Delia Corbett

Further names: Delia, Mrs. Corbett, Delia Benson, Mrs. Delia Benson, Mrs. Benson

Delia is an American woman, who is past thirty and is remarried a little over two months. She considers herself as being insignificant, which can be seen at the scene where “She turned away, smiling carelessly at her insignificant reflection, […]”. (White 3) Moreover, she thinks of herself as not being very pretty, however, she is certain that no one else could ever please her husband as much as she can. She considers herself as too happy; and, therefore, she tries to justify the aspect of happiness with the fact that she is now married to her new husband Laurence Corbett and not to her first husband Benson anymore. Owing to the fact that she is the one who is married to Laurence Corbett, she feels privileged since “Love had set his golden crown upon her forehead, and the awe of the office allotted her subdued her doubting heart. To her had been given the one portion denied to all other women on earth, the immense, the unapproachable privilege of becoming Laurence Corbett’s wife.” (White 3) Although Delia is American, she tends to use French expressions such as “gros mots”, showing that she is already affected by the French habits of speech. However, Delia would never consider using profane language indication that Delia has an established and well-founded vocabulary. With her love to her new husband she does only associate admiration and unconditional love, but also material possession due to the fact that “she passionately longed to enter as a wife the house where she had so often come and gone as a guest.” (White 4) In this sentence it is clear that she rather longs for the house than for the inmate; although, Delia is not quite aware of this fact. When she was married to her prior husband named Benson, they were invited to Laurence dinner arrangements every once in a while. This is where Delia fell in love with Laurence; although, she was still married back then. However, she hid her feelings so well that neither of the two men suggested anything about Delia’s feelings for Corbett. Delia even found herself dreaming about secretly meeting Corbett in his library and putting her hand in his. However, Delia has always been a good wife to Benson. Even though many people considered him weak, Delia was always tolerant of his flaws and stood by his side. Delia is very shallow as she has “[…] to remind herself that she had married him for love […]” (White 5) whereas in truth, she married him because “[…] he had beautiful blue eyes and always wore a gardenia in his coat […]”. (White 5) These shallow arguments, not love, where the reasons why Delia wanted to marry Benson. This indicates how naïve Delia actually is, since she thinks that love is all about the external features of a person. She even tends to think of her first husband as a poodle who did not listen to her and as soon as she turned her back to him he did the same inacceptable actions again. To her, he was like her valueless and worthless things that she owned when she was young and also much-indulged. Although Delia is not happy with her marriage, she would never consider a divorce; probably, because this would indicate her social failure. However, Benson died and this “[…] freed her from the obligation of concealment.” (White 6) Delia is very dependent on the opinion of others, leading to the fact that she has waited two years, which is considered to be an appropriate period of mourning, before getting married to Laurence Corbett. Delia is blinded by Corbett’s external appearance; it is as “[…] if she walked in a cloud of delusion, dense as the god-concealing mist of Homer.” (White 6) To her, Laurence is the perfect husband, who makes her blush like she is eighteen. She tries to figure out her husband by taking a look into his library, which for her is sort of a forbidden place. “It was a charming room and singularly indicative, to her fancy, of its occupant's character; the expanse of harmonious bindings, the fruity bloom of Renaissance bronzes, and the imprisoned sunlight of two or three old pictures fitly epitomizing the delicate ramifications of her husband's taste. But now her glance lingered less appreciatively than usual on the warm tones and fine lines which formed so expressive a background for Corbett's fastidious figure.” (White 7-8) This description shows how Delia tends to compare the interior decoration of a place with the place’s resident. When Delia receives a letter from her Bostonian Aunt Mary, who “[…] had been the chief formative influence of her niece’s youth”, (White 9) and under whose house she has spent two years after her parents died, Delia sees her chance to reenter the Boston society as someone new. Consequently, she could finally gain the acceptance of her family and Boston’s society, for which she has longed for a long time. Being raised for a certain time under her aunt’s roof, Delia developed a great sentiment of nationalism and patriotism, which she cannot find in her husband who shows a great “[…] indifference to his native land […]”. (White 9) When Corbett suggests going to Boston to visit the ill Aunt