Je mets mon plan en ligne, ça pourra peut-être en aider certains... Et le mieux serait de confronter tous nos plans pour voir en quoi ils se complètent, etc.
Rochester tries to adapt to the environment and with Antoinette, they do their best for their couple to work and at first, it works pretty well. But their relationship isn’t love, it’s lust: they don’t share feeling but pleasure. At that point of the story, still hesitating about what he thinks of her wife, Rochester receive a letter from a mysterious man called Daniel Cosaway…
I. The purposes of the letter
1. According to Daniel…
- A will to reveal the truth: For the sake of the truth, Daniel just can’t lie.
- A warning against the madness of the family: he wants to help Rochester.
- A Christian duty: to Daniel, lying to Rochester about his wife would be impious.
2. … but actually
- A will to please Rochester: through Rochester, Daniel thinks he can reach the whole English society, and rise to a better situation.
- A need for revenge: because of the illegitimacy of his father, Daniel remains a poor and wretched man. As he doesn’t want his half-sister to be happy if he isn’t, he decides to tell all the truth to Rochester.
- A need for acknowledgement as an heir: saying he’s a child of Cosway, which is not sure at all, Daniel could inherit part of the money and the wealth of the late Cosway, just like Antoinette did.
II. Focusing on Daniel Cosway
1. What do we learn about him
- Good Christian: he reads the Bible everyday, which shows he must be a good man.
- He seems pretty intelligent, but humble in the same time: he learns to read and to write very quickly, but according to him, that’s no big deal, and he remains an ”idiot”.
- He uses flattery: all along the letter, he doesn’t hesitate to flatter Rochester in order to be believed more easily.
2. Slanders
- Creoles: madness, violence against the blacks.
- Mr Cosway: alcoholic, unfaithful, raving mad, cursing and impious.
- Annette: mad, she threw the money away.
- Antoinette: running wild, she has bad blood.
- Richard Mason: sly, devil of a man, liar.
-> according to him, the whole family
is mad and so other people says (which give more weight to his slanders)
Through this letter, even if he says he just wants the truth to be revealed, Daniel Cosway slanders Antoinette’s family. Moreover, he adroitly intertwines gossips and true facts, which make his letter all the more convincing.
This letter has a big part in the whole novel, because it fuels the hate of Rochester for Antoinette and will bring a lot of troubles and sadness, until the death of Antoinette at the end.
Jeu 29 Mar - 8:16