And yet......
"I have sold my soul or you have sold it, and after all is it a bad bargain? The girl is thought to be beautiful, she is beautiful. And yet...." (70)
-Rochester to his father, Wide Sargasso Sea
well, we can tell from the opening line that Rochester is not happy with his father. Understandably so, since he has just been forced to marry someone because he is the second son, and therefore someway inferior to the first. He will not inherit any money, and must marry into a family that has money. On his honeymoon, it appears as if he is seeing Antoinette for the first time. He has been deliroius with fever, and does not recognize her. He can tell Antoinette is not happy, her "pleading expression" begging for him to let her go (just a thought! not a statement, Dr Jerz). They do not even know each other.
My question is: what do you think his "and yet.." comment could mean?
maybe he means that he sees a streak of madness in her, something that does not seem right.
or perhaps since he is english and she a creole, it is an issue of race. She's beautiful, but mixed, so that somehow takles away from her beauty. She would be pretteir had she been pure english.
-Rochester to his father, Wide Sargasso Sea
well, we can tell from the opening line that Rochester is not happy with his father. Understandably so, since he has just been forced to marry someone because he is the second son, and therefore someway inferior to the first. He will not inherit any money, and must marry into a family that has money. On his honeymoon, it appears as if he is seeing Antoinette for the first time. He has been deliroius with fever, and does not recognize her. He can tell Antoinette is not happy, her "pleading expression" begging for him to let her go (just a thought! not a statement, Dr Jerz). They do not even know each other.
My question is: what do you think his "and yet.." comment could mean?
maybe he means that he sees a streak of madness in her, something that does not seem right.
or perhaps since he is english and she a creole, it is an issue of race. She's beautiful, but mixed, so that somehow takles away from her beauty. She would be pretteir had she been pure english.
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Dennis G. Jerz on And yet......: "And yet..." he knows he doesn
Jennifer Prex on And yet......: Either of your interpretations
Jennifer Prex on And yet......: Either of your interpretations
Either of your interpretations of the line could be true. Another possibility could simply be that he thinks she's beautiful, but that's all he sees in her. That may be the only thing he likes about her. He makes it clear, after all, that he doesn't love her.
"And yet..." he knows he doesn't love her -- it was arranged marriage orchestrated by his father, and though I agree Rhys emphasizes his negative side, here, could she be depicting the seed which will grow into Rochester's respect for Jane?
He is very cruel and cold by the end of section two, but just as we first saw Antoinette sane though needy, we saw Rochester initially as passive (to the will of his family, anyway) but also weakened by illness (and later, weakened by Christophine's "poison").
Note that towards the end of section two he says he'd give his eyes not to have seen this place... that's not a very optimistic version of the redemption that Bronte narrated, but even the male Victorian pigs need strong motivations that move beyond a desire to twirl their moustaches.