Antoinette’s fall into insanity is a result of her environment imposing insanity upon her before she loses her grip on reality. By being told a lie that can’t be officially disproven by people for so long, the person being lied to will accept it as reality. Though Antoinette wasn’t destined to become insane like her mother, the Jamaican society and her husband pushed her over the edge and caused her to act irrationally.
Antoinette’s childhood was essentially defined by the abuse she faced by the community and her mothers distanced demeanor. Even those who were supposed to be her friends were cruel to her (thanks, Tia). Mental development is affected heavily by how a person is treated, with childhood and teenage years being the most sensitive to these interactions with other humans. The cold and cruel environment Antoinette was raised in may have predisposed her to the aggressive behavior (or insanity, i guess) she displays later in the novel.
After Rochester begins to realize there are rumors about Antoinette’s family history and past, he begins to despise her for something that isn’t exactly her fault. Though I suppose she could have told him from the start all about her crushing backstory, that doesn’t seem realistic since they probably didn’t trust each other the first time they met each other, and her story was not relevant until it was too late for her to influence his opinion significantly. He takes his anger out on her passively for reasons she clearly does not understand (because she repeatedly asks him why he is ignoring her) and it becomes frustrating and abusive. Imagine having the person you love slowly start to lose interest and ignore you :c
These actions may have triggered/ supplemented Antoinette’s insecurities from her childhood and caused her to act irrationally, especially under the assumption that the one person who ever made her want to live now despises her.
The point I’m trying to make here is that although Antoinette may be acting a little crazy, up until she becomes aggressive after her husband transgresses on the purity of their marriage, she hadn’t done anything wrong. It was her reputation that tore her life apart, not her actions. It’s like the very bad version of image over substance. It’s even more disturbing to think that the only person who’s truly been by Antoinette’s side has been Christophine (thanks Christophine we love you), not her mother, or her husband. It’s better than nothing, but really Rochester?
AND NOW special opinions from Lark (BONUS CONTENT)
The scene where Antoinette tries desperately to tell Rochester about her past was honestly hard to read. He didn’t care at all and you could tell from every response he gave it was emotionless and sassy and disrespectful and I wanted to cry. Here look at this:
“'…Yes, it was my fault, it was my fault that she started to plan and work in a frenzy, in a fever to change our lives. Then people came to see us again and though I still hated them and was afraid of their cool, teasing eyes, I learned to hide it.'
‘No.’ I [Rochester] said.
‘Why no?’
‘You have never learned to hide it,’ I said.
‘I learned to try,’ said Antoinette. Not very well, I thought.”
Not very well, huh? Well, Rochester, YOU don’t try very WELL at not acting like a tool. Antoinette is telling him about a really emotional and hard time in her life and all he can think to do is contradict her and not consider that she had it rough in comparison to him.
I understand that it’s hard to overcome the influence of the community (we know Antoinette and Anette couldn’t) but he could have at least tried to get a primary source for his lil insanity & betrayal thesis he had in his head.
I’m grossed out like & comment please.
