Antoniette’s Dreams as Premonition, Struggle and Freedom in

Wide Sargasso Sea

by

Name : Tyas Nuriska

Student Number : C0310063

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS

SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY

2013
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Introduction

Wide Sargasso Sea was written by Jean Rhys and first published in 1966. This novel told

story of Antoinette Mason or known as Bertha Mason in Charlotte Bronte‟s Jane Eyre. Many

things in the novel showed periodically such as the fire, madness and Antoinette‟s dreams.

Through the story, Antoinette was having dreams both in her childhood and in her adult

life. There are three of them and each of the dreams signifies things in her life. Together,

those dreams became sort of marker in Antoinette‟s life. The question is what kind of the

marker Antoinette‟s dream?

The question will be answered after I analyze each dream and all the symbolism in the

dreams. Because often those signs will have two meanings that may complied or contradict

each other. The signs also can be referred to Antoinette directly or indirectly.
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Discussion

As stated in previous part, in Wide Sargasso Sea Antoinette was having dream three times

in her life. The number of three often related to the spiritual awareness and unity. Those

dreams actually become the beginning, middle and end for Antoinette‟s life. It can be seen

when the dreams occurred. The first dream happened in childhood can be the indication of

the beginning. The second dream happened in her adolescent days which marked the middle

and her last dream happened before her death and it showed the end.

The first dream happened in her childhood day

“I dreamed that I was walking in the forest. Not alone. Someone who hated
me was with me, out of sight. I could hear heavy footsteps coming closer and
though I struggled and screamed I could not move. I woke up crying. The
covering sheet was on the floor and my mother was looking down at me.”
(6; part 1)

This dream occurred after Tia, her friend who stole her dress and insulted her. The dream

unconsciously became a premonition for her life. The act of premonition can be seen from the

background of the dream, which is the forest. Forest is a land covered with many trees and

trees generally represent life and growth, represent Antoinette‟s life here. She said that there

someone who hated her was hiding, indicate the downhill of her life will be caused by this

person. The way Antoinette frozen in her steps also showed her inability to fight about her

life. She will be trapped in her own life by still the unknown and it was indicated by the

footsteps coming closer.

The accident with Tia may trigger the dream, making her aware of people who hated her.

Her reaction to the footsteps also represents her action in her real life which helpless about

what happened in future. Since the dream occurred in childhood, the details are too few to
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interpret clearly in her life but the dream still can act as the premonition or early warning to

Antoinette.

The lack of details also showed that actually her future can be changed. The only detail

here only the forest and there is someone who followed her. Another indication of the

possibility to change her future also showed in the sound of footsteps that still far although

become closer quickly. The lack can be also interpreted as her innocent state, emphasized the

time she had the dream and not understand the meaning behind the dream.

Antoinette had her second dream in her adolescent life. The dream occurred before she

married.

“Again I have left the house at Coulibri. It is still night and I am walking
towards the forest. I am wearing a long dress and thin slippers, so I walk with
difficulty, following the man who is with me and holding up the skirt of my
dress. It is white and beautiful and I don‟t wish to get it soled. I follow him,
sick with fear but I make no effort to save myself; if anyone were to try to
save me, I would refuse. This must happen. Now we have reached the forest.
We are under the tall dark trees and there is no wind. „Here?‟ He turns and
looks at me, his face black with hatred, and when I see this I begin to cry. He
smiles slyly. „Not here, not yet,‟ he says, and I follow him, weeping.
Now I do not try to hold up my dress, it trails in the dirt, my beautiful dress.
We are no longer in the forest but in an enclosed garden surrounded by a stone
wall and the trees are different trees. I do not know them. There are steps
leading upwards. It is dark to see the wall or the steps, but I know they are
there and I think, „It will be when I go these steps. At the top.‟ I stumble over
my dress and cannot get up. I touch a tree and my arms hold on to it. „Here,
here.‟ But I think I will not go any further. The tree sways and jerks as if it is
trying to throw me off. Still I cling and the seconds pass and each one is a
thousand years. „Here, in here,‟ a strange voice said, and the tree stopped
swaying and jerking.” (23; part 1)

The dream was more vivid than her first dream. She dreamed in the forest again and that

indicate she dreamed about her life. The time in the dream was in night that represents the

darker part of her life. Before the dream ended, the place changed into the garden. Garden
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can be connected with innocent and fertility. Considering the dream happened before her

marriage, the garden represents the paradise. The garden was surrounded by stone and it

means her life will be trapped after her marriage. The steps also indicate Antoinette‟s feel of

trapped at its peak. The trees were changed type which indicates the turn of change in

Antoinette‟s life also the words „the tree swaying and jerking‟ showed her struggle in her life

to survive. The white dress can be seen as Antoinette herself for the white color and her wish

to not soil the dress. Her difficulty to walk reflects her life from the childhood which the first

dream occurred to her life in present day when she dreamed for the second time.

