Theme Of Love And Marriage In 'Desiree's Baby'

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Would you be content with being a stay at home mother expected to cook and attend to every household need? Maybe you’re treated like a queen by your husband but more than likely you are nothing but a maid of a man’s home. That is, because love and marriage in the 1800’s wasn’t about love, it was more for money and securing a family to fit into the basic American society. In fact, the theme of love and marriage in that era wasn’t a positive discussion. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the story of a woman controlled by her husband who felt caged and went insane goes with his theme as well as “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin. Her story was about the two-faced relationship that a wife was captured in that broke her heart. Also, …show more content…
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” this part of the theme is present as the wife brings up characteristics or frequent actions of a husband such as sharing a laugh and doing what her husband says (Baym & Levine, 2013, p. [Pages #486-487]). It makes it look like her routine life is the typical and satisfied life of a woman her age; with a wealthy husband as a doctor. Additionally, the story depicts a common emotion for a husband and his wife; him moving to a new house for the bettering of his wife. Same for “Desiree’s Baby”, “The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles” (Baym & Levine, 2013, p. [Pages #421-422]). This is the incomparable love for them as it describes them as being swept off their feet as if in a fairytale. Not only is this theme present there, but also in “The Portrait Of a Lady” by Henry James with Isabelle finally deciding to marry. She didn’t want any man to govern her and hold her back from doing what she desired. However, when she meets Osmond, he entices her that being with him would be a dream. She felt that there was this flawless world feasible with Osmond because she could still be independent; just independent and married. His words seemed so much like a fantasy she longed for and it drew her into his trap. All in all, the theme of love …show more content…
Love that seems true but then suddenly fraudulent. This is abundantly revealed in “Desiree’s Baby” as Desiree’s husband, Armand seems completely and utterly in love with her in the beginning, (which ties into the ideal romantic relationship part of the theme) but as soon as he distinguishes that his son is racially mixed, he changes and decides that he doesn’t love her anymore. The work by Kate Chopin says toward the end, “Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.” (Baym & Levine, 2013, p. [Page #424]). Which meant that his love was conditional and he really truly never felt compassion or warmth for her as he invited her and his son to leave the house. But in fact, he witnessed his own deception of love as he discovered a letter from his mother to his father confessing his African -American heritage. So by this, he had been in the dark about who he was. Granted, his mother was only protecting him because she loved him; but had lied to him about who he was and what he knew. Not to mention that the same catastrophe with false love happens in “The Portrait Of A Lady”. As Isabelle is hoaxed into marriage, she soon finds out that Osmond doesn’t feel anything for her and just wanted her money. Her fear of being caged became a reality when she put up a wall that allowed no good man in, just perfidious liers that pushed their way through.
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