The theme of Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” is about how a woman loses her identity when marrying a man. In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard is initially overcome with grief upon learning of her husband’s untimely death. She then quickly realizes that his death results in her freedom. She becomes elated at the thought of living her life just for herself and not having to do as her husband commands. In “The Wife”, Dickinson speaks of this duty of a wife having to rise to her “husband’s requirement” and letting go of her own personal interests. Dickinson further elaborates on the sacrifices a wife makes by saying that her thoughts and feelings also “lay unmentioned”. She describes how a wife could not share her mind with her husband and compares the magnitude of these thoughts and feelings to the “fathoms” of the “sea”. This provides insight to the reader of how incredibly lonely this existence was for women.
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3 thoughts on “Lisa Durante Discussion 9”
I agree with you, women were incredibly lonely back then and most did not marry for love because they were always being given away for dowries or to climb up the social ladder. Most felt lonely and had no choice but to be married off to whoever was chosen for them even if they were horrible, because they had to abide by the wishes of man and basically had to repress all their thoughts and feelings.
Hi Lisa, I agree that in a sense Mrs. Mallard loses her identity when marrying her husband. Dickinson explains how women live for their men and forget about theirs, I can see how it can be portrayed as a lonely existence for women, the emotions that Mrs. Mallard felt were definitely related to the poem “The Wife”, from the duty she felt being a woman and also taking the role of being a wife, she forgets her past herself and then gets reminded again after her husband passed away.
Hi Lisa! I find your analysis of Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” very insightful. I agree that this leads to a lonely and unsatisfying existence, especially if wives cannot confide in their husbands. I find it hard to imagine as a man that women would not be able to express their opinions and were expected to submit to men’s will by society. It shows that we have come a long way since then, and attitudes towards gender roles have significantly changed for the better.