The Supernatural In Elizabeth Bowen's The Demon Lover

Paul Newman once said, “People stay married because they want to, not because the doors are locked” (74). There is no such thing as the perfect relationship, however, being involved in a healthy relationship is essential for a person to feel valued, safe, and happy. Unfortunately, in the situation of Kelly Sundberg’s personal essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” and Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of An Hour,” include extreme examples of unhealthy relationships. The essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” shares painful experiences of Sundberg’s physical and emotional abusive relationship with her husband Caleb, while “The Story of an Hour,” shares a rare reaction of a married woman, Louise Mallard, who explores her emotions cautiously when hearing about the death of her husband. Each woman faces their own prison created by their husbands. The two marriages represent the figurative meaning of doors being locked in a marriage. Both pieces of literature convey the theme of confinement by using the literary devices of foreshadowing, imagery, and conflict.

In the “Demon Lover”, Elizabeth Bowen uses foreshadowing, flashback, and point of view to convey a story of a young woman haunted by her pass. In the short story The Demon Lover, Mrs. Drover returns to her home to collect some personal belongings during the aftermath of a recent bombing, while gathering things she finds a letter and thinks of her long-dead fiancé. This causes for questions to rise. Imagery, flashback, and point of view are all used to convey the story of The Demon Lover by Elizabeth Bowen.

When she was nineteen she made a promise to her fiancé, who her mother claimed "was set on her, not in love." A couple months after he left for war he was reported missing and presumed dead. At thirty two she met and married her current husband and had children. Now, it seems that the demon wants his "fiancé" to keep her promise. Bowen may have chosen to give her the last name of Drover, because a drover is someone who herds animals to market and it seems as though her fate will meet the same demise as the demon takes her away. Mrs. Drovers internal conflict occurred when she did not come through on the promise that she made and now, it seem she can not even recall what the promise was. She is faced with an external conflict as well because she will no longer have her family. She is in the hands of a demon. The third person objective point of view forces the reader to conclude for themself what is really happening. We can not hear her thoughts so it is impossible to know if she really remembers this "so-called promise." The two main elements that really work together to make this story felt by the reader are setting and language. The excellent use of literal imagery evokes the readers senses and sends a chilling feeling of suspense and terror down the spine, thus, creating the perfect setting. A sense of uneasiness is created

This personal confession shows that Mrs. Mallard, though she will mourn at first, now is free to “live for herself,” (228) not for her imposing husband. Before her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard believed she was in a healthy, normal marriage. This death revealed to her how while she cared about her husband, she despised the lack of freedom her marriage had given her. All of the realizations that Mrs. Mallard reaches during her time of reflection shows the readers exactly why she will no longer mourn the death of her husband.

“It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder, that life might be long.” (Chopin 17). “"Poof!"… gave a revealing look at the victims of domestic abuse and how they wrestle with overcoming their fear and their doubts after suffering years of abusive treatment.” (Toomer 5) Loureen unlike Mrs. Mallard, witnesses her husband’s death first hand during a marital argument. Loureen goes through denial questioning whether her husband’s death. She is happy her husband is dead but also feels guilty, because she knows how a mourning wife should react, but the joy of his demise is greater,” I should be praying, I should be thinking of the burial, but all that keeps popping into my mind is what will I wear on television when I share my horrible and wonderful story with a studio audience…”, Loureen’s husband, Samuel, was physically abusive, as revealed by Florence, Loureen’s best friend and neighbor. “Did that mother***** hit you again?” (Nottage 1563) This abuse, physical by Samuel and mental by Brently, is what allows Loureen in the drama “Poof!” and Mrs. Mallard in the short story “The Story of an Hour” to have the shared freedom they feel in the release from their respective abusive relationships.

The flashback Shown in “The Demon Lover” is when she has the memory of meeting the soldier and agreeing to marry him and giving a hint that Mrs. Drover thinks the letter came from him. She also explains a flashback by how the soldier would treat her showing that she might had made a promise to him that she didn't keep (British Literature 171).

The point of view of “The Demon Lover” plays a very important role in the emotional rollercoaster the reader takes with Mrs. Drover. The third-person omniscient point of view is where the narrator describes both the actions and feelings of one character. In this case the character is Mrs. Dover. The story states,

A victim’s mind does not enter into an abusive relationship the same as it, hopefully escapes. Most people are familiar with the honeymoon stage of a new relationship, the excitement, infatuation and methodical self-disclosure that most, if not all people experience and engage in. The gradualism of an abusive relationship is one critical piece of a frightening puzzle.

