wait but what is obeah??

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one while reading The Wide Sargasso Sea to think ‘What the heck is obeah?’ In the novel, obeah seems to be portrayed as a dark, malicious magic. The first time that Rochester hears about Obeah from Daniel, Daniel describes it as “devil business”. Also, Christophine seems to be reluctant to give Antoinette an obeah potion because what is implied to be an incomprehensible power. I’m not sure if Rochester sleeping with Amelie was a direct result of him drinking the obeah potion of lust, but it seems probable given the way obeah is portrayed.

Naturally, to learn more about obeah, I went to Google and searched obeah. Sure enough, it was a sorcery that was developed in Africa and practiced in various regions including the Caribbean.
But, what does obeah mean in the context of this novel?

I think that obeah embodies the desires and cultural identity of Antoinette. When Antoinette gets Rochester to drink the obeah, he changes. Perhaps this is a response to Antoinette exposing more foreignness on Rochester that takes him beyond his breaking point. Rochester is already unfavorable towards Jamaica. He thinks that Jamaica is “too much” in every way. It seems as though the unknown obeah potion is the final straw that makes him too sick of Jamaica to stay. Also, the obeah embodies the desire of Antoinette to make Rochester love her. When she sneaks this upon Rochester, though her intent was not harmful, he responds vehemently. This might relate to the power dynamic between the two because during this part of the novel, Rochester is gaining a lot more authority over Antoinette. Antoinette giving Rochester the potion that subjects Rochester to her will might seem like a challenge to his authority. Therefore, he makes sure to keep Antoinette under his control. 

Obeah represents the two main things that are meaningful to Antoinette in life and it eventually results unfavorably for her. 

Comments

  1. Jessica ValeteNovember 16, 2017 at 12:02 PM

    This is a really interesting post. I hadn't previously considered that he was so angry about the potion because it was a part of Jamaican culture. That makes a lot of sense because he shows his avid dislike for Jamaica a lot throughout the novel. I agree that that could have been the reason it pushed him over the edge.

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  2. UnknownNovember 16, 2017 at 12:15 PM

    It is interesting that when you googled obeah it came up as sorcery and witchcraft and stuff like that but my panel presentation article states that it also refers to doctors and medicine. I definitely think that obeah has a strong connection to Jamaica especially for Antionette because she was taken care of by Christophine. It is also interesting that Rochester often calls things obeah if he dislikes them. Great post!

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  3. SamirNovember 16, 2017 at 2:14 PM

    I definitely agree that obeah is a large part of who Antoinette is as a person. It seems to represent her cultural identity and when it gets forced into Rochester it does not go well. The clash between Rochester's personality and identity intensifies after his experience with whatever it is Christophine did to him and he ends up losing it.

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  4. ajNovember 16, 2017 at 10:14 PM

    When I first read the part about obeah, I sort of thought that the author intended this potion to be really obscure. This way, we can conclude that any negative response from Rochester was due to the potion having a negative effect of the potion. I think this also accentuates the point that Antoinette did this to herself by giving him the potion. Good blogpost!

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  5. Gloria SunderlandNovember 17, 2017 at 7:55 AM

    Obeah definitely could be representative of Antoinette's culture which could be one of the reasons why Rochester is so against it. Rochester also seems to try to convince himself after drinking the potion that she "need not have done what she did", which I saw as him trying to comfort himself so that he didn't feel like he had actually been controlled by this strange thing, since he would have acted in the same way without it.

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  6. Matthew JinNovember 18, 2017 at 2:50 PM

    I thought the same thing! What is obeah? I've never really thought of the symbolism of obeah in that manner. It's almost like a fairy tale, but it's not. A fairy tale not just because they're dealing with potions and magic, but just how abnormal certain situations in the book can be. Great blogpost and keep up the great work!

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  7. Annemily HogansonNovember 18, 2017 at 9:49 PM

    It's interesting that obeah enables Antoinette to challenge Rochester's authority because obeah gave marginalized people the power to challenge slave-owners/colonists authority. Antoinette doesn't fit in with either side very well but her use of obeah more closely aligns her with the local black population.

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  8. Abraham HanNovember 18, 2017 at 9:52 PM

    Thank you for your helpful post! I also didn't really understand what obeah was. But now that I do know, it makes Rochester's reaction make a lot more sense. The way that obeah symbolizes Antoinette's cultural identity, and the way she tries to force it on Rochester and the way that he is completely intolerant of it, and becomes the final straw; it all makes sense now. Thank you!

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  9. CatalinDecember 2, 2017 at 12:25 PM

    This is a good point. I definitely agree that obeah symbolizes Jamaica and the part of Antoinette's identity that ties her to Jamaica. It is interesting that the use of obeah gives her more power, making her stronger in the relationship, but therefore negatively affecting Rochester, who already had problems adapting the Jamaica.

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