Wide Sargasso Sea

The house was on flames. Smoke was everywhere. Grace Poole, Bertha’s keeper at Thornfield, had once again got drunken carelessly and wasn’t able to see Bertha escape from the attic. Bertha had enough. She was tired. Tired of being held captive by Rochester, tired of being treated so cruelly and tired of being tired. Bertha Mason was a once beautiful and wealthy Creole woman. She had an arranged marriage with Edward Rochester. An English man who stole her heart and married her. Bertha and Rochester had a great-married life at first until they failed to relate to one another and their marriage turned into betrayal and madness. Bertha lost her happiness, her husband’s love, her money and her freedom. He decides to take all she owned and keep her as his prisoner.

“She will have no lover for I do not want her and she will see no other”, were Rochester’s final words about his once beloved wife before he imprisoned her.

The curtains began catching fire one by one. The walls were losing their beautiful patterns and were slowly turning black. Grace’s alcohol bottles were smashed. In fact she had now turned into dust as well. Bertha made her escape before she was going to be affected by the fire. She wanted to live to see her plan for revenge tear Rochester apart. Just like she lost everything, she was going to strive to do the same to him and watch him suffer. She stood at the back of the house behind the trees watching it slowly collapse and the flames lighting up the dark starry sky.

Walking away and escaping from Rochester, she was suddenly roughly snatched by her arm by Edward Rochester himself.

“Bertha how dare you do this to me!”

“No Rochester! You did this to me. Just like you left me burning up on the inside and locked me in like I was an animal, I will too show you what it feels like to have nothing”.

“You are a mad woman, you always have been! Because of you Jane does not want to be with me anymore. You came out on our wedding day like the insane person you are and scurried on all fours growling like an animal scaring all of us away. You are just like your mother. And now you burn my house. Full of madness you are! You have inherited her mothers genes of insanity!”

“You lied to Jane from the beginning. She didn’t even know about me. It was a good thing I showed up. You are sick. Leave me alone I hate you so much”

Half the house was still in an appropriate condition. The fire was stopped before it got too late. No one lost his or her life apart from Grace Poole because she was up in at the attic and no one would have been able to get on the third floor in time. Bertha’s plan had won her revenge and she was happy for the first time in ages.

After this act of settling scores, Bertha was on her way to go see Christophine. Bertha had always turned to her in time of need. Ever since she was a little girl, Christophine was always the one she trusted. To Bertha, she was a mother figure.

She lived in a small house and still unmarried of course.

“I thank my God. I keep my money. I don’t give it to no worthless man” were Christopines once said words to Bertha.

When Bertha arrived at her house, like usual, she was welcomed with open arms by Christophine.

“I finally made my escape. I am free again. I wasn’t going to let him destroy me like my stepfather destroyed my mother” explained Bertha with tears running down her face.

Hugging her tightly, Christophine couldn’t be happier for Bertha. She always had something against Rochester. Perhaps it was the way he treated the people around him-with disrespect and selfishness.

Sitting in her warm cosy house, Bertha could not help but realise how Christopines house was filled with candles and coloured stones. The smell of essence raided the room. She was still practicing Obeah. Bertha remembered when she was a young girl, she was sometimes afraid of Christopine because she practiced magic. It seems like she is still the same, never changed.

Feeling lonely and emptier then ever, Edward Rochester decided to go and stay with Celine Varens until he sorted out his life. Originally he wanted to go see Jane Eyre but he knew it was not the right time. Not after everything had happened the way it did. Celine Varens was a French opera dancer whom Rochester had an affair with some time ago. Rochester and Celine have also had their share of conflict between one another. Rochester had broken off his relationship with Celine after learning that she was unfaithful to him and only had interest in his money. There was also the belief that he fathered Celine’s daughter Adele although he never believed it to be so. She moved from France to England not so long ago because she wanted her daughter to go to school here.

