Literary Wives: The Constant Wife by W. Somerset Maugham

Literary Wives is an on-line book group that examines the meaning and role of wife in different books. Every other month, we post and discuss a book with this question in mind: 

What does this book say about wives or about the experience of being a wife? 

Don’t forget to check out the other members of Literary Wives to see what they have to say about the book!

Other participants:

• Kate of booksaremyfavouriteandbest
• Naomi of Consumed by Ink
• Rebecca of Bookish Beck
• Kay of What Me Read

This is my very first foray into the Literary Wives Book Club and I feel very lucky to be able to participate. It's been such a long time since I had the opportunity to talk books with others. This is definitely one of the great things about the internet. 

The Constant Wife by W Somerset Maughan

Maughan's The Constant Wife is the first play that I have read for some time. Written in the 1920s, it was considered very subversive in its depiction of marriage and gender roles. The play centres on Constance Middleton. Constance appears to be a lucky wife who lives a charmed life married to a successful doctor. What the audience soon learns is that her husband is having an affair with her best friend. When the news is eventually broken to Constance, she admits to knowing it all along. She doesn't feign heartbreak and instead, once the news is out in the open, Constance decides that the time has come to reclaim her independence by pursuing a career and her right to romantic and sexual autonomy. 

What does The Constant Wife say about wives or about the experience of being a wife? 

What sticks with me the most from reading The Constant Wife is the double standards in the standard by which men and women were held. Constance's husband, John, is excused for his infidelity. His infidelity is put down to an inherent weakness of males, who simply can't help themselves (poor things) and it's therefore considered excusable, particularly seen in Constance's mother's attitude toward his affair. This attitude absolves him of responsibility because he is simply a man who is a slave to his impulses. As a woman born into today, I almost don't blame them for taking this attitude. In truth, to me as a woman born into today, it feels like necessary mental gymnastics that women needed to enter into to cope with their lack of power within marriage and broader society. 

The double standards were even clearer considering how Constance was expected to react in response to discovering her husband's affair. Again, Constance's mother provides the perfect example of this. She expects Constance to maintain appearances to others and to preserve her relationship despite her husband's disrespect and betrayal. 

This is the experience of being a wife in the 1920s (and no doubt at other times) - men's affairs are tolerated - women must be forgiving, whether they feel that way or not. Most people, whether wilfully or otherwise, didn't see this as a double standard, but Maugham through Constance, calls society out. 

Double standards were then on show when John discovers that Constance may be about to embark upon an affair. Given his infidelity and her economic independence, Constance doesn't feel the need to hide this from him. His reaction, however, is to respond to her announcement with anger and control. He talks of 'not letting her' do such a thing and declares that she is doing him the greatest of injury. Although Constance reminds him that he conducted an affair with her best friend, he brushes it aside as not the same thing and demands to know whether this is instead her payback. 

This relates to something that I found a little striking in how their relationship is portrayed and that's in the way that Constance and John both in a way are faking their relationship in some way. How they came to be together is touched on in such a light way. It's almost presented as if Constance had numerous romantic options as a young lady, and John was the one the gentleman who seemed best. So, she chose him, and called it love, and carried on with her life until the events of the play unfold. John, while having an affair, pretends to be the perfect doting husband. Constance pretends to be the perfect wife, going so far as to hide her knowledge of the affair for some time. Constance's experience of being a wife exists almost on the surface, and when that surface becomes disturbed, she is forced to deal with something more important and integral - her experience of being herself and what it means to value herself as an independent person. John 

How does she do this? Shock - horror. She seeks employment by becoming an interior designer. That's right, she seeks not just emotional independence from her husband but financial independence as well. For a very long the experience of being a wife meant being financially dependent upon her husband. We know that many women find themselves still unable to escape dangerous relationships for this very reason. Constance claims her financial dependence and to demonstrate her freedom, Constance transfers money into John's bank account for her board and lodging. John clearly feels emasculated but Constance stands her ground, insisting on paying for her room and board so that "I could tell you, with calm and courtesy, but with determination, to go to hell."

Nonetheless, although Constance claims her economic independence which would have been very progressive for the time, it is still within the bounds of the gendered society within which they lived. Constance feels the need to pay board and lodging to her husband, despite it being their family home. Her contribution as mother and home maker is not sufficiently recognised to suggest that she may have some ownership of their shared home. John still spoke of allowing Constance to work - "Anyhow, you wanted to work and I yielded". When Constance talks about potentially commencing an affair of her how, John speaks of 'not allowing her'. I suspect the reality is that given his position as a male in 1920s society, he most likely could have prevented her if he so chose.

In the end, The Constant Wife reveals that being a wife (at least in the world of the 1920s) meant living within carefully scripted gender roles that almost meant sacrificing your own self to preserve appearance. Through Constance, Maugham exposes the unspoken truth of marriage and the double standards that can exist in marriages as a result of gender toles. Constance shows the strength it takes to speak those truths and step outside the bounds of what society allows for her gender. I think what I am trying to say is that being a wife is a role in marriage, but it is also a role within society. Constance’s ultimate choice is to value herself beyond that role and to be true to to herself.