In the dream, Antoinette went with an unknown man who was her soon to be husband. It

can be seen from the way he leads her through the forest and to the isolated garden. He was

described with „a black face with hatred‟ and related to his bad personality. The fact she

wanted to cry revealed the personality affected her and made her miserable in her life. He did

not talked much in the dream, his words were „not here, not yet‟ and „here, in here‟. Those

words refer to Antoinette‟s changed personality. Through the story, her husband wished to

change her to be more „white people‟ and distanced herself to the black people around her.

The words „here, in here‟ indicate the peak of the change which was changed her name from

Antoinette to Bertha. After this extreme change her life become dull, proved by the way the

tree stops jerking and swaying.

The dream in general gave Antoinette the general image in her marriage life. Instead of

happiness like she hoped, she has to struggle to main her identity and sanity in her marriage.

However, Antoinette already aware that what happened in the marriage can‟t be cancelled

because her words are „this must happen‟. The second dream acts as the sign of struggle in

Antoinette‟s life.
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The third dream happened in the last part, where Antoinette in the attic in his husband‟s

house. Antoinette already diagnosed as mad and brought to his husband‟s country, England.

“That was the third time I had my dream, and it ended. I know now that the
flight of steps leads to this room where I lie watching the woman asleep with
her head on her arms. In my dream I waited till she began to snore, then I got
up, took the keys and left myself out with a candle in my hand…Suddenly I
was in Aunt Cora‟s room…Then I turned round and saw the sky… I saw the
orchids and the stephanotis and the jasmine and the tree of life in flames… I
heard the parrot call as he did when he saw a stranger, Qui est là? Qui est là?
and the man who hated me was calling too, Bertha! Bertha! The wind caught
my hair and it streamed out like wings. It might bear me up, I thought, if I
jumped to those hard stones. But when I looked over the edge I saw the pool
at Coulibri. Tia was there. She beckoned to me and when I hesitated, she
laughed. I heard her say, You frightened? And I heard the man‟s voice,
Bertha! Bertha! All this I saw and heard in a fraction of a second. And the sky
so red. Someone screamed and I thought, Why did I scream? I called „Tia!‟
and jumped and woke.” (87-88; part 3)

This was the last dream, as Antoinette stated above and in the dream Antoinette met her

aunt, Cora and her parrots. The dream seems like a flashback of Antoinette‟s childhood for

the description of the room after it changed. The dream also reviewed about what she lost and

what will she gain through the dream. In her dream, Antoinette saw „the tree of life in flames‟

(page 88) that became the sign of the end of her life. She also looked up to the sky and saw it

was red. The red here means disorder which reflects Antoinette‟s state in present day, she lost

her „sanity‟ and identity. Also the fire seemed significant in this dreams, started from the light

in the candle until the fire in the plants.

In the end of her dream, she jumped from the room and imagining she jumped to the

pool back in Coulibri and her friend, Tia mocking her that she was afraid of jumping. At last

she jumped after she heard the man‟s voice. The voice unconsciously reminded her about the

miserable life she had. Moreover, the lapse between the parrots‟s voice asking „Qui est là?‟

which meant „who are you?‟ with her husband calling her Bertha also made her remembered
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her lost identity as women. The jumping action can be interpreted as the way of freedom also

the moment of redemption of her life. The water in the imaginer pool represents redemption

of Antoinette life.

Since Antoinette aware of her last dream, she aware it means to end her life. Her

awareness shown in the words „it ended‟ referring both to the dream and her life. This last

dream acts as the freedom from her feeling. This dream also giving her the purpose of her

staying in England because of her words are „Now at last I know why I was brought here and

what I have to do.‟ (88; part 3). The purpose is to end her isolation life both in her homeland

and in England under her husband power. After she woke up, she did like what she did in the

dream, went down from the attic and burned the room. As soon as the room burned, she

jumped off from the room and towards her freedom.

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Conclusion

In Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette‟s dreams holding important role in her life. The first

dream she had in childhood become a premonition about how her life become in future. The

second dream was clearer with great detail showed the struggle Antoinette will have in future

especially in her marriage life. Her last dream which happened in England was having a sense

of freedom there which shown by jumped off the room. Those three dreams together can be

interpreted as beginning, middle or climax and end in Antoinette‟s life. Separated, those

dreams become a sign of premonition, struggle and freedom.

Reference

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. 1966. En 8848. 4 June 2010.

<http://www.en8848.com.cn/>