Mason Labash
English 48b
March 24, 2011
Journal: Edith Wharton

“He even began to reckon up the advantages which accrued from it, to ask himself if it were not better to own a third of a wife who knew how to make a man happy than a whole one who had lacked opportunity to acquire the art.”(p.841)

“Because her self is her only resource, Alice functions as a commodity who ultimately goes to the highest bidder.”

It is definitely a sign of the times for Waythorn to view his wife as a third of what she once was. I feel like Waythorn is placing most of the blame on Mrs. Waythorn for the ending of her other marriages because I doubt he would consider his business partners Varick and Haskett as thirds of husbands. Since he fails to acknowledge this I can't help but think that he's sexist. I suppose almost all men were in the 1800's but because of the intellectual capacity Waythorn demonstrates I expect better from him. Even though he is accepting his wife and even seeing the advantages of having a wife that's been divorced twice he is still not grasping the fact that just because someone has invested a lot of time and emotion into someone else doesn't mean that they lose a part of themselves. Mr. Waythorn is suggesting that Mrs. Waythorn has actually lost part of her being in her previous relationships. At least he figures out that she probably learned from them. His sexist views won't accept that she can move on from her past relationships without leaving a part of herself because he thinks of women as overwhelmingly emotional beings. He has yet to encounter a woman that is so intelligent that she can actually learn from previous mistakes enough to suppress her own emotions just the right amount. Mrs. Waythorn will try her best to get along with her husband but she will only put up with so much friction before she knows the marriage isn't working out. I think Mr. Waythorn is so set on the ideals of the social institution of marriage that he can't imagine a woman escaping from it and still be so unadulterated.

Waythorn, at this point, is still unable to see that Alice is simply a good woman. He can't see yet that she's so intent on him being happy because she really does love him. I feel like when he uses the term “advantages” he is portraying Alice as a pet that is trained and acquires new wife-enhancing abilities. He is viewing a wife as a woman whose sole purpose is “to make a man happy.” He sees her ability to adapt well to new situations a representative of her great acting abilities. In reality she is actually incredibly sincere. He should consider that her previous husbands tried to change her but were unsuccessful. Maybe they were just unhappy with her disposition. Maybe she gets along with Mr. Waythorn so well because she is genuinely a good match for him. This would prove that she's not a shifty chameleon but really a woman with strong character that doesn't agree with her husband all the time just to conform with the unspoken rules of marriage at the time.

"Edith Wharton's "The Other Two": Critical Perspectives and Quotations from Criticism." Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. <http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/wharton/othertwo.htm>.