“What should I do Celine? I have lost everything. I have lost Bertha, I lost my house, all my belongings and the most thing I cannot accept is the fact that I have lost Jane. She was my last hope of making me happy. She was the lady I truly cared about with all of my heart. I need to get her back”

Rochester’s life was full of agonies. He eventually got his house fixed and went back to live a life of loneliness. His wealth didn’t buy him happiness. Rochester could not figure out what he wanted. He had some feelings left for Bertha but he knew it was pointless trying to carry on their married life because she hated him with a passion and her disease of madness was obviously not getting worse. He couldn’t figure out how to speak to Jane after she found out he had lied to her and still previously had a wife. He was confused like no other.

That afternoon, Rochester picked up the phone to contact Jane Eyre.

“Hello Jane speaking”

“Hi Jane, it’s me”

“Excuse me, I don’t know who me is”

“It’s me Edward. Edward Rochester. How are you? How have things been?”

“I would be lying if I said things have been great. After I fled Thornfield, I was penniless and hungry. I was forced to sleep outdoors and beg people to give me something to eat. It was impossible to be with you after everything that happened. Knowing that you paid Grace Poole to keep your wife hidden and under control shows how determined you were to keep this lie up to your new wife to be- me”.

“I don’t know what to say Jane. There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t had you on my mind. And for your information, Bertha has left. I don’t know where she is and I have not heard from her. She burnt my house down and fled. I have lost everything. Please Jane let me see you. I would like to meet and talk everything through”.

The next day, Jane and Rochester meet at her new home.

“Why hello there, you haven’t changed much? Come in”, said Jane.

“Thank you for giving us this opportunity to meet. There is so much I would like to tell you”

“And there is so much I would like to discuss with you as well. A lot as changed since we last spoke, or perhaps saw each other. Here take a seat. I will put the kettle on. I made some biscuits earlier as well. You can be the first to try them”, said Jane with a cheeky smirk on her face.

Rochester looked around in her house. It was small but cosy. Nothing in comparison to his house of course. There were photo frames above the fireplace. There was a picture of two ladies and other various one. However, Rochester kept starring at one in particular. It was one of Jane Eyre herself and another man. Wondering whom this man could be, Jane walks in with a tray of freshly baked ginger biscuits and a teapot.

“Fresh out of the oven. Looking at my pictures I see. I will explain who these people are. Now come on, drink your tea”

Rochester and Jane both sit on her floral couches opposite one another.

“I like your new place”

“Thanks. I am very grateful for it. The state I was in after leaving you was something unexplainable. But three very generous siblings guided me and I couldn’t be more thankful”

“Could those people be the ones in the picture up there?”

“Oh yes. I will tell you the story. It’s quite funny actually. Such a small world. The two ladies in that picture are siblings along with that man in the picture with me. When I was forced to sleep outside and beg for money, these three siblings named Mary, Diana and St. John Rivers took me in. St. John is pronounced like “Sinjin”. I quickly became friends with them”.

“Ah haa, keep going”, said Rochester while sipping his tea.

“Well they took me in and provided me with food and shelter. Things I was desperate for. St. John is a clergyman and he is an almost fanatical Christian of Calvinistic leanings. He is a very honest man and very patient, forgiving. He could have made a Saint I tell you”.

“Interesting. These are good biscuits by the way. Keep going then”

“Although St. John had good qualities, there were also some bad ones. See he is a very proud man. He is sometimes controlling and is not willing to listen to dissenting opinions. And his sisters, Mary and Dianna are both kind and intelligent people. They are both amazing girls”.

“Okay so how is it a small world?” asked Rochester

“Funnily, these three siblings turned out to be my cousins from my father’s side”.

“Oh wow, it is a small world”.

“I was only able to afford this house because St. John found me a job teaching at a Charity school in Morton. One day he came and surprised me by declaring that our Uncle Eyre had died and left me a large fortune of 20,000 pounds. When I asked him how he knew, he told me that he was also his uncle and that’s how we found out we were closely related. I shared my inheritance equally with my three newfound relatives”.

