After reading the argument between Christophine and Antoinette regarding Rochester, I realized how much I respected Christophine as a strong character and mentor. However, I think she could've done a better job at understanding Antoinette's desires in her marriage. Here is me exploring these ideas.
Christophine is Antoinette's mentor whose best interests are in Antoinette's well-being. As soon as she senses something is wrong between Rochester and Antoinette, she encourages Antoinette to leave Rochester behind, to leave her country entirely, and never look back. This advice made me wonder, what about Antoinette's relationship worries Christophine most? Is it that Rochester is an English man who swooped in to "save the day"? This concern would make sense especially in the context of Antoinette's family history, considering her mother had the same experience and was quickly cast out of society. Or is it that Rochester conveniently took ownership Antoinette's inheritance? This would also make sense, as he could easily be seen as taking advantage of Antoinette and her inability to own property. Or could it be, that Christophine wanted more for Antoinette than marriage? Early on in the novel, we see Christophine setting Antoinette up with Tia, whose friendship gave Antoinette her childhood back (until her family history caught up with her again). Christophine teaches Antoinette songs and is a refuge when she is abused by Annette. Christophine does not seem concerned with Antoinette's future or her image in society. Rather, her concern remains Antoinette's happiness and comfort with her identity. Despite her inability to shield Antoinette from an unwelcome world, Christophine made Antoinette's childhood infinitely more bearable. Is it selfish, then, for her to discourage Antoinette from working on her marriage in order to preserve all that she has done to prevent Antoinette from succumbing to her mother's fate? Or would Antoinette really be happier in England with more control over her own life?
It seems to me that Christophine's advice is valid, considering it would free Antoinette from a potentially dysfunctional marriage. But it's essential that Antoinette's POV and past are taken into account. Her childhood was vastly devoid of love from her parents and any kind of lasting social connection from friends. Even if her connection with Rochester is artificial or purely physical, this is the first time she has felt such a closeness with another person. Antoinette is clearly desperate to make her marriage work in order to restore her connection with Rochester. And we must also consider, how badly does Antoinette want freedom? It is quite possible that she would be at a loss with what to do or where to go once she escaped her native country. Maybe freedom is something that Christophine wishes she could have more of, and so she projects those wishes onto Antoinette, when all Antoinette wants is someone to share an emotional connection with.
In any case, I think Christophine ultimately handled Antoinette's wishes quite well. Even though she disagrees with Antoinette's decision to stay with Rochester, she encourages her to explain her family history to Rochester. Again, Christophine always has Antoinette's best interests at heart. If Rochester realizes that madness is not inevitable and there is a possibility of a successful future with Antoinette, he will hopefully respect and protect her and their marriage, giving Antoinette what she desires. In other words, Christophine is basically a wise sage mastermind. The Dumbledore of The Wide Sargasso Sea, if you will.
I think comparing Christophine to Dumbledore makes a lot of sense. Both are mentor figures who stand in for a parent in at least some capacity, and who the protagonist looks up to. Additionally, although they both always want the best for Antoinette and Harry respectively, they don't always completely understand them and sometimes project their own wishes and interests onto them despite their sincere intent to help.
ReplyDeleteThis is a pretty cool point of view, Emma, and I think we can relate this to the main mentors of our lives too. People like our parents, always want what is best for us, but its hard for them to understand our situations sometimes because they aren't exactly going through what we a re going through. Nevertheless, their advice is valuable, and I think that Christophine did try her best and gave good advice to Antoinette.
ReplyDeleteLoewy, I really like how much credit you gave to Christophine as only having Antoinette's best interests at heart. I think we often look for the worst in characters and try to see the agenda that they're trying to push rather than tale their actions at face value. You did well here in asserting that Christophine's wanting the best for Antoinette is just that. That said, I also like your implication of there being an ulterior motive to Christophine's actions as well because it provides something else to dwell on. Great work!
ReplyDeleteI also think that Christophine had ultimately good motives in her advice that she gave Antionette. Christophine clearly isn't always just giving Antionette what she wants without extreme consideration, like when she was very hesitant to give Antoinette the drink to compel Rochester. Christophine cares for Antoinette and helps her get what she needs or wants sometimes (like a friend in Tia when she was younger), but the advice that she gives sometimes could definitely be trying to convince Antoinette to go along with Christophine's idea of what is best for her.
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