Previous

Farquhar’s wife emerges as an embodiment of innocence and domestic safety, although throughout the story, she is an almost entirely imagined presence. The only time she appears as an actual physical being, as opposed to the object of Farquhar’s projections, is when the Northern scout asks her to fetch him a drink of water. Even then, when she returns with it, she is depersonalized in Bierce’s referring to her simply as “the lady.” She exists to reflect her husband’s glory and buttress his need for position and praise. She is a repository for Farquhar’s various fantasies, fulfilling her function as an attractive ornament. She stands as a stereotypical feminine ideal, subservient, beautiful, silent, and ultimately dispensable in the name of Farquhar’s higher cause. In the final moments of Farquhar’s life, she is a source of the comfort that Farquhar is ultimately denied.

Previous section Peyton Farquhar

Popular pages: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Take a Study Break