Margaret Ransom's bedroom (The Pretext)

Mrs. Margaret Ransom’s bedroom is the setting where the short story begins. Her bedroom is separated through a lockable door from a compact staircase which is connected to the drawing room through a narrow hall (Lewis, 1968, p. 632). Her bedroom is equipped with a “cramped eagle- topped mirror” which is located above “her plain prim dressing table” (Lewis, 1968, p. 632). Furthermore, Mrs. Margaret Ransom’s bedroom is often passed through by her husband because he is able to reach his dressing room by passing through. Because of his choice not to walk around her bedroom through a passage but take the direct way through her bedroom she adapts her own habits to his (Lewis, 1968, p. 634). From her bedroom she can see the elm-shaded Hill Street on which her husband goes to or comes home from work. In her bedroom Mrs. Margaret Ransom thinks about her problems and faces her inner processes. According to Butzer and Jacob (2008, p. 388) a lockable door like the one from Mrs. Margaret Ransom’s bedroom can be a metaphor for secrets or even something forbidden. Because of the lockable door she could feel safe in her room and she has the possibility to think about Guy Dawnish and her feelings for him which are, according to the social code of Wentworth, not acceptable.

Sources:

Butzer, G.; Jacob, J. (2008). MetzlerLexikon literarischer Symbole. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler.

Lewis, R. W. B. (1968). The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.