Why did macomber married margo

She does not smile back, however, and looks at her husband. Thirty-five-year-old Macomber, who She smiles back at him, however, saying that Margot returns from her tent, and Wilson looks at her perfect oval face, musing that it He is glad to have known and been educated about American women before meeting Margot , because the latter is very attractive.

In the dining tent, Margot mocks Macomber and says that she wants to see Wilson perform again, since he was Wilson reminds them of the lion, which Margot says she has forgotten about. Wilson wonders how a woman should act when she discovers Later in the afternoon, Wilson and Macomber go off alone to hunt some impala, leaving Margot behind. Macomber awakens to the roar and finds himself in a state of total panic.

With Margot beside him asleep, there is no one to see that he is afraid, nor to Margot enters to have breakfast, and the lion roars again. Wilson gathers Margot and Macomber for the hunt, and they climb into their motor car and move up He feels sick and finds Wilson, Margot , and the gun-bearers, who look very grave. Macomber, Wilson, and the assistants head out to Macomber takes his big rifle from Wilson, who orders him to stay five yards behind Later, when Wilson and Macomber return to the car, Margot does not look at her husband as he sits beside her in the back seat Nor does Macomber know how Margot feels about him now—but he does know that she is through with him.

Margot has He also realizes that Margot is not next to him in their tent, and he sees her crawl back into Wilson realizes that Macomber must have seen Margot sneak back into his tent at night, and that he knows they have slept together, Macomber, Margot , and Wilson bicker about having Margot stay in the camp while they hunt buffalo. Next, Macomber, Margot , and Wilson head off on the hunt together. Macomber and Margot are not speaking, and When they return to the car for a drink, Margot is sitting there white-faced.

She says Macomber is marvelous, and all of them drink whiskey Wilson, Macomber, Margot , though, says she hated the chase. She looks at her husband strangely. Macomber says he Wilson returns to Margot and admonishes her.

He says that he knows it was an accident, but that he Cite This Page. Home About Story Contact Help. Previous Francis Macomber. Margot Macomber Character Analysis. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber , which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. White men control the lives and financial status of African servants, whom they treat with indifference and even cruelty, refusing to compensate them properly for their labor.

Active Themes. Race, Violence, and Empire. In a flashback, Macomber is carried to his tent from the hunting ground by some African servants and hunting assistants in a celebratory parade. After the parade, they congratulate him. He shakes their hands, then sits on the bed in his tent. Margot enters the tent but does not speak to her husband, and Macomber abruptly leaves the tent. Masculinity, Dominance, and Courage. Margot looks at Wilson. She is beautiful and well-kept, and five years before had been a model in an advertisement for a beauty product she had never used, for which she earned five thousand dollars.

She has been married to Francis Macomber for eleven years. By describing Margot and the lion in succession, Hemingway draws a parallel between the two, and thus, between the human and the natural world.

Both the animal and the woman are trophies for Macomber, objects of beauty that he possesses and that give him status and power. Macomber agrees with Wilson ; the lion was good. He is a somewhat tall man with sandy hair, a mustache, sun-burned skin, cold blue eyes, and a wrinkled, smiling face.

He smiles at Margot and she looks at his body, examining his shoulders, the rifle cartridges slung on his jacket, his worn-in slacks and boots, and finally, his red face again. That Margot regards her husband as a stranger suggests she has grown apart from him—or thinks lesser of him now, after the problem that occurred on the hunt. Related Quotes with Explanations. Wilson toasts to the lion , then smiles at Margot again.

She does not smile back, however, and looks at her husband. Thirty-five-year-old Macomber , who is very tall with short hair and thin lips, is considered handsome. He is skilled at court games, has big-game fishing records, and has just proven himself to be a coward. Macomber also toasts to the lion and thanks Wilson for what he has done. Margot stops looking at her husband and looks back at Macomber.

In contrast to Wilson, Macomber though fit and handsome appears less attractive to Margot. She smiles back at him, however, saying that it has been a strange day and that he should wear his hat even under the canvas tent, since he told her to do the same, to protect from sunburns. She adds that he has a red face, which he says is from drink. Macomber, joking, says his face is red today.

Wilson tries to get them to stop talking about it. Margot looks as if she is going to cry and decides to leave for her tent. Tensions continue to build as the three bicker, and Macomber admits to being embarrassed about the situation with the lion. That Margot flirts persistently with Wilson again suggests acute dysfunction in her marriage.

