The theme of the Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an hour,” because they both long for freedom.
In the poem “The Wife,”
She rose to his requirement, dropped
The playthings of her life
To take the honorable work
Of woman and of wife.
In this stanza, the poet shares that the woman is getting married and entering her new life to be a wife She made changes, sacrifices, and dropped all her own dreams as a lady/girl to become a wife. Being a man’s wife was an honorable stand for women during the Victorian Era.
If aught she missed in her new day
Of amplitude, or awe,
Or first prospective, or the gold
In using wore away,
In this stanza, it is a reflection of thoughts and opinions that cannot be shared. She doesn’t share the things she misses in this new life. The word “amplitude” refers to the drastic changes that the woman has experienced from being a young woman with a carefree life to a wife filled with a lot more responsibilities. She does not discuss what she is awed by, and she doesn’t mention her future expectations from her new life because it has slowly faded away with time.
It lay unmentioned, as the sea
Develops pearl and weed,
But only to himself is known
The fathoms they abide.
In this last stanza, the married woman keeps her happiness and sadness within herself and only she is aware of her own thoughts, feelings, and memories. Within the sea lies depth and only the married woman know how she feels.
As in “The Story of an hour,” Mrs. Mallard felt grief for her husband when she heard he was hit by a train, she transitioned into accepting the loss of her husband and found freedom. As in the poem they both longed for freedom. This freedom though was ripped from Mrs. Mallard when she realizes she is trapped again in her marriage because Mr. Mallard did not die, her heart gave out.
From what I am understanding both these women felt trapped in a marriage they thought would’ve been great because they found husbands and played the role of being only a wife catering to the needs of her husband and children. However deep down inside they hid secrets filled with sadness because they could no longer fulfill their own dreams.
