Daily Archives: September 25, 2023

When I first read “The Wife” I had a hard time understanding the comparisons made in the last stanza of the poem. I understood the comparison of “pearl and weed” as wife and husband. The pearl being caught up in the weed, yet it will go unnoticed in “the sea” and it will always be overlooked in society. The peom also points out loosing the freedom of being a girl when she must become a woman and wife at the same time. This theme of a young woman having to sacrifice her youth and freedom is also seen in the story “Story of an Hour”. When Mrs. Mallard was first notified of her husbands death, she wept as it is expected from a wife devoted to her husband. We then see her whisper to herself “Free” and even become overjoyed when she realized that as a result of her husbands death she would become free and independent. In the end when she finds out that her husband had not died, she drops dead. This shows that ultimateley her wellbeing, and her life was at the fate of her husband.