desperate, and they turned to religion as a last hope.
It's the complete absence of hope that disturbs the religious men so much about Meursault. He refuses to try to alter his account of the murder to save himself by saying there wasn't a pause, even though there are hints that the magistrate wants him to. he says that he feels no despair or regret about his situation, and perhaps most importantly, he has absolutely no belief in an afterlife, doesn't even dare to hope it exists, saying that he wishes it did, but that it doesn't matter. This is completely alien to the Christians, this complete lack of belief. Even someone from a different religion would have some sort of values or hope in this situation, and that would be something they could relate to. But Meursault's beliefs that life isn't important at all are things that they can't relate to, and what makes Meursault and what he represents to frightening to them.
The first conversation between Meursault and the magistrate, where the latter famously asks "Do you wish my life to have no meaning?" is the one that's the most detailed in the book. During their time together, the magistrate is extremely disturbed by the fact that Meursault waited between his first shot and the next four, After Meursault admits this, he goes into a long rant about how he has to repent, before discovering that Meursault doesn't believe in God and beginning to call him Monsieur Antichrist. Meursault speaks to the chaplain in the last chapter in the novel, where they talk about the nature of death and the afterlife, before Meursault explodes into a rant about how life has no meaning and how it always leads to the same place, driving the chaplain away.
I think that the two men that represent Christianity are portrayed in a fairly positive light in this book, although Meursault sees them as ignorant, Both of them refer to Meursault as a friend, are generally kind to him, and seem to really want to help him repent his sins, saying that they'll pray for him. They refuse to believe that Meursault truly has no sort of belief in God, which he doesn't like, but that seems pretty reasonable given some context. Both of the two claim that every single prisoner that they've had before has eventually began praying to God, have "turned to Him in their time of trouble." This is probably a large amount of people, and it's likely that not all of them were religious before they were convicted. The prospect of imminent death probably made some of them desperate, and they turned to religion as a last hope.
It's the complete absence of hope that disturbs the religious men so much about Meursault. He refuses to try to alter his account of the murder to save himself by saying there wasn't a pause, even though there are hints that the magistrate wants him to. he says that he feels no despair or regret about his situation, and perhaps most importantly, he has absolutely no belief in an afterlife, doesn't even dare to hope it exists, saying that he wishes it did, but that it doesn't matter. This is completely alien to the Christians, this complete lack of belief. Even someone from a different religion would have some sort of values or hope in this situation, and that would be something they could relate to. But Meursault's beliefs that life isn't important at all are things that they can't relate to, and what makes Meursault and what he represents to frightening to them.
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