Creative Project: Antoinette's Insanity

For my creative project this semester I decided to use photography to illustrate Antoinette's experiences in her attic prison. I chose to have an all dark background, with minimal colors in the actual pictures, to accentuate the dramatic scenes and thoughts that Antoinette experiences. The body language and facial expressions in the photos are the main focus. Another reason for the black background is because of Grace Poole's quote that calls Antoinette "that girl who lives in her own darkness." 

I decided to put the photos where Antoinette explores outside of the attic in black and white because to the outside world Antoinette is only a forgotten ghost. 

These photos were all inspired by actual quotes in the novel. 

(Thanks to Allie Hartman for being such a patient and amazing model, and thanks to my sister and my mother for helping me arrange the lights and the props.)

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"But above all the thick walls, keeping away all the things that you have fought till you can fight no more. Yes, maybe that's why we all stayed -- Mrs Eff and Leah and me. All of us except that girl who lives in her own darkness." (Rhys 178)

"I'll say one thing for her, she hasn't lost her spirit. She's still fierce. I don't turn my back on her when her eyes have that look. I know it." (Rhys 178)

"In the end flames shoot up and they are beautiful. I get out of bed to watch them and to wonder why I have been brought here. For what reason? There must be a reason. What is it I must do?" (Rhys 179)

"So there is still the sound of whispering that I have heard all my life, but these are different voices." (Rhys 180)

"When she is snoring I get up and I have tasted the drink without colour in the bottle. The first time I did this I wanted to spit it out but I managed to swallow it. When I got back into bed I could remember more and think again. I was not so cold." (Rhys 179)

"There is no looking-glass here. and I don't know what I am like now. I remember watching myself brush my hair and how my eyes looked back at me. The girl I saw was myself yet not quite myself. Long ago when I was a child and very lonely I tried to kiss her. But the glass was between us -- hard, cold, and misted over with my breath. Now they have taken everything away. What am I doing in this place and who am I?" (Rhys 180)

(This is one of my favorite shots, aside from the abysmal photoshop editing, because I love the way it shows the current Antoinette remembering her past Antoinette through a mirror. The image of the looking glass pops up several times throughout the novel, so I was even more excited to try out mirror photography.)

"Then I open the door and walk into their world. It is, as I always knew, made of cardboard. I have seen it before somewhere, this cardboard world where everything is colored brown or dark red or yellow that has no light in it. As I walk along the passages I wish I could see what is behind the cardboard." (Rhys 181) 

"She met another girl and the second girl said, 'Have you seen a ghost?' -- 'I didn't see anything but I thought I felt something.' -- 'That is the ghost,' the second one said and they went down the stairs together." (Rhys 182)

 (For this photo I did everything I could to make Antoinette look as much like a ghost as possible.)

"I took the red dress down and put it against myself. 'Does it make me look intemperate and unchaste?' I said. [...] But I held the dress in my hand wondering if they had done the last and worst thing. If they had changed it when I wasn't looking. If they had changed it and it wasn't my dress at all -- but how could they get the scent?" (Rhys 186)

"Time has no meaning. But something you can hold like my red dress, that has meaning [...] The scent that came from the dress was very faint at first, then it grew stronger. The smell of vetivert and frangipanni, of cinnamon and dust and lime trees when they are flowering. The smell of sun and the smell of rain." (Rhys 185)

"I let the dress fall to the floor [...] I looked at the dress on the floor and it was as if the fire had spread across the room. It was beautiful and it reminded me of something I must do. I will remember I thought. I will remember quite soon now." (Rhys 186-187)

"I wished to see it clearly so I lit all the candles, and there were many. I lit them carefully from the one I was carrying but I couldn't reach up to the chandelier. I looked round for the altar for with so many candles and so much red, the room reminded me of a church." (Rhys 188)

(The quote here is taken from Antoinette's nightmare, so I tried to make the photo dream like. Here, she is sleeping among many candles, seemingly floating in mid air. )

"I waited a long time after I heard her snore, then I got up, took the keys, and unlocked the door." (Rhys 190)

"I was outside holding my candle. Now at last I know why I was brought here and what I have to do." (Rhys 189)

"There must have been a draught for the flame flickered and I thought it was out. But I shielded it with my hand and it burned up again to light me along the dark passage." (Rhys 189)

Antoinette + Rochester = Catastrophe

There has been lots of class discussion about Rochester and Antoinette's relationship. Has Rochester ever loved Antoinette and could he ever love her? Could their relationship have ever been a healthy one?

I think that their relationship was never, and never could have been, true love. And, I think most of the blame for this falls on Rochester's shoulders.

Yes, I understand that Rochester comes from a frivolous English background and he expects everything to go his way because that's how he's been brought up, but this isn't a good enough defense for his actions in the book. 

First of all, Rochester is driven by his selfishness. He comes to the island for the sole purpose of getting a girl and a fortune--and he finds that in Antoinette. Right from the beginning Rochester doesn't love Antoinette but instead decides to lead her on by pretending that he cares for her so that she will marry him. When Antoinette tries to back out of the wedding, Rochester promises her safety and peace if they got married, but these are lies that he tells so that she will go through with the wedding (78-79). Why is he so concerned about her backing out of the wedding? Because he doesn't want to look like a poor fool to his friends back in England. 

Rochester also never respected Antoinette. He calls her other names like "Bertha" and doesn't really try to understand Antoinette. He just judges her through his narrow English worldview, and is annoyed when she doesn't act English enough. 

Finally, the way he responds to Christophine's ranting also makes me think that he never really loved Antoinette. After Christophine remarks about Rochester fooling Antoinette into thinking he loved her so that he could get the money, Rochester says "It was like that, I thought. It was like that. But better to say nothing. Then surely they'll both go and it will be my turn to sleep [...]" (152). Here Rochester is actually admitting that he never loved Antoinette. 

Rochester never actually cared if the relationship worked out in the first place. He just wanted his money and a wife, he didn't want any emotional attachment that came with it. I have little sympathy for such a character who uses others to get what he wants, and then blames his problems on others. Rochester has little excuse to blame his problems on Antoinette. It was his choice to travel to the islands, his choice to marry Antoinette, and his choice to neglect their relationship. Rochester is not a victim in this story, Antoinette is.