Arsenic Old Lace

Torvald is similar to Mr. Alonso Smith in the way that they were both the main source of income of the family and the head of the household. What makes Torvald different compared to Mr. Smith is that he was not in tune to the needs of his wife Nora. Just as a doll is a piece of property to a child, Nora was the property of her husband. “A Dollhouse” depicted a family where the wife was not involved in any important matters, it was all according to the husband. “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Gilman, portrays a small family consisting of a husband (John) and a wife (Jane) and some children, along with a housekeeper (Jennie) (Gilman 473,477). John is the head of the household and it is his duty to care and protect his family; in
both a family and economic sense: “[he] is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious” (Gilman 475). According to Jane, John is a careful and loving husband who “hardly [lets her] stir without special direction” (Gilman 474). While the family dynamic is typical for the time (1892) the story reveals that Jane was actually not being helped, rather her condition worsened. As the head of the household, John believes that he is always right: “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?” (Gilman 473). John is not seeing the bigger picture; his position and profession cloud his judgment towards his wife’s overall health. Although his decisions towards Jane’s health were not entirely correct, they were not questioned because of his position as the head of the family and a physician. In the movie Arsenic and Old Lace, directed by Frank Capra, consists of a family of three grown men (Mortimer, Jonathan, and Theodore) who live with their two aunts, Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha.
Arsenic and Old Lace portrays a very unique family dynamic compared to other works of literature discussed so far in this paper. The movie is set in the Halloween season in the mid-1900s (1944) in New York City. Arsenic and Old Lace is a story about three grown men who seem to be living with their aunts. Mortimer Brewster is a drama critic and an author who greatly adores and cares for his aunts. Theodore Brewster is cared for by his aunts and believes that he is Theodore Roosevelt. Jonathan Brewster is a psychopathic killer who eventually comes back to his Aunt Abby’s and Aunt Martha’s home to use the laboratory: “I’ve got thirteen! … There’s Mr. Spinalzo and the first one in London, two in Johannesburg, one in Sydney, one in Melbourne, two in San Francisco, one in Phoenix, Arizona…” (Capra, Arsenic and Old Lace). Throughout the movie, Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha commit mercy-killings on lonely old men to put them out of their misery. Even though they are committing terrible crimes, Mortimer loves and wants to protect his aunts. While Mortimer tries to protect his aunts, he tells his newly-wedded wife: “…I probably should have told you this before, but you see…well…insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops” (Capra, Arsenic and Old Lace). At the end of the movie Mortimer finds out that he is not a real Brewster, rather his mother was the cook and the aunts did not want to lose her so she married Mr. Brewster, the true father of Jonathan and Theodore. Even with this very unique family dynamic one can see, despite all, family comes first. Mortimer knows his aunts are wrong, yet despite of it he goes to great lengths to keep them out of prison. Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha are likely the closest relationship to a “mother” that the men
have.