Drover finds a letter addressed to her, “the letter, which bore no stamp,” (Bowen 1084) that must have been recently placed on the table, as other objects “wore a film of another kind; and the only ventilation being the chimney,” (Bowen 1084). All the objects in the house were covered in dust, yet this letter had none on it. She begins to wonder how did the letter appeared on the table; the caretaker is away and the letter should have been forwarded to her residence in the country. Mrs. Drover reads the letter in her old bedroom, which she discovers the letter was from her fiance that was presumed dead during the first World War. In terror she remembers what he left her, “that cut of the button on her palm of hand was, principally, what she was to carry away,” (Bowen 1085). Her fiance was aggressive and physically hurt Mrs. Drover to leave a memory of him.. In panic, Mrs. Drover rushes to finish her tasks in the house as she wonders how he knows she is there and when will he come. These thoughts are running through her head, as well as the reader’s head. Mrs. Drover becomes haunted with memories she has of him. The letter is signed with by “K” so the reader is unaware of who the fiance is and his past; however, based upon Mrs. Drover’s reaction, the reader can conclude that this man is someone to be feared. More and more panic sets in as time passes, Mrs. Drover not knowing the set time they are to meet. The rain and the damaged, dark house aids her paranoia as she begins to believe she is not alone, and is concerned when hearing noises. Mrs. Drover wants to escape back to the country as soon as possible to be with her family, in safety away from the dead

The abuse is usually frequent enough that the victim internalizes it. This leaves the victim feeling fearful, insignificant, untrusting, emotionally needy, and unlovable. Survivors of this form of abuse have a hard time understanding why they feel so bad (Munro, K. 2001.).

Dating brutality is genuine yet debilitated mischief among a buddy between a period as is risky.“Between twenty percent and fifty percent of adolescents have been in an aggressive relationship” (Davidson Tish). Many guys then female have according to pace via that tragedy of their life. Harsh connections be capable harm an existence, both substantial and rationally, leaving them unconscious about when in similarity with flee. Countless quantities on men yet female who become victims journey transforms on abuse relationships.One concerning them can remain emotive abuse that is a much less regarded kind, due to the fact dense human beings trust so that is essential ample in accordance with count. “Emotional and sexual abuse can be harder to

Throughout the story, for example, paranoid he might lose her, the narrator, referring to her only as “[his] wife”, omits his spouse’s name, thereby suggesting that he needs to constantly assure himself that she’s still his wife (209). Not to mention, the narrator must rarely see his wife happy when they’re together seeing as he, growing nervous, obsesses over watching her “laughing”, “smiling”, and “beaming” with Robert (214). The narrator’s paranoia climaxes, when, seemingly afraid that his wife will enjoy thinking about her past life without him so much that she’ll forget him altogether”, he, lastly, “waits in vain to hear his name on [his] wife’s sweet lips” while she reminisces with Robert

While not a somatic assault, emotional abuse can cause lasting effects on a woman’s health, so much so that researcher, B. Van Houdenhove and others working on the project have found “that emotional abuse and neglect may be contributing factors to the development and/or severity of illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia” (Karakurt and Silver). Finally, emotional abuse is a rampant issue, Karakurt and Silver report that “Psychological aggression by an intimate partner was reported by 48.4% of women,” which was found in the National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey (“Emotional Abuse in Intimate Relationships: The Role of Gender and Age”). Nearly half of the population of women report being victims to psychological abuse, making it a widespread epidemic faced by not only women in dystopian novels but also real life. Psychological abuse can take many verbal and non-verbal forms, which can put great strain on a woman’s health, and affects nearly half the population of the United States.

       As the tale begins we immediately can sympathize with the repressive plight of the protagonist.  Her romantic imagination is obvious as she describes the "hereditary estate" (Gilman, Wallpaper 170) or the "haunted house" (170) as she would like it to be.  She tells us of her husband, John, who "scoffs" (170) at her romantic sentiments and is "practical to the extreme" (170).  However, in a time

This essay explores the story of Malaika Cohen and her account of experiencing and overcoming domestic abuse. In her book “Shackles” Malaika describes various forms of domestic abuse from life as a young child with a controlling Mother and a physically abusive Father which continued into her adult romantic relationships. It will highlight the changes to legislation since Malaika was a victim and how the meaning of domestic abuse has changed over the years. It will also take a look at behaviour patterns of children who grow up in a household with an alcoholic and how this can impact future relationships. Domestic abuse is often diagnosed under the banner of “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”, this essay will look how this can have a negative