The Wife Monologue

“I’ve got out at last,” she tells him, “and I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (Gilman 19). Her husband faints and she keeps crawling over him.

Marriage is oftentimes praised for all its good qualities, but people tend to avoid discussing the downsides of marriage in order to avoid discomfort. Confronting the problems that many couples face in marriage is hard, and most people find it easier to simply overlook any issues they may face to avoid furthering the problem. In “My Problem With Her Anger,” Eric Bartels elaborates on the struggles he and his wife face and what experiencing the effects of spousal anger feels like from a husband’s perspective. Through emotional appeal and anecdotes, Bartels semi-successfully argues that husbands are too often, and unfairly, on the receiving end of their wives’ anger and stress.

Television psychologists and pop culture self-help gurus tell us that marriage is hard work; marriage is compromise; marriage is a choice between being right, and being happy. All of these statements are true. What these experts don’t tell us, however, is that marriage is also about putting on blinders, or looking on the bright side, or one of a hundred other trite phrases to explain the art of self-deception. In marriage, there are times when we may find it necessary to look the other way from our spouse’s faults or indiscretions, in the interest of self-preservation. For if we examine these problems too closely, our darkest, most secret fears may come true. Therefore, it can seem easier to focus on the positive. In her poem “Surprise,” Jane Kenyon uses denial, selective perception, and fear of betrayal to illustrate the self-deception that can occur in marriage.

“He cannot stay here, you know that. Take him somewhere or leave the house!” His voice harsh, his face was red and angry.

“I don’t like it when George asks you to meet with him alone at dark!” cried Mary. My friend George told me there was something big that he thought I would be interested in. My wife Mary doesn’t like George that much because he always seems to get me in trouble.

“Okay let's get’r mov’n back to the aahhh!” the man crying me cried out in pain.

“I can’t believe you. The whole time we were married you was out fucking around! I knew you were naïve, but never in a million years would I think you would be so stupid! Night after night me waiting up for you, all the while you were out there having your affairs with women and probably men too! While you were fucking those smut buckets, did it ever occur to you that you could catch something, I guess not! You’re a poor excuse for a man. After the divorce is final I want nothing to do with you! You have dragged me to hell and back! May God have mercy on your soul!” Justine roughly pulled up to the curb. She got out the car to open Vaughn’s door.

Steph scrambled into her robe and thumped down the stairs to search for her husband, who she discovered had already left for work. Steph spoke into the empty hall, “How did he miss the turdy soap? It was right by his toothbrush.”

“I thought you would never get here. I don’t know what to do with my hair, and my mother needs help with the wedding, and they will be here any moment! Please hurry and come with me!” She sobbed and ran toward the doors of the palace.

We'll be out in no time, I just don't want to cause a scene just yet. [Susan huffed and sat down on the couch] [Stella walks in carrying halved grapefruit and sits down in a chair] Elizabeth: So Stella, [Elizabeth walks behind the chair Stella is sitting in] Where's your husband?

Statement : I can't believe you act like that! I don't want to see you anymore.

When they finally arrive home, Christine begins to scream at her husband in anger for everything that had just happened. She continued to push for a fight with her husband until he finally gave in and began to yell

‘’No, no, please, I am begging you, let him go. Do you not have a heart ?!’’

“… My husband will see for himself what a bad man you are, and then

The husband is stereotypically male chauvinist. He wants to dominate, by saying “shut up” and he cannot be bothered with his wife’s wishes.