Secrets in Conjugal Relationships Essay -- Literary Analysis

â€Å"Is it always a betrayal to talk about your husband with another man? What about girlfriends or astrologists?† (Dormen). In modern society, people’s feelings and desires are limited by rules of law and morality, especially when they relate to marriage and conjugal relationships. In The Storm, Kate Chopin raised a moral issue of adultery between characters of the short novel-Calixta and Alcee. She discussed the questions based on the metaphor of storm and the lack of passion in Calixta and Bobinot’s marriage. Similarly, in A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen scrutinized an issue of a marriage lacking love. He depicted relationships between Nora and Torvald and showed how imperious attitude and misunderstandings ruined conjugal relationships eventually. Both stories are connected by a common problem of secrets that arose from misunderstandings between the spouses. They solved the problem of misunderstanding in different ways, depending on cultural and personal distinctions of the characters. Therefore, the stories ended differently. Chopin concluded that the adulterous act made positive short-term changes in the marriage depicted in The Storm. In contrast, Ibsen ended his play A Doll’s House by stating that lack of understanding and communication led to the marriage collapse. In her short novel The Storm, Chopin explained how an extramarital affair between Calixta and Alcee became a factor benefiting the marriage. Chopin ended the story with the words, â€Å"So the storm passed, and everyone was happy† (123). The story is interesting not only because of the conclusion that infidelity had a beneficial short-term outcome to the family relationships, but also by intricacies that resulted in the happy end. In the middle of the novel, Chopin utiliz... ...pt unrevealed because of her naivety, passionate and pure love to the husband, did not contain any vicious deeds or intentions. However, upon revealing the secret, the true attitude of the couple to each other uncovered and Nora preferred to live alone to life with the husband who called her a criminal and decided to part with her for a formal mistake that saved him love. Works Cited Bartee, Johanna. The Storm: More Than Just a Story. Virginia Wesleyan College , n. d. Web. 09 May 2012. Chopin, Kate. The Storm. Freewebs Com, n.d. Web. 09 May 2012. Goldman, Emma. The Social Significance of the Modern Drama. Berkeley. Edu, n.d. Web. 09 May 2012. Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Ed. Jim Manis. The Pennsylvania State University, 2010. Web. 09 May 2012. Dormen, Lesley. Secrets and Lies: The Truth About Conjugal Discretion. Hearst Communications. 26 July 2010.