A Gentle Creature

On one level, “A Gentle Creature” is a love story. However, instead of fulfilling romantic ideals, “A Gentle Creature” portrays a battleground. Instead of a tale of mutual happiness through mutual submission, it tells of a power struggle between the narrator and his wife. Despite the fact that the husband possesses all of the story’s narrative time, it is his wife who, through her death, eventually triumphs. The entire tale is the futile attempt …

…into death. However, it is the finer details of the text’s power struggle that lead one to the conclusion that the narrator’s “gentle creature” is, in fact, forceful enough to triumph. Through her death, she removes the power that a man once scorned by society needs in order to feel in control of his own life. Although his narrative is an attempt to regain that power, she has moved forever beyond his control.