Importance of Pierre Cosway in Pierre in Wide Sargasso Sea

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Importance of Pierre Cosway in Pierre In Wide Sargasso Sea
Pierre is the son to Mr. Cosway and Anette and one of the main supporting characters in the novel. He is the brother to the main protagonist of the play, Antoinette. Pierre is mentally and physically disabled. The cause of his mental or physical disabilities are not clearly explained. Pierre is also the only son to Annette and she seems to love and give him more attention than Antoinette. Pierre is also not one of the ai characters in the play and he dies shortly from a fire that razed their house down. He was trapped in the room and after he was rescued, he shortly died most likely from inhaling the smoke while he was trapped in the building. Pierre is very significant to the development of the novel though he is rarely mentioned and very little is known about him.
First, as a supporting character, Pierre helps in plot advancement. Through the mention of Pierre, the author also develops the plot. In all instances where Pierre is mentioned, the scene is framed around another character such that we see their contribution. By introducing Pierre, we understand why his mother is so fond of him and therefore expect more from Annette should anything happen to her children. Antoinette narrates ‘she sighed and covered me up. You were making such a noise. I must go to Pierre, you’ve frightened him.’ There are many conversations about him in the novel that point the conversation to a new direction every time they are featured. Imagining the novel without Pierre, there would be no much information about the solitary life of the Annette family. There would be no subplots that help the story to evolve. The case of the fire in which Pierre dies, there will be less to talk about it and the drama surrounding the ordeal would be relatively less and less emotional. Secondly, Pierre helps cement Sandi Cosway assertions. There would be little information to confirm the details of Cosway’s illegitimate son’s letter with that suggested that Antoinette’s family has a mental disability/ madness issue running in their blood. At that time, it was only Pierre who had mental issues though later Annette and Antoinette developed similar issues, then the letter would be far more inaccurate. The fact that Pierre had a mental issue may have prompted his step brother to write about it to Mr. Rochester since he had evidence that at lest one member of the family had mental issues, otherwise it would be far more ridiculous. Therefore, Pierre’s character helped fill these voids and helped the plot evolve.
Pierre also helps in creating subplots. Subplots are important to explore certain themes and develop the character of the main characters. The story would be much shorter and we’d know less of the characters that interacted with secondary characters like Pierre. For example, the issue of the fire ultimately seems to be centered on Pierre. He is the only person who dies from the house fire and after the fire the author creates a subplot that details the ...