The author's not having discussed consent can be easily excused, as the article was published in 1978, when perhaps there was not as much discussion on the topic, or at the very least, not much discussion when it came to fictional characters. We discussed a similar topic during a panel presentation today, about how feminist criticism of "Wide Sargasso Sea" has changed over time. It is possible for this to be excused. However, the fact that the author does not once even mention Antoinette being at fault, and in fact spends a good portion of her analysis discussing who is at fault for the events that take place between Antoinette and her husband cannot be excused. The author considers Rochester, Tia, even Christophine as possible catalysts, but not once does she bring up Antoinette.
To me, it seems impossible that one could not consider ascribing some semblance of responsibility, of fault, to Antoinette. I suppose it may be because, as the reader, I have the opportunity to see into the thoughts of both Antoinette and Rochester and see how they misunderstand each other, but it seems like both of them make unnecessarily drastic decisions: Antoinette with her potion, and Rochester with (1) treating her badly once he gets Cosway's letter, (2) sleeping with Amelie, and (3) locking her away in his attic and never visiting. Ok, ok, yes, I definitely agree that Rochester should get more blame; I mean, he could have at least asked Antoinette if what Cosway said was true, instead of just believing everything Cosway said! But still, Antoinette took a big step with the obeah stuff, and it seems to me that the potion was the breaking point in their relationship. But who knows, maybe I am reading too much into it. . .
Am I laying too much blame on Rochester and not enough on Antoinette? Or too much on Antoinette and not enough on Rochester? Is there someone else important I am ignoring? Let me know what you think!!
It is interesting to read this after your panel presentation. I think that Anette brought up a point that we have kinda danced around in class, Antoinette drugged Rochester. While this was one event, I think that it represents the mark where she held the most responsibility for the path that their marriage took. Yet I agree with the blame that you place on Rochester, I personally dont believe its too harsh...
ReplyDeleteI think that both do reprehensible things, with Antoinette basically attempting to date rape her husband, and Rochester imprisoning her. However I feel like Rochester holds more of the responsibility since he began the emotional manipulation long before she tried to drug him
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! This is a book in which it's hard to blame a single character for what happens. Is Antoinette to blame? Yes. So is Rochester. So is Christophine, though to a lesser extent. We also can't ignore the role their backgrounds and circumstances play in determining their actions. It's hard to determine exactly who and what it is that dooms the relationship.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that Antoinette is partially to blame. Giving Rochester the love potion was a step too far. She was basically trying to force him to love her and she also did it without his consent so I think that she broke any trust that there was in the marriage. However, I think that Rochester's actions led her to doing this. In the beginning it seemed that Antoinette was trying to make an effort to make the marriage work but Rochester was not trying at all. So I think that Antoinette can be blamed a little bit but Rochester is the main reason that their marriage did not work.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Antoinette should get some of the blame for their relationship going down the tubes. In fact, I think she could get much more blame than Rochester for her use of the love potion. When she was trying to get Christophine to give her the potion, Christophine made it clear that he would be head-over-heals for one night, then hate her. Maybe it's just part of the Obeah that the seduced will hate afterwards, or maybe Christophine is just smart enough to know that Rochester would get angry, but whatever she meant, Antoinette should have listened to her.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone made mistakes in this marriage, Antoinette, Rochester, Mason and his son, everyone. Mason and Richard for arranging it out of their own self-interest of keeping property within the circle of people they knew well, Rochester for being complicit in this, even as he knew nothing about Antoinette, and Antoinette for using the obeah potion. I think that this marriage was just in general a very poorly thought-out ordeal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Antoinette definitely contributed to the fall of her marriage with the love potion. It was prompted by Rochester's previous mistreatment of her but I think there was still a better and more long-term focused way to approach the situation.
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