Spanish Town was Jamaica’s capital until the year 1872 and is the site of the ruin of the Old King’s House, built in 1762, which housed the colonial governors until 1870 (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The city, originally a Taino settlement founded around 500 CE, was taken over by the Spanish in 1534 and was captured by the British in 1655 (Tortello). As the capital of Jamaica, Spanish Town plays an important, though peripheral, role in Wide Sargasso Sea. As early as the first page of the story, events in Spanish Town impact the characters in Wide Sargasso Sea. It is said in the novel that “they have their own misfortunes. Still waiting for compensation the English promised when the Emancipation Act was passed. Some will wait for a long time” which references the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1838, the proclamation of which was read from the steps of the aforementioned Old King’s House (Rhys 9; Tortello). One of the most important characters in the first portion of the novel, Aunt Cora lives in Spanish Town (Rhys 18). Spanish Town is also the site of the convent where Aunt Cora sends Antoinette after the destruction of their house in Coulibri (29).

The Spanish Town of Wide Sargasso Sea was still at the height of its splendor given that it was still the colonial capital of Jamaica and was “the seat of entertainment and the location of numerous balls and concerts” (Tortello). Antoinette’s mother likely would have attended some of these balls after being lent a horse by the Luttrells before she married Mr. Mason (Rhys 16). Since the time of the novel, Spanish Town has faded from what it was, since “much of the city, including the historic centre, is dilapidated” (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The time of Wide Sargasso Sea shows a Spanish Town before it lost its central role in Jamaica, before its historic buildings were swallowed by fire. The Spanish Town of Wide Sargasso Sea is perhaps exemplary of many colonial British towns and cities found throughout the former Caribbean colonies and as such gives the reader a sense of what life looked like for urban colonizers during this period.

Works Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Spanish Town". Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Nov. 2012, https://www.britannica.com/place/Spanish-Town. Accessed 6 February 2022.

Hakewill, James. King’s Square, St. Jago de la Vega. 1820-21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Town#/media/File:Hakewill,_A_Picturesque_Tour_of_the_Island_of_Jamaica,_Plate_01.jpg. Accessed 6 Feb. 2022.

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea, edited by Judith L. Raiskin, Norton, 1999.

Tortello, Rebecca. “The Story Of Spanish Town.” Jamaica-Gleaner, http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0049.htm. Accessed 6 Feb. 2022.