D. W. Griffith's Film The Mothering Heart

The Mothering Heart conveys filmmaker D.W. Griffith’s perspective on promiscuity and the desanctification of marriage, to such a hyperbolized and formulaic degree, that world-building comes into play in order to depict certain social constructs and karma-like cycles. As can be seen from his other films due to recurring tropes and archetypes, Griffith created a kind of self-constructed ideal reality, which drastically and immediately affects characters in his films, as they are in the confines of his ethical scope. However, this world is challenged by the need to satisfy audiences through paralleling final outcomes with current societal ideology; this makes certain plot points confusing, ultimately muddling what appears to be the intended message of the film.
A main component in Griffith’s films is an angelic woman that is delved in some form of suffering; this archetype is strongly represented in our main character played by Lillian Gish in The Mothering Heart.
The young woman Gish plays is characterized by admiring flowers in the garden, and cradling stray puppies in her arms, giving her traits of tenderness and a gentle demeanor. This character type not only possesses what seems to be Griffith’s quintessential female figure, but also serves as a strategy to make the villainous inflictions resonate with the viewer; what harms a pure, undeserving, and helpless being can easily be resented by the audience, therefore further demonizing ethics that go against his
own.