This very simple statement made by Chopin about a main who has been portrayed to be so cruel to his slaves simply because of their origin suggests that his love for Désirée has overcome one of his greatest shortcomings. This appears to be much deeper than the passion that “swept along like an avalanche” expressed by Kate Chopin. This works in favour of males as one cannot help but think that Armand, although described to have an “imperious and exacting nature”, genuinely did see Désirée for what she really was – and loved her still for it.
In The Half Brother, Gaskell demonstrates a quite different opinion of males, which is in a way quite similar to Chopin in that it has not been completely justified by the actions of William Preston. Preston very much broke many stereotypical views of dominant males at the time, because although his general conduct was very typical he did appear to be a lot more aware of his emotions than other men:
“…he wanted her to love her child less, and that was an evil wish.”
However, in contrast to the character of Armand, Preston is a cause for sympathy fairly early on in the story, supporting the idea that Gaskell is not as biased as Chopin. William Preston’s love for his wife Helen is the key reason for the compassion from the reader, in that it is clearly unrequited:
“But she did not love him…she had only gentle words as cold as ice.”
Armand’s attitude towards his child in Désirée’s Baby is again a reflection of what Chopin believed about males at the time:
“ ‘It means,’ he answered lightly, ‘that the child is not white;”
However, there are subtleties within this evidently complex character which imply that Armand is not quite the classic dominating male that he is first presumed to be. This is reflected in the obvious change in Armand that comes about when Désirée, his wife has their child:
“Armand is the proudest father in the parish…he hadn’t punished them, [his slaves] not one since baby is born.”
This clearly demonstrates that Armand does feel indisputable love for his child, and if not it also allows us to bring a shadow of doubt onto the portrayal of the classic villain Armand.
William Preston in The Half Brothers is again portrayed in a similar way tot eh character of Armand in response to this child. Preston’s own son, narrating the story claims “I was…tenderly beloved by my father.” The very fact that his child picked upon this tender love demonstrated by his seemingly harsh “old” father implies that this love was not hidden away, but demonstrated so often that even a young child could recognise it.
In contrast, to a certain extent I feel that the men in the story have been portrayed as thought they are partly to blame for the tragedies that befall them in both stories. Both Chopin and Gaskell, although portraying a negative view of men, very sensitively acknowledged the key factor of free will to evoke empathy from the reader concerning the fate of the key characters.
When looking at the attitude of Armand and William Preston towards their wife and children, in some places the idea of the males getting their comeuppance is certainly suggested by the strong feminist authors. I feel that Chopin and Gaskell both tried to include the element of tragedy in order to reflect upon their hopes for society – i.e. those who had behaved wrongly in the past would be punished in some shape or form for it. This is shown in Désirée’s baby when Armand discovers that he himself was all that he loathed, and the thing that he had lost his loving wife and child for:
“his mother…belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.”
In the same way Gaskell presents William Preston as having learnt his own lesson after it is too late.
“I would have knelt at his feet, and asked him to forgive my hardness of heart.”
The very fact that Gaskell does not end the story until William Preston has attempted to redeem himself is yet another notion to support the idea that Gaskell was more sympathetic towards males than Chopin. With Chopin’s ending, the readers are left to their own devises to decide how Armand interprets the news. The readers can never be sure that Armand repented at all, or even felt the slightest bit of remorse.
I feel that it was unfair for Chopin and Gaskell to push all of the blame for the terrible tragedies that came upon the characters of their stories onto the men. The women, in the way that they reacted to certain circumstances could have just as easily stopped these situations from turning into a disaster. In Désirée’s Baby, when Armand tells Désirée to leave,
“Do you want me to go?” [Désirée]
“Yes, I want you to go.” [Armand]
Désirée’s mother tells her to come back to Valmondé with her child. However, Désirée makes a conscious decision to commit suicide, killing her baby as well:
“She did not take the broad, beaten road which led to …Valmondé. She walked across a deserted field…and did not come back again.”
In the same way, we as the readers can see many other solutions to the clearly uncomfortable situation during The Half Brothers, many of which could have been affected by Helen, the one person who could reach Gregory AND her husband. Helen, possibly thinking of only the short term affects of choosing to marry someone that you did not love, married Preston, but did not show much affection for him:
“…she had only gentle words as cold as ice.”
Helen, having married him really did know that for a man like Preston this would not be good enough, and so this problem could easily have been solved by Helen with apology, or perhaps even asking to separate. Once Helen could clearly see Preston’s “positive dislike towards Gregory,” she could of then backed out of the marriage then as it would have been infinitely clear from the day of their wedding that she would not, and could not love William Preston.
“…she did not love him.”
Chopin presents a more negative view of males in Désirée’s Baby than Gaskell in The Half Brothers. Therefore, I think that as a whole Désirée’s Baby appeals to me as a female reader. I feel that there’s a part of me that relishes in the thought of such a self-assured character being dealt a hard blow by fate. Also, the way that the male in Désirée’s Baby, Armand appears to have had more to do with the ending grabs the readers attention as it is making a more direct hit upon the role of males in our society.
I think that both Chopin and Gaskell were trying to reflect their negativity not only about men, but about the human race through the writing of their short stories. Both Chopin and Gaskell lived about the time when women did not command the kind of respect that they deserved, and were forced into a life that mainly consisted of marriage and children. These women wanted to impress upon their readers how dangerous the system of society could be.
I find both of these authors to be unfairly biased towards men, but to a different extent. Also, in Chopin’s Désirée’s Baby, she appears to demonstrate a sincere disliking of Armand. Even when describing something as candid as the way Armand fell in love with Désirée, she claims it was “as if struck by a pistol shot”. This inadvertently gives the reader’s an immediate impression of one of the key character in the story of being destructive, and capable of great violence – perhaps not with his actions, but with his thoughts. In Gaskell’s Half Brothers, the main male character, William Preston is portrayed as being a lot more humane, which is evident in her description of his love for his wife Helen:
The two males in these stories are also portrayed very negatively in the way that they behave towards their wives, marriage, and their children. In Désirée’s Baby, Armand is portrayed as being very shallow – in that he prizes the looks of a person over their inner beauty. This is evident in the way that he is cruel to his slaves simply because of their skin colour, and the In contrast, William Preston also appears to behave more
