The Wives Of The Dead Analysis

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The Wives of the Dead
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
(1804-1864)

The story starts with two women named Mary and Margaret, who are moaning for their lost husbands. Both were married to two brothers who continued living together even after the marriages. The women had a small parlour on the second floor. They got the news of the brothers who had recently passed away one after the other. One brother died in Atlantic Ocean while other died in Canadian war. Both of them are suffering from same pain as they are newlyweds and they lost their husbands as well as brother in law. People came to comfort the women, but they did not want anyone’s company instead they wanted to live alone. They found …show more content…

"Would it were His will that I might never taste food more." Mary went to sleep, but Margaret become sadder with the passage of night. She was sobbing while she heard a knock on the door. She kept on staring at the surroundings which reminded her of the died souls. Margaret picked up a lamp to look out of the window, at the door. It was Goodman Parker, the local innkeeper. She asked him for the reason of knocking. He replied that he got the news about his husband from a man, that he still is alive. This made her so happy that she rushed to tell Mary about it, but at the door she got confused whether she should tell her or not. She dropped the idea to tell Mary and decided to let her sleep. She was of the view that Mary would be hurt and she would certainly think of herself as the most misfortunate of all. She did not wanted to feel the happiness after giving pain to her sister in law, she went back to her room and fell …show more content…

She went to the window to look outside. She saw Stephen in sailor’s uniform, she recognized him, as he was interested in her before her marriage. She asked him why he was here so late at night. It made her furious that he might be here to grab the opportunity to meet her. He told that he learnt about her husband’s death from his mom, but he saw him yesterday, so he is alive and he will be coming home the next day. She was so excited that she wanted to tell Margaret about it. She found the door shut and she opened the door and thought of waking her up with joy. But then she changed her plan because if she would tell her about this news, Margaret would think she is the most unlucky woman on earth. She had the same feelings as Margaret that she cancelled her idea to deliver this news, and left it on the next day. Mary tried to manage her clothes so that she would not be disturbed and sleep at her best "But her hand trembled against Margaret's neck, a tear also fell upon her cheek, and she suddenly awoke" (68). This depicts that Margaret woke up due to her tear which she tried to

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