It is no accident that Jean Rhys made the names Antoinette and Annette so similar. Rochester also refers to Antoinette as “Bertha” because he wants to distance her from her mother. Because of this, Rochester thinks of her as a wild, uncivilized creature. This is certainly not the well-mannered, civilized type of women he had grown accustomed to in England. Therefore, she is not as familiar as Rochester is with the rules of the patriarchal society that he hails from. However, when Rochester meets Antoinette, he is taken aback because Antoinette was brought up in the home of an independent woman. It is told to him that women should behave in a civilized, domesticated manner, and anyone who behaves outside of these norms is a savage animal. It was instilled in him from the time he was a small child that women are under men, and they should be used to serve their husbands.

Rochester thinks that he has the power to transform Antoinette into whatever he wishes her to be because he grew up instilled with patriarchal ideology. The alteration of Bertha’s name changes her identity, because without a name, how do humans introduce themselves? This proves the necessity of names, so if somebody were to begin to designate someone a different name than what is their own, they may feel as though they have a conflicted personality it is enough to drive a person mad. However, Rochester has already caught on to the intensity of her outburst and knows that a person’s name is connected to their very identity. Antoinette tries to brush it off by saying that whatever he calls her doesn’t matter to her. You are trying to make me into something else, calling me by another name. As a response to her new name, Antoinette replies: “‘Bertha is not my name. When Rochester calls Antoinette a name separate from her own, she takes a very strong, defensive stance against it. When Rochester and Antoinette are on their honeymoon, Rochester begins to see a side to Antoinette that is far different from the personalities of the ladies that he is accustomed to in England – quiet, civilized and refined – he is frightened by this unknown side of ‘femininity.’ Rochester begins to refer to Antoinette as “Bertha” to try to bury her personality and beliefs under a separate name.

Rochester refers to Antoinette as “Bertha” as a way of ensuring that she surrenders into his idea of a woman, as opposed to who she truly is. Get custom essays The power of naming in Wide Sargasso Sea: summary

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