Journal #9

Deceit / the altering of truth
I think the biggest deceit in the play would be the bride and her actions. She promises the bridegroom to be a loyal wife, yet she ends up running away with Leonardo, deceiving everyone. She made herself appear like any typical bride, but truly ends up becoming controversial through her actions. Another instance of deceit may be when Leonardo lies to his family about him traveling to the bride's home on the horse. He claims it was not him who was traveling out in the wasteland, when in truth it was him making secret visits to the Bride.

Following proper roles
Because of mother's tragic past, she shows many instances where she wishes people would simply follow their societal role. This can be seen with her wish for a daughter or granddaughter, a child that would just stay at home, not exposed to the dangers of the outside world. She also teaches her son how to be a proper husband. She tells him to "be affectionate" or to "caress her in a way that will hurt her a bit" (74). It seems like her thinking is that if everyone just followed what they were supposed to do, everything would be fine. There are other characters who also show this, such as the neighbor. In the first act first scene, the neighbor talks to the mother about how their sons are best sleeping and not in danger. Their are certain proper roles that many characters see as important to follow.

Items show wealth, but wealth doesn't show happiness
Before the wedding, the bride is given some gifts that display the wealth of the Bridegroom family. The laces and stockings were described as very high quality items that are worth quite a bit. Also, seeing that the mother tells the bridegroom to buy three tuxedos, their family appears to be quite wealthy. However, the mother, even with all this wealth, is never fully happy in the play. With the great gifts that the bride receives, she isn't very happy either. She doesn't want to show the maid the gifts she received and when she gets her orange blossoms, she throws them on the ground. While the wealth through gifts is shown, the bride never really shows happiness with them.