Mary, Delia is afraid that her husband will not like Boston; showing her insecurity about her acceptance and social prestige in Boston. Once they arrive in America, the Corbetts are picked up at the Providence Station by Cyrus, who is Aunt Mary’s black chore man. In this scene on can see that Delia does not feel too comfortable around people of a lower social class. Her attitude can also be seen as racist behavior, because she talks badly about Cyrus’s dialect; moreover, she compares his smile to a white piano. In contrast to her husband Corbett, who is always nice to people of the serving class, Delia tends to keep her distance to those people. Delia is very curious but does not want to take Laurence by surprise; consequently, she waits three days to ask him about his attitude towards her aunt and is happy to find out that he likes her aunt. After a couple of days, Delia starts helping her Aunt running errands, which she could not do without Delia’s help. Driving her aunt from one committee meeting to another or reading aloud to her reports indicated that Delia is a helpful person, who also wants to please her family. Although Delia likes being back in Boston, she can feel the strong spell of her aunt and is relieved to know that the visit is only for the foreseeable future and then she can return to Paris. One afternoon, when Delia and her Aunt Mary are alone in the house, Mrs. Hayne wants to know more about Delia’s husband. At first, Delia does not know what to say, since she has written her aunt a lot about Laurence in their letters. This shows that all Delia has written her aunt about Laurence was more about Laurence external features, than about anything else. When Aunt Mary asks Delia about the fact whether Laurence served in the war or not, Delia cannot really give an answer as all she ever cared about her husband was his present state and not his past. However, Delia has to realize that her husband was not in the Civil War. Delia’s family served in the war; leading to the fact that her aunt has had high expectation on men that were healthy because they could have served their nation. As a consequence of her aunt’s authority, Delia is of the same opinion. At this moment, Delia has to realize that the feelings she has had for her husband, where actually the feelings for someone she has never really known, because she has never looked under the surface, indicating once more Delia’s shallow tendencies. Delia likes to keep crushing things from her past locked up in a hidden place in her mind, which is also why she has forgotten about her uncle and cousin who fell in the war, due to the fact that the war was over a long time ago. Delia cannot wait to leave her aunt’s place which she compares to a hospital. The word “hospital” indicates two aspects for Delia. The first one is the crushing aspect; the wounds that are opened when her aunt asks her about her husband’s past and the second aspect is the aspect of clarity which Delia always wanted to have, but now this clarity is crushing her. She wants to return to Paris with its “[…] flower-filled drawing-room […]”, (White 17) because she thinks that the colors can cover the satins on her husband’s soul. During their remaining time in Boston the question why her husband has not been in the war is with her all the time; leading to the fact that Delia suffers a lot. She hopes for relief when they are back in Paris but the salvation is nowhere to come from. Delia has to restrain herself from crying at her husband for staying away from the war. However, one day, when her husband hands her a present which is a frame of a fallen American soldier at Chancellorsville, Delia cannot restrain herself from crying at him. Consequently, she confronts her husband with the issue that has bothered her for such a long time. Since Laurence was a healthy young man and could have been in the war, Delia accuses him of cowardice, leading to the fact that Corbett leaves her alone and hides in his library. Delia knows that she has been a fool for accusing her husband of such a bad manner and knows that it is appropriate to apologize for her wrongdoing. They settle the dispute by going to the Palais Royal to see the new play. For Corbett the issue is dropped but for Delia, her future has changed forever, because she has to live with the fact that “[…] her love had undergone a modification which the years were not to efface.” (White 19) Before their trip to Boston, Delia has always wished to reveal secrets about her husband but now that she has found out about his past, she wishes to have never figured anything out. Delia has the broken crystal of the frame, which she dropped during their fight, replaced and this replacement indicates the replacement of Delia’s love for Laurence. He is not the perfect Laurence Corbett anymore and she has to accept that her love from now on will only be a tolerant acceptance. The revelation about Laurence’s past indicates Delia’s failure to reenter the Boston society. Her husband’s flaw, not serving the nation, will exclude Delia forever from her family since she has failed to meet her family’s expectation of a proper husband once more.