“That was very profound and thoughtful of you Jane. I am very happy you settled in well”

“I had to pay them back some how for the help they gave me. Without them, I probably would have still been a beggar on the streets”.

“Okay, so what are your cousins up to now?” asked Rochester.

“St. John has decided to travel to India soon as a missionary. He has been pressuring me to go with him to accompany him as his wife. I do not mind going to India I told him that but I cannot marry him because I do not love him. Even both his sisters warned me about marrying St. John”.

“Hmmm interesting. What else is there to know”? Asked Rochester.

“When he offered me to go to India with him as a missionary, he also offered me the chance to make a more meaningful contribution to society than I would as a housewife. But I knew that if I gave in to marrying him, I would live life without true love. I cannot live like that. I need love for spiritual solace”.

“So how did you come close to marrying him then?”

“He kept pressuring me to reconsider and that’s how I nearly gave in”.

“Okay I see…” muttered Rochester.

“Truth is Rochester, when I heard your voice on the phone, I truly realised that I cannot forever abandon the man I truly love. Despite what happened, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind either”.

“Jane I cannot believe you just said that. I have been dreaming of this day. My house is so different without you in it. My whole life has changed. I never wanted Bertha I want you Jane!” explained Rochester

There was tension and silence between Rochester and Jane. Both were trying to now avoid what had been said and did that by sipping their hot tea and eating biscuits.

“Listen Rochester, when I was on the streets penniless and had nothing, I blamed it all on you. I still do have feelings for you and you are the one I have only ever loved but after what I was put through because of a lie, it has destroyed the trust and foundation of the relationship we had. I don’t think I can get past that. And to think you could hold a woman imprisoned against her own will shows the man you have once become. A woman that was once your wife. You and she both exchanged vows. How could you do that! On top of that, you made Alice Fairfax lie telling me those mysterious laughter’s I often heard echoing through the halls is in fact the laughter of Grace herself. I don’t think I can be with someone like that despite what my heart tells me; I still have to use my brain”.

Saddened by what he had just heard, Rochester just stares at Jane quietly. Taking a breath and a minute of silence, he begins to try and explain himself.

“Jane please listen as I explain. When I met Bertha, she was also beautiful and had a great personality. I fell in love with this Creole woman. However, during our marriage, she became insane, violent and bestial”.

“That still doesn’t make up for what you did Edward”.

“Well, throughout our marriage, I got a letter from Daniel Cosay. One of Alexander Co sway’s bastard children. The letter informed me of the madness that runs in Bertha’s family. He begged me to go see him as there was more to explain. And I did. I was shocked by what I had heard. I never knew her mother was a lunatic. She never told me that and when I asked about her mother, she would always change the topic. Bertha became exactly like her mother. Madness is in that family. I had to imprison her. She became dangerous Jane. She even tried to poison me so I could try and love her again. The last few days in our marriage, she even started to act like an animal. She would walk unsteadily and push me every time I tried to hold her. She would sit on the bed and clench her teeth on the bed sheets. Then she would make a clicking sound of annoyance. I began to hate her. She became dangerous and unsafe. I had to keep her in the third story because she was not healthy to leave. She would have either done something to herself or someone else”.

“I am terribly sorry Rochester. I don’t think I can get back and marry you. Instead of locking her up, you should have rather gotten her help instead. In a way I don’t blame her for burning your house down. If that were my only source of escape, I probably would have done the same”.

“Okay, I guess its useless trying. I wish you all the best with St. John if you do plan to marry him. I will always have you in my heart”.

With one last hug with Jane, he picked up his jacket and left to go back to his empty house.

Jane watched him leave. She sat in the lounge alone thinking about what had just happened. Her feelings are both mixed of sadness and happiness. She is sad that she just watched her love walk away from her but happy that she did the right thing. She knew that if he could do that to a different lady, then he could do it to her someday. She also made a decision about St. John. Jane thought she would go on the trip itself because she hadn’t been to India before but she will not marry St. John either.

“Maybe I will find love in India”, Jane thought.