10 Antiheroes in Literature That We Love to Hate
“Have all beautiful things sad destinies?”
Antoinette Cosway; Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys and Bertha Mason; Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
So, this antihero is in two parts, the first being the character of Bertha Mason—locked-up, lunatic wife of Rochester in Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Read that novel and you won’t think much of Bertha at all, she isn’t important enough to register as an antihero, just as a mad woman. But! Decades later, Jean Rhys rescued the character and gave her a story. Which, isn’t that what every complicated woman needs? A narrative? Renamed Antoinette Cosway, (the name “Bertha” comes later), in Wide Sargasso Sea, we suddenly have a fully realized, multi-faceted woman, who perhaps has some inherited mental instability, but also is dealing with the strong external forces of colonialism, racism, sexism, and a shitty husband. In some ways, Antoinette is just a straight-up hero, but with strong, female characters, it’s never that simple. In Jane Eyre, Bertha was just thought of as crazy, and it was hard to have feelings other than wariness and maybe empathy for her, but to still root for Jane. Rhys gave this character a second life, imbuing her with a voice and a past and making it possible to root for someone who you know, tragically, will never win.