Analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea”.
Wide Sargasso Sea : Bachelor Paper details a response to the 1993 film “Wide Sargasso Sea” based on British-Dominica writer Jean Rhys’ novel of the same name. The novel was published in 1961. You can find a full description of the film’s biography here. The film is set in post-emancipation Jamaica, but at the same time Jamaica is still a British colony. As you can see in the film, Jamaica is a multicultural society, with French and Spanish and Portuguese settlers enjoying a living in one of those “Manichean” places where the white/dominant settler is separated from the black native/servants by class and power. However, in between the white/black dichotomy there is the “creole.” The creole identity is at the center of the movie. Antoinette and her mother are creoles and they are victimized by a colonial society which is also shown to be a deeply patriarchal society. In Franz Fanon we read about the victimization of the black man, but in “Wide Sargasso Sea” we see that the woman is victimized by almost all men, regardless of skin color. Likewise creoles are victimized by both blacks and whites. A creole woman is doubly victimized by the society of the day. The question raised by “Wide Sargasso Sea” is: How does the film show the disempowerment and subsequent regaining of power by Antoinette Cosway? How does Antoinette assert herself in the movie? What does she achieve by the movie’s ending? Again, make sure you have a strong thesis in your response paper and wherever necessary use quotations, like dialogues, from the movie. You can also choose to analyze scenes from the film. The 3 most significant scenes are the burning down of the Cosway residence and the symbol of the parrot that burns yet becomes the center of attention of all bystanders; the ending scene with Antoinette dancing on the house of Rochester while it burns; a 3rd scene that’s important is the one in which the Jamaicans are dancing to the drum beats; in this scene Antoinette competes with Emily. When Rochester sees Antoinette dancing wildly, he is displeased. But in the ending scene Antoinette resumes where she was forced to leave off. Rochester wants to convert his wife into a proper English wife but Antoinette resists. Finally she does some kind of regaining. Of what? Please ensure your essay has the following: • A strong argument • An Introduction that established context • Paragraphs that have topic sentences, focus and sufficient analysis/interpretation of a single idea that’s related to the main argument of your essay • A title • Transitions between paragraphs