7/27/2019 Analysis of the Silent Couple

1/1

ANALYSIS OF THE SILENT COUPLE

The Silent Couple is a story about a newly wed couple who because of their

stubbornness and ego ruined their house. The stubbornness and unwillingness to admit othersaffects the relationship and in this story husband and wife do not want to hear one another thusresulting in ruining their own house. This story can be categorized as a folktale as it beginswithOnce upon a timewhich is a key characteristics of fol ktale.The folktales,also,have morallesson and this story gives the lesson of how to establish a strong relation.

The story can be interpreted in two levels:Superficial level and deeper level.Atsuperficial level the story`s interpretation is the stupidity of a couple who in order towin,superiority over one another,lost all their material wealth.The relationships are based on ar on mutuality and compromise but both the couple lacks understanding and are not agree to do

compromise due to their ego.

On the deeper level,this story has the streaks of feminism.The wife called herself asbeautiful creaturethus presenting herself as an object of beauty not as a rational or i ntellectualhuman being.The emotional side of woman is very much evident in the story as the bride forgetsher bet and sreamed to save her husband.And male chauvinism is presented through bridegroomscharacter who said that its not his work to close the door so the bride should do that.Thus thestory talks about men`s superiority over women in an implicit way.

The images of silent,wax dummiesand the opened doorsuggest th e weak basis of a relationship.The silence suggests lack of communication which affects a relationship ina negative way ,giving birth to misunderstanding.And wax dummies represent the bodieswithout mind,having no sense of reason and intellect.The bride and groom were mistaken to bethe wax dummies who would not say or feel anything when the thieves were plundering their house robbing them of their valuables.The opened door suggests that anyone can interfere intheir personal matters which is really a drawback in a relationship.

At the end bridegroom dialogue shows his extreme superiority even when he losteverything,he was only concerned about his victory which shows his manly pride. The narrator in the story is Effaced or third person objective,such narrator gives margin to the reader tointerpret the story in his own way and only explains the physical description of character nottheir feelings,emotions and thinking.The plot of the story is linear and the events are wellconnected and are in sequence.

The whole story concludes that because of the stupidity,stubbornness and ego of the couple leads them to lose all their material wealth.In the end the kindness of bride is shown

by the act of breaking silence while the manly pride of bridegroom that even after losing all hiswealth,he was only concerned about his victory.