Rochester

In the essay “Wide Sargasso Sea and a critique of imperialism” Spivak writes about how other critics “have remarked that Wide Sargasso Sea treats the Rochester character with understanding and sympathy” (243). Now I realize that I am going to get a lot of hate comments about this, but I agree! I actually felt bad for him! I know that he’s not the greatest guy, and he did cheat on his wife with Amelie, and he was a racist, but let’s look at the whole picture. He’s from Europe and he was probably raised as a racist, and he probably didn’t know much better. I mean, He doesn’t treat them horribly except for the little boy whom he calls stupid, but if you think about it there are “stupid” white kids too, kids who aren’t educated and who can’t speak properly. The only things he outright says is when he’s questioning Antoinette and tells her he would never hug “them” inferring that he is better them. Additionally, when he sleeps with Amelie, he had just been drugged! Not that this is an excuse for being unfaithful to his wife, but who knows, he might have still been out of it, and even if he was coherent, he was probably pissed off that his own wife would drug him. He could not comprehend that his wife only wanted to make him love her, he didn’t understand that. To him, his crazy wife drugged him, for only God knows why!
I just don’t understand why they would go through such a hassle to keep Antoinette drugged. I don’t buy that story at all! She was a little loopy the whole time! I mean, look what she went through. All of the trauma that she had as child and as a teenager probably messed with her mind. Even Rochester talked about how during the day she seemed fine, but in the evenings she was quiet and strange. That was before the letter informing him that she was crazy came. Plus, I don’t care what anyone says, after he married Antoinette, he got the money. He didn’t have to give it back, he could have went to Mexico with it and lived happily ever after with some beautiful Latina, but he didn’t. He took his wife with him and got her a caregiver and made sure she was fed and kept a roof over her head. He was mad at his father and his brother anyways, and he never wrote any letters to friends that he might have had. So, what was keeping him there? Not much, probably. It seems that his loyalties still resided with his wife. He had no other logical reason for staying with her, (none that I agree with anyways). :-)