They continue to sit in the shade under the trees in the camp, looking at a boulder-filled stream with a forest beyond it, not speaking or looking at each other while they drink. The boy turns away. Wilson tells Macomber that we all take a beating every day, anyway, and immediately feels embarrassed. Macomber agrees, and then apologizes again for the lion business. Though inferior in status, the boy seems to understand that Macomber has acted abnormally.

Wilson seems to privilege stoicism and temerity above all else, and he feels little sympathy for the obviously distressed Macomber. Wilson looks again at Macomber, who has a pleasant smile even as his eyes show when he is hurt.

Macomber suggests that they can try a second hunt, for buffalo. Macomber, hapless and remorseful, seems somewhat pathetic to Wilson. Rather, Mr. Margot, though inferior according to the gender politics of the early twentieth century in which this story is set, is clearly capable of wielding influence over her husband. Wilson believes American women are the hardest, cruelest, most predatory, and most attractive women in the world.

He is glad to have known and been educated about American women before meeting Margot , because the latter is very attractive. Wilson thinks that when she went off to cry, she was a hell of a fine woman—who seemed to know how things really stood. Margot returned after twenty minutes. To Wilson, American women are the damnedest. Clearly, for Wilson, women and animals are no more than objects of desire to be pursued and hunted down.

Margot relentlessly mocks her husband, while he only responds tepidly and maintains politeness by offering her meat to eat. Wilson reminds them of the lion , which Margot says she has forgotten about.

Wilson wonders how a woman should act when she discovers that her husband is a coward. Though she is cruel, he reflects, all women are cruel: they govern, and he is tired of their terrorism. Wilson sees people as mere categories, not as individuals with distinct personalities.

Later in the afternoon, Wilson and Macomber go off alone to hunt some impala, leaving Margot behind. Masculinity, it seems, is directly related to the power a man is capable of exerting over his wife.

Later, at night, Macomber lies on his cot, ashamed. His fear has replaced his confidence and makes him feel sick, as he remembers the night before when he heard the lion roar for the first time. In a flashback to that night, Macomber awakens to the roar and finds himself in a state of total panic. With Margot beside him asleep, there is no one to see that he is afraid, nor to be afraid with him. The lion reminds him how tenuous his masculine identity is; beasts bigger and more powerful than he exist, spotlighting his own insignificance and fragility.

Here, Hemingway also shifts backward in time to the previous night. This is the starting point for the story of the lion hunt, which will put the first part of the story into context. By shifting backward and forward in time, and by revealing few details at the start of the story, Hemingway demonstrates literary techniques common to modernist short stories: namely, narrative fragmentation and temporal shifts.

The morning after, the lion roars again during breakfast, and Macomber frets that the animal is close to their camp. The quote indicates that they were dependent on each other, this is what made the relationship strong. Margot and Francis are two very different persons, with different personalities.

Margot is a controlling person, Margot needs to have control over her husband in order to keep their marriage together and at an equilibrium. With the information above the motive starts to take form Cliffnotes, Margot witnessed her husband being a coward while hunting a lion, she is humiliated but she still has control over her husband. When she witnessed her husband becoming a hero with killing the buffalo, she knows she has lost control over her husband and relationship.

Like a dam bursting. If indeed Francis lost all his fears, he could easily afford to get rid of Margot. He could find a new wife. Margot did not like a Francis without fear. Margot saw the control she had over her husband and relationship disappear, which was essential for their relationship to stay at the equilibrium Cliffnotes, Wilson was correct about their relationship and at the end of the story he gives the reader more clues to believe the motive that Margot killed Francis intentionally.

Wilson gives the reader the most detailed description of their relationship, which indicates that he thinks she might be capable of killing Francis.

They govern, of course, and to govern one has to be cruel sometimes. The description of Margot indicates that Margot could do cruel things as she governed over her husband. The failure of her husband with the hunt adventure on the lion humiliated Margot, but then she still had control over her husband Cliffnotes, With the hunting on the buffalo Margot hopes that Francis will lose his feeling of being brave and triumphant.

She is excited as she expects her husband to be a coward again, which would mean that she would gain control again over their relationship. What she expects to happen, did not happen. This quote shows that Margot has lost her position and control in their relationship, she has become expendable. Margot did not like the idea of losing control and being expendable Cliffnotes, After Margot shots and kills Francis, Wilson gives more clues that support the motive Margot killing Francis intentionally.