The Role Of Mr. Mason In The 1800s

Marriage arrangements of the 1800s “were not just a joining of a man and women, but a joining of families, businesses, jobs and wealth” (Stephanie Ann, “Mid-1800s/ Civil War Era Marriage Proposals”). Most marriages were arranged by the head of the family, the father, and agreements were made between the groom and the bride’s father. During this time, The Married Women’s Property Act had not come about therefore it was mandatory that property, money and dowry of women shall go to the man when a marriage took place. As the book of Wide Sargasso Sea takes place in the 1800s, it is evident that Mr. Mason had a similar mindset to men of that age; he wanted to marry her up. When Antoinette was in the convent school, he frequently hints the idea
In 1834, women were not allowed to keep what they earned as the Married Women’s Property Act had not come about till the 1870s. If she had simply rejected Mr. Mason’s request, she would have had her own money and estate. Mr. Mason is able to greatly influence Antoinette and show that he is of power in the relationship. He is able to charm her and make her marry him “I told you that when you are my wife there would not be any more reason to be afraid” (66). He uses her significant weakness as a way to get her to agree. Mr. Rochester also shows that he has a possessive side over Antoinette (Sandi, 14-16). Women that were resentful and violent were “abandoned by men as “crazy”, as well as “unfeminine” (Chesler, 45). As Antoinette is someone who is now more open, Mr. Rochester often felt that she was unfeminine and that he didn’t have enough control over her. Also, when Mr. Rochester finds out about Antoinette’s previous relationships, he feels like he has not been controlling enough and feels disgusted, “Now disgust was rising in me like sickness” (104) . Mr. Rochester later challenges her identity and takes over everything she has. Names are very important things to people “bestowal of name and identity is a kind of symbolic contract between the society and the individual” (Deluzain, “Behind the Name”). When he changes her name to Bertha, she seems very disturbed and unhappy ““I hope you will sleep well, Bertha”- it
She treated Christophine as her own mother “I left a light on the chair by my bed and waited for Christophine, for I liked to see her last thing. But she did not come” (31), but sometimes even Christophine could not give her the attention and love she needed. Her mother was twice married, with one deceased husband who had been an ex-slave owner that drunk himself to death and a second husband who was rumoured to have come “to make money as they all do.” (25) When she was to marry Mr. Mason, she had a son that was dying, a complicated daughter and not enough money to survive .She was getting desperate and Mr. Mason, a planter who wanted their land, seemed like the best option to save the family from their debt. Their family often received lots of discrimination but after the marriage, they underwent double the amount of discrimination which allowed the idea of leaving Coulibri to emerge. Annette and Mr. Mason often fought about leaving “‘You must have a reason, ̛ he would say, and she would answer ‘I need a change’ or ‘We could visit Richard’ ” (27). People often attacked them with many racist insults. It got to a point where they set their house on fire, “‘Oh, my God, they get at the back, they set fire to the back of the house.’ ” (33) After the fire, the family was to flee the house. Annette lost her son, her parrot and herself and most importantly “hated Mr. Mason…She said