On one occasion Constantia is worrying about an imaginary mouse:
“A spasm of pity squeezed her heart. Poor little thing! She wished she’d left a tiny piece of biscuit on the dressing table. It was awful to think of it not finding anything. What would it do?”
The way Constantia exerts herself is simply pathetic. The reader is amused at her antics to attempt to bring the mouse some food. This obsession with detail is further emphasized with the rhetorical question at the end of the quote, as well as the phrase: “poor little thing!”- it’s short length and exclamation mark emphasizes its importance, and the use of “poor” actually forces the reader to become sympathetic to both Constantia and the mouse, and provides for a comical moment.
Another section which is both humorous as well as pitiable at the same time can be seen during the time when Nurse Andrews comes by to visit, but eats all their butter:
“Nurse Andrews was simply fearful about butter… She had that maddening habit of asking for just an inch more bread to finish what she had on her plate, and then, at the last mouthful, absent-mindedly- of course it wasn’t absent-mindedly- taking another helping”
This entire section is written in Josephine’s voice, and thus allows the reader to view her opinion on Nurse Andrews. “fearful” is not very commonly used for such situations, and sounds amusing to the reader. This is also seen through the repetition of “absent-mindedly” as well as the use of dashes which allows the reader to visualize Josephine snapping at the gesture. However, even though she is pictured like this Josephine is unable to stop Nurse Andrews in real life. She merely “got very red when this happened, and she fastened her small, bead-like eyes on the table cloth”. This again highlights the dismal state the women are in- though they are the masters of the house, a common nurse is able to dominate them, while the sisters are too weak to do anything against her.
However, this comical moment also highlights a more serious, tragic point about the sisters. The word “fearful” is a pun; it also highlights the fact that Josephine is fearful that Nurse Andrew will take all their butter, as it is a precious commodity. This shows the reader that the sisters are poor financially, with all their money having been used up by their uncaring father.
A scene with their father is one of the few serious sections of the story:
“He lay there, purple, a dark, angry purple in the face, and never even looked at them when they came in… he suddenly opened one eye… it glared at them a moment and then... went out”
It can be seen that the colonel simply hates the two women, who are his daughters. The use of “A dark, angry purple”, shows us a heated person, someone who would go off if even the slightest happening occurred. “Glared” suggests an intense hatred towards the sisters, and the fact that he only opened one eye when they came in suggested that he never cared much about them. The reader feels pity towards the two women, who have been rejected by their father.
It is the final section which truly shows how tragic the situation surrounding the sisters is. It is here when the women have the opportunity to break free from the suppression of their femininity and etiquette imposed upon them by their father, yet they fail.
“Josephine was silent for a moment. She stared at a big cloud where the sun had been. Then she replied shortly, “I’ve forgotten too.””
During the final section, the sun represents their chance for freedom. “Golden rays” symbolized the richness and exiting new life which they could have taken. Yet, the whole new path the sisters might have taken was blocked out, symbolizing the cloud. It is thus that the story ends in tragedy- the sisters fail to break free, and remain stuck inside their self-imposed world. Their late father’s influence is too great for them to overcome.
In conclusion, it may be said that the story is both a comedy and a tragedy. However, because Mansfield cleverly disguises the tragedy to blend into hilarious moments the reader gets an overall sense of comic fun. Therefore, Daughters of the Late Colonel is more of a comedy than a tragedy
