英语小说鉴赏

Marriage in the late Nineteenth Century

In Victorian's time, all women, whether married or single, were expected to be weak and helpless. The accepted reasoning was that the career for women was marriage. A woman's prime use was to bear a large family and maintain a smooth family atmosphere where a man need not bother himself about domestic affaires. Divorce was not, for women, a release from the miserable marriage since a divorced woman had no chance of acceptance in society again. Therefore, it was a time of patriarchy, that is, an age dominated by man. As we can see from the two representative novels, The Shadow in the Rose Garden and The Story of an Hour, directly or indirectly, men unveiled their wanting of hegemonic power in family life.

The husband in The Shadow in the Rose Garden was inferior to his wife in social status. He was very aware of that, and he was, to some extent, quite sensitive to it. His low status made him feel uncomfortable and a lack of security in his marriage. He was afraid of his wife's prejudice and contempt, but he concealed his uneasiness, pretended to be confident and tried to win the leading position.

In one episode, after waiting long enough for his wife in the first morning of their honeymoon, he lost his patience. Maybe he felt his wife did not take him seriously and his confidence assured by his smart jacket began to be challenged upon. But when the wife "said come and took his arm", he "pulled his moustache". He even lighted a pipe when she "gave a short laugh and leaned on his arm as they went out". He was relaxed and proud in that his wife's tenderness showed her respect and dependence on him. He was satisfied by her recognition.

In another, after the wife returned from the rose garden, he immediately followed her. "He entered, rather pleased, an air of complacency about his alert figure". He didn't let go any opportunity to present his masculine to his wife. "What's the matter?" he asked a tinge of impatience in his voice. Maybe he complained his wife for not centering on him in their honeymoon. However, the wife denied to answer, regardless of his pressing inquiries, and didn't even want to speak to him. He felt great humiliated and he finally lost his temper. He rushed up to her room and asked determinedly, "what's the matter?" He persisted in inquisition, totally unaware of his wife’s bitterness. After the woman's bitter confession, he "shrank and became white". He started to hurt her with grave irony. He never thought there was any need for a husband to ask his wife about her little secrets. His

wife's hiding the truth and her total indifference made him feel despairing for his position in their marriage. His confidence and domination shattered into pieces, and he could no longer go through their marriage.

In the Story of an Hour, the husband did not appear until the very end. So the domination of men in marriage life was reflected by the psychological changes of the wife, Mrs. Malland. In a man-dominated society, Mrs. Malland's sister and her husband's friend, both man and woman took it for granted that she would be heart-broken on hearing the news of her husband's death. They were convinced that the loss of her husband was no less than the crack of the pillar of her house. In fact, she wept at once, but without "a paralyzed inability to accept the significance".

She went away to her room alone and shut the door. Inside, there was a free space for her soul and emotion. She sank into "a roomy armchair" and looked out through "the open window". She saw the tops of trees all quiver with the new spring life, she smelt the delicious breath of rain, and heard a peddler crying his wares. She enjoyed her life with all her senses. She was clear that her seemingly happy marriage was a yoke which restricted her freedom and deprived of her rights. The man's death actually would drive away the clouds looming over her life and she started to see the blue sky. She couldn't help whispering to herself, "free, free, free". Compared with the possession of self-assertion and freedom, "her husband's kind, tender hands as well as his face that had never looked save with love" meant nothing to her. Finally, she opened the door to welcome her new life.

However, the sudden appearance of her husband shocked her to death. She died, but not as the doctors diagnosed—of joy; she died, because the man's return smashed all her fancies. She was incapable of surviving such a plummet from the top of great joy to the bottom of despair.

In the late nineteenth century, woman was caught in the marriage dilemma. On one hand, she should not marry a man less than herself in social status for the sake of social ethics; on the other, marriage to a higher-class man meant submission and sacrifice for the rest of her life in accordance with the social ethics. From the analysis above, it doesn’t matter whether a woman marries to a lower status man or a higher status man; what really matters is the social ethics about marriage. In such a society of patriarchy, woman was nothing more than an accessory to man and marriage accordingly was merely a shackle to them.