Finally, marriages make the partners bond harder to break. Marriage brings a family structure, and nothing is more important than family. On the other hand, cohabitation has limited privileges. It allows partners to have unstructured ways. For example, if your partner gets sick, you have no say so in what decision is made.
Walter Mitty and Louise Mallard feel the only way either one of them can become free from there prison of a marriage is not by running away but through death and they are willing to go as far as it takes. To deliver them from a fate that is worse than death a lifetime of unhappiness. In this time era divorce was not common and many marriages took the vows serious “Honor and Obey, for Better or Worst and Death until we depart” are traditional vows and too most are sacred. “In a world where women had few economic opportunities, where men in the marriage controlled most of the economic resources and where custody was often granted -- especially before the mid-19th century -- exclusively to the father, liberalizing divorce laws was an essential plank in the women's rights platform”(Lewis, 1999). The author Kate Chopin of “The Story of an Hour” (Clugston, 2010), illustrated her narrative by using the third
Our character, Mrs. Mallard, did not admit to herself she was trapped. Whether or not she loved this man called her husband is of no regard. It is an unwanted love, an unwanted relationship to which she found herself bound. The husband could be either loving or not, the relationship itself is the crime. “A kind or cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as looked upon in in that brief moment of illumination.”(Chopin, 1894, p. 16) Daring to hope for another reality during that day and time by women was frowned upon.
Both of them believe that they are doing the right thing for two totally different reasons. Richard Strout kills Frank Fowler because he is in love with Mary Ann, Richard Strout’s ex-wife. Matt Fowler does not find it difficult to kill Richard Strout because it would give his wife peace; “It’s the trial. We can’t go through that, my wife and me…” (Dubus 111). Even though the major theme of this story is revenge, actually no murder can be justified under any circumstances.
Meanwhile in Webster’s The White Devil, there are plenty of flawed characters, as is often a typical convention of a revenge tragedy. Alisoun is by no means a perfect character, and she never claims to be, openly stating how she misled and lied to her husbands in order to achieve “maistrie” over them and ultimately, their possessions. “which shal be both my dettour and my thral” Alisoun’s mistreatment of her husbands is not born from any malicious intent, but rather from her desire for power over men, her most obvious flaw. One critic notes that Alisoun “is not bad (…) she is devoid of illusions about romantic love.” This suggests that Alisoun’s desire for ‘sovereignty’ over her husbands is, in her mind, a practical attitude as true love is nothing but an illusion and marriage is more of a business transaction, another one of the Wife’s flaws, though this is lessened by the time she meets Jankin. However Alisoun’s flaw does not make her any less likeable to readers and audiences, it is in fact this flaw that makes her relatable to audiences, and the comedic elements interweaved make her far more likeable.
Even though she is favorably inclined to go with Everyman, he has had so few good deeds in his life that she cannot even stand up and is unable to make the journey. All is not lost for Everyman though. Good Deeds has a sister, Knowledge. With the help of Knowledge he is able to get traveling companions in
Although, it is understandable that she doesn’t point out his flaws with all the lies and guilt she has stacked up on her marriage. Assuming that this was the point of having Nora’s husband as a character, he showed the crudeness very discreetly and elegantly. He also emphasizes the fact that women don’t have as much credibility and respect outside of the home, especially at jobs. Men were portrayed as the moneymakers while woman were just the mothers. For example, when Nora’s friend from school was married her husband was in complete control of his business.
He laments that marriage turns strong men into pathetic ones ‘I will do myself the right to trust no one’ Benedick saying ‘trust no one’ could suggest how he has been hurt in love before. Being hurt in love before could be the factor making him so against it. . Benedick is introduced to the play by the woman who he ends the play with, Beatrice. ‘And a good solider to a lady’ (1.1.50).
Some may say Hester should have been smarter and less impulsive, she could have found the way to get information about her husband by contacting the right people. Although Hester could have been more concerned for her husband, she had no way to contact Chillingworth and she couldn’t do much since she didn’t have an address to send a letter to or to check personally. Marriages in this time period were mostly arranged because women could not work and they needed to be sustained economically by a man. This was the case for Hester Prynne and Chillingworth. Hester clearly stated she never loved him: “thou knowest that I was frank with thee.
We soon see that what he wants isn’t necessarily what he gets. This leads him to become one of the most active participants in the book rather than one who sits idly by. His problems range from falling in love whilst he’s married, to becoming a part of an assassination plot, and then to marrying the girl he loves even after he lies about getting a divorce (though he does get one). Fowler just wants to be neutral and wants to report and stay behind the front lines, however that just isn’t the way his live panned out. Fowlers neutrality is why conflict follows him wherever he goes.