John is a loving husband: draft 1

John is a character who seems hard to figure out. Our knowledge of him comes exclusively from the narrator, who isn’t within mental capacity to give us reliable information. Based on what we do know, however, it is a likely assumption that his intentions for his wife are good. Because they had a child together, he is linked to her on a much higher emotional level. It isn’t likely that he would wish anything bad against the mother of his child. “I beg of you, for my sake and for our child’s sake, as well as for your own” (24). John is begging his wife to come to her senses, making a point to mention that it is for the baby’s sake. He is pleading that she get well so they can return to a normal life. “[John] said we came here solely on my account…” (12). This farther proves that his only motive in bringing the narrator to the country house was to improve her condition. As a physician, he knows what is best for her and makes all possible efforts to accommodate to her needs. He fails to follow her mental web of insanity because of how she hides it: “of course I don’t [cry] when John is here…” (19). She also mentions several other times throughout the book how she doesn’t mention the wall-paper to him anymore. He had no reason to believe she was getting worse, especially since physically, she was improving. John is a good man who only wants to protect his wife so they can live a normal life with their new baby.