Presentation Week: Influenced by The Wide Sargasso Sea

Before I get angry readers here I would like to say that every presentation had its charms and I was actually interested in all of them. Yet there is always just that one book that gets your attention and you want to know as much as you can about it. The presentation on a book that interested me the most had to be "The Wide Sargasso Sea". I loved reading Jane Eyre in class, it was my favorite novel we read. Yet I always had that unfilled space in my mind about what really happened to Bertha Mason in the story and her past. I firmly believe in the saying that there are two sides to one story and knowing that Jane could not provide this information to us in some way really frustrated me. This is currently on my wish-list for Amazon and I plan on getting it as soon as I am done with all my Christmas shopping. I am angered/ amazed/ and feel slightly "rubbed the wrong way" with the fact that so little was mentioned about the Bertha Mason character in the first place. I think it would have added to the readers understanding of Mr. Rochester and how he really should be portrayed. From the book I kind of had a sense that Mr. Rochester was not so innocent as he might have seemed and that the reason he was hiding Bertha was to maintain that status he always hoped while not feeling guilty about it. I am glad that in this book the author does portray him that way because I felt all along that is what he deserved. And another part that was my frustration that Bertha was almost never recognized as being normal in her society. She did follow the rules in the beginning but the prediction that she was going to be crazy followed her and it gave readers the impression that she was crazy from the start. Almost like there was no need to pay her any attention because she was already crazy, she just didn't show it yet. I did not particularly like that because as I said, there is always another side of the story. I think this book would clarify my thoughts about Bertha and how things were for her at this time. Of course no one knows exactly how Charlotte Bronte meant to portray her but I don't think she meant harm by placing her as that crazy attic lady. I am so sorry I do not remember the presenter's name (Kristi maybe?)[I'm sorry!] but I enjoyed the presentation as well knowing that the author had as much background similarities as Bertha also known as(Antoinette).Knowing only what I saw in the presentation I would think that the author of The Wide Sargasso Sea was kind of irritated with Bronte. And wanted to do some justice for the Bertha Mason character and judging by the presentation it must have been a great point of view story. I think that the book had to be just as intriguing as Jane Eyre was and I think I can finally fill in that space that always wanted to know more about her.