The narrator’s condition and John’s intention to cure her destroy their marriage. John treats his wife not as a lover but as an accessory. Such an attitude, the husband’s actions, and words offend the main character, and she feels belittled.
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The romantic relationships between the narrator and her husband change throughout the story. The husband turns from a sincere caretaker into a prison guard. That is why his wife intends to escape. At first, in the narrator’s eyes, John presents a perfect caretaker, and she tends to appreciate his efforts. She thinks he ”is cautious and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction.” The narrator also marks that ”he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more.”
Then, the doctor controls and manipulates his “patient”. But John’s intentions are supposed to be beneficial for his wife. The narrator disagrees with the diagnosis and the treatment which her husband prescribed for her. John believes that his wife needs the rest cure and excluding all the work and social contacts. That turns to be an ordeal for the main character and makes the “patient’s” condition degenerate.
The husband dominates and forbids her to do any activity. It includes writing, which relieved her mental illness. Being a “physician of high standing,” he is skeptical about this mental disorder. In addition, the doctor ignores the narrator’s asks and needs. He considers them to be whims. The main character is made to feel unwise and treated as a child. All these aspects deepen the narrator’s condition and affect the ties between the spouses. There is no sympathy, carefulness, and harmony between the characters.