Friday, February 24, 2012

Who is Martha's Lady About?

When we discussed this piece in class, we seemed to focus most of our attention on Martha. This feels like the obvious conclusion given the title, but I wonder if Helena of Harriet was the true lady of Martha. Throughout the majority of the story, we hear of Helena's effect on the people around her and of Martha's growing affection and longing for her. This being said, I wonder what was the writer's intention with opening the story with a description of Harriet. It mentions her wavy chestnut hair and the fact that she stayed single along with a bit of history for the town and her family. This information may be presented as a mere contrast for the character of Helena, but I wonder if Harriet meant something a little more. Some of her actions suggest that Harriet was meant to have a greater role than the stuffy and old-fashioned New Englander. When Helena first mentions the cherries on the top of the tree and her want to ask the minister to help her get them, Harriet immediately suggests that her maid, Martha, will get them down. When Helena and Martha do go outside to pick the cherries, Harriet thinks that Martha should be doing work in the kitchen and quickly shuts the blinds. Harriet continues this peculiar behavior when she doesn't invite Martha to Helena's wedding, even though Helena wants her there.She also acts strangely when Helena has a gift for Martha and wishes her to read her letter as well. 
While Martha stayed infatuated with Helena for forty years, she stayed and lived with Harriet. I'm not sure if  it was anything romantic or not, but it seemed like there were strange occurrences that probably wouldn't matter if this wasn't a short story where most everything has a purpose. If Helena was Martha's lady, was Martha Harriet's lady?

3 comments:

  1. Well this blew my mind. I think that Harriet did have a larger role in the story than we give her credit for. Although Martha was Harriet's housemaid, Harriet was also taking care of Martha for over forty years. Even if this situation has nothing to do with romance, I think that Harriet's seemingly jealous behavior can be chalked up to the behavior of catty women.

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  2. Harriet does not seem to have many friends or go out much so, it could be a control issue. It could be that Martha was not only her maid but her friend and she was jealous that her "only" friend liked her cousin more then her. By keeping Martha away from Helena she could have possibly felt she was keeping her friend from leaving her. Just a thought......

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  3. I thought that Harriet's attitude toward and treatment of Martha were more a matter of class than anything else. In Harriet's mind, Martha was the servant; of course she should be the one to pick the cherries, and of course she shouldn't go to Boston to go to Helena's wedding.

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