Wide Sargasso Sea Contents
- Social / political context
- Religious / philosophical context
- Literary context of Wide Sargasso Sea
- Overview
- Part one: Antoinette's first narrative
- Part two: Rochester's narrative
- Part two: Antoinette's narrative
- Part two: Rochester's narrative resumes
- Part three: Grace Poole's narrative
- Part three: Antoinette's narrative
Part three, section 7
Wide Sargasso Sea pages 122 - 124: Antoinette's third dream ... The flaming candle
Synopsis of part three, section 7
The third of Antoinette's dream sequences. In this one she gets out of her room again and, with a candle in her hand, moves around the house. As this is a dream, she confuses Thornfield Hall with her Aunt Cora's house. In her dream, she knocks down some candles and sets fire to the house. Having climbed up to the battlements to escape the flames, she sits and images of her childhood come back to her. These are confused with a premonition of Rochester's behaviour when he tries to rescue her from the real fire to come. She screams and wakes up.
She must have screamed so that Grace Poole could hear her because her keeper checks that she is still asleep. Antoinette feigns sleep and then, when Grace Poole is asleep herself, she gets up and takes a candle. Full of resolution, she sets out to burn down Thornfield Hall.
Commentary on part three, section 7
- Antoinette's belief that a female ghost inhabits Thornfield is a reversal of the situation in Jane Eyre where Jane thinks there is a ghost.
- There is a direct reference to the large drawing room at Thornfield Hall, described in
Jane Eyre > Chapter 11 as having red carpet and curtains.
- In Jane Eyre the final image of Bertha is of her figure on the battlements with her hair streaming in the wind.
- Antoinette seems disassociated from what may be her own reflection in a framed mirror.
- The help Antoinette alludes to is a reference to Christophine's magic powers.
- The roof of Thornfield Hall has a wall or parapet, like a castle's battlements.
- Stephanotis is a twining evergreen with white, heavily fragrant flowers.
- Jasmine is a climbing plant with white, fragrant flowers
- The burning tree recalls the description of the garden at Coulibri in part one, section 2 and refers to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden symbolising access to eternal life. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God (known as the fall of humankind - see also Tree of Knowledge), they were expelled from the garden and no longer had access to the Tree of Life.
- Antoinette dreams the final scene on the roof when a man (Rochester) calls her and her hair flies in the wind. See Jane Eyre > Vol. 3, Chap 10.
Investigating part three, section 7
-
What does Antoinette mean when she says that gold is the idol they worship?
- Who are ‘they'?
-
As Antoinette sits dreaming on the battlements she sees important images from her childhood
- Make a list of these images and notes on the significance of each.
- What is Tia's role in this dream?
- How would you describe Antoinette's feelings in the final lines once she is awake?
Tree in the Garden of Eden symbolizing access to eternal life. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were expelled from the garden and no longer had access to the tree of life.
The place described in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, in which God placed his first human creatures, Adam and Eve.
A new quality of life, beginning in the present but continuing after death, which Jesus is said to offer to those who believe in him.
According to Genesis (the first book of the Old Testament), Adam is the first human being, made in the image / likeness of God, placed in the Garden of Eden and given dominion over the earth.
According to the book of Genesis in the Bible the first woman, said to have been created by God out of Adam's rib, to be his companion.
The Bible describes God as the unique supreme being, creator and ruler of the universe.
Adam and Eve's act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden described in the Old Testament Book of Genesis which led to estrangement from God for them and their descendants.
According to the Book of Genesis, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil grew in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat its fruit by God. When they disobeyed, they lost their innocence and close relationship with God.
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