Gender Stigma in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea

Abstract

This research analyzes the issue of stigma in the novel Wide Sargasso Sea. Antoinette goes mad due to ill treatment into the hands of patriarchal society. She suffers from discrimination and exploitation by her husband and her condition further deteriorates. She is stigmatized as a mentally derailed woman. This stigmatization shows the plight and suffering of high class Victorian wives and mother, the limited social space and negligence of the male towards her makes her feel imprisoned. Antoinette’s heart and spirit is broken and she shows signs of an emotionally weak, confused and unbalanced woman. Rochester is cruel and call her Bertha, her mad mother’s name. In England she is physically and mentally imprisoned and when the torture crosses normal limits she sets fire on the house and kills herself. Her death is a result of stigmatization because of which she had to suffer a lot.