Wide Sargasso Sea
satirical illustration on the characters from the novel 'The Wide Sargasso Sea' by Jean Rhys
satirical illustration on the characters from the novel 'The Wide Sargasso Sea' by Jean Rhys
is a postcolonial parallel novel written by Dominica born Jean Rhys, it acts as a prequel to Charlotte Brontes 1847 novel Jane Eyre.
The story is of a Creole born heiress who Mr rochester (an English gentleman and romantic hero from Jane Eyre) marries and brings back to England. He marries her for her money and then declares her insane and locks her away in the attic so that he can use her money and not have to be a husband to her. The Creole heiress is trapped in an oppressive patriarchal society. The novel deals with the themes of racial inequality and displacement.
Within this illustration I attempted to capture the main themes but also give Bertha Mason (the Creole Heiress) the upper hand.
She is naked to show her vulnerability , the flower represents the 'supposed' madness, which is artificially put upon her and not inherent. Mr Rochester is a colonial male chauvinist pig waving the British flag for colonialism. The coconut tree/palm represents her sense of needing to belong. Rochester is tied to her in wedlock 'tying the knot'. The cleaver represents her anger.
