In the poem “the Wife” by Emily Dickinson, the main theme is the self-realization of being a full-on wife. She realized that to meet her husband’s “demands” she has to change her original life and fully support and devote herself as her husband’s wife. In “The Wife”, the author states in the text, “She rose to his requirement, dropped The playthings of her life To take the honorable work Of woman and of wife.” Mrs. Mallard realized after finding out her husband is dead, she finally feels that she is “free” and can live how she used to. The two readings both have the theme of realization, In “The Wife”. The wife realizes that she has to drop everything from her life to be devoted to her husband. During Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state, she realizes that she feels “free” to do things how she used to after her husband dies.