|
|
|
|
|
WEBMISTRESS speculates:
I love this song! It is inspired by the 1993 film adaption of the 1966 novel of the same name by Jean Rhys. The book is from the perspective of the famous "madwoman in the attic" of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. In Jane Eyre, we only know of her as Rochester's secret wife named Bertha Mason, a violently insane woman he keeps hidden in the attic and tells no one about. Jane Eyre certainly knows nothing about her, as Rochester and she fall in love and he goes so far as to propose marriage. Bertha, however, is able to sneak out of the attic on occasion. She destroys Jane's wedding dress and tries to kill Rochester. When Jane finally learns of the wife, Rochester explains that he was forced to marry her by his father in order to get her family's fortune. He traveled to Jamaica and wed her, not knowing that her family had a history of insanity. Before long, Bertha descended into madness and despite his best efforts to help her, he was forced to confine her. Jane leaves him at this discovery. Later, while Jane is away, Bertha escapes and sets fire to Rochester's huge estate manor. Rochester tries to rescue her when he sees her standing atop the manor as it burns, but before he reaches her, she jumps to her death. He, in turn, is blinded by burning debris. Jane eventually returns and, upon discovering what occurred, agrees to marry Rochester and care for him.
Rhys takes Bertha's part and presents the story from her viewpoint. Thus, a character which in Bronte serves largely as a romantic complication between Rochester and Jane now has her own story. Her real name: Antoinette Cosway. Rhys wrtes of her youth in Jamaica and then her tragic relationship with Rochester, aka "The Englishman." In this version, the marriage was not simply forced, but full of passion; unfortunately, after Rochester learns that there was a history of insanity in her family, he feels tricked and betrayed. He turns on her, taking her to England and away from her family, then confining her to a room since he is convinced she is a lunatic. Faced with a husband who no longer loves her and who treats her as a madwoman even while she is sane, she turns to drink and eventually becomes what he believed her to be. Jane Eyre is nothing more than "the other woman." Antoinette's end is the same as in Jane Eyre, though: she "burned his house down" but also commits suicide.
The movie adaptation is a bit different from the book and there is a lot more sex ("the only thing that they did together was to make love" indeed) and less childhood memories, but it is otherwise very similar. Stevie changes Antoinette's fate to a happier one: she emerges from the fire free and returns home. I like Stevie's version better.