The Perception of Marriage in The Kiss and The Gift of The Magi

Marriage has always been an innate part of a person’s life. The perception of marriage differs from person to person. Upon analysing the two stories ‘The gift of the magi’ by O. Henry and ‘The kiss’ by Kate Chopin, we could see that the main characters in both stories have least similarities.

When we look into the depths of the characters in the story ‘The gift of the Magi’, it is very profound. Della and Jim can be viewed as a couple with two big hearts although they are poor in material wealth. Della, who is loyal and with infinite love for her husband in her heart, tries to save up money to buy gift for Jim for Christmas but little could she save which wouldn’t serve the purpose of buying a gift for him. Her immense love for Jim can be seen when she thinks, “There was nothing to do but fall on the bed and cry” (O. Henry). Finally, she sells her hair which is very dear to her to afford a gift for her husband, a golden chain to wear with the beautiful golden watch that he owns. Whereas Jim who is also loyal and a loving husband to Della sells his watch to buy his wife a gift and he ends up buying a comb that she wished to have once to comb her beautiful hair. Upon knowing what they sacrificed to buy each other gifts they realize their love for each other once again. O Henry consider them as the wisest of all couples although it doesn’t sound so practical in real life. The couple proves that more than the material wealth people possess, what matters is the love in their hearts for each other and at the end that is the only thing survives.

On the other hand, in the story ‘the kiss’ the couple draw a completely different picture of husband-wife relationships. Here the couple, unlike the couple in the other story has least of loyalty to each other. The wife, Nathalie is portrayed as a woman with hidden motives who has the ability to turn bad situations into good and in her favour, not in a positive way though. She, when is about to be caught while engaging in an intimate relationship with another man who is more romantic and could satisfy her fantasies, successfully convinced her husband that the man is just a close friend of her and more like a brother. Nathalie on the one hand chooses a husband with all the material wealth she could dream of and on the other chooses to have an extra marital affair with a man just like she visualizes in her fantasies. The relationship between the husband and wife is obviously not an ideal one. She chooses to have both wealth and romance by having two different people in her life and shows the least of loyalty and genuineness. In this story she is depicted as having a dictatorial character. This is evident at the end of the story, “She felt like a chess player who, by the clever handling of his pieces, sees the game taking the course intended” (Chopin, Kate).

Della in ‘The gift of the Maggi’ represents a woman with the softer image of femininity and an ideal wife who can be called as the epitome of love, the one who sacrifices her dearest of everything. On the contrary, Nathalie in ‘The kiss’ reflects a very different woman who is apparently outspoken and contrasts the softer image of woman of that century. Della being called the wisest of all by O Henry stands for love and compassion whereas, Nathalie is being portrayed a pragmatic woman who values the marriage and loyalty to husband the least.