preview

Essay on Love and Spoon River Anthology

Decent Essays

Love Hurts With divorce rates of today being at an all time high, people say that marriage has lost its value. It is also said that it is rare to find a happy relationship. Edgar Lee Masters seemed to believe the same about the romantic relationships of his time, as well. Masters conveys theses feelings through some of the characters of his work, Spoon River Anthology. Edgar Lee Masters uses unhappy marriages as a common factor in the deaths of many of the characters including Margaret Fuller Slack, Amanda Barker and Tom Merritt in order to reveal his own discontent toward romantic relationships. First, Margaret Fuller Slack’s loveless relationship with her husband is a main factor in her death. In the poem, Margaret Fuller Slack, …show more content…

This is one way that Masters displays his discontent toward romantic relationships. Also, Masters uses Amanda Barker’s loveless and hateful relationship with her husband Henry as the cause of her death. In the poem Amanda Barker, the character tells of how she died at a young age at the fault of her husband. Masters wrote: “HENRY got me with child, /Knowing that I could not bring forth life /Without losing my own.” Here, the character, Amanda Barker, retells of how her husband, Henry, killed her. He was fully aware that she could not have a child without losing her own life, yet he impregnates her anyway. She also tells of how the townspeople believed that her husband loved her, but this was not the truth. Masters wrote: “…it is believed in the village where I lived /That Henry loved me with a husband’s love /But I proclaim from the dust /That he slew me to gratify his hatred.” If it where not for her relationship with Henry, she would not have died young. This, once again, shows Edgar Lee Masters’ feelings about marriage. By often using marriage and relationships as an important factor in the death of many of his characters, Lee confirms his doubt in them. Finally, Tom Merritt’s death had occurred because of his wife’s romantic relationship with a lover. The poems, Tom Merritt, Mrs. Merritt, and Elmer Karr tell the story of a married woman’s affair with a young man who, in the end, kills her husband. From the husband Tom’s

Get Access