CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF DRAMA

“THE JEALOUS WIFE” BY GEORGE COLMAN

Colman in his drama “The Jealous Wife” tells about the conflict which
occurred between Mr. Oakly and Mrs. Oakly. Mrs. Oakly is Mr. Oakly’s wife. The
conflict started when Mrs. Oakly found out the letter from Henry Russet, the father of
unknown girl, which stated that Mr. Oakly has eloped with his daughter. Hence, Mrs.
Oakly got angry with Mr. Oakly and accused him of having affair with another
woman. Mr. Oakly didn’t know anything at that time. He asked his wife to let him
read the letter and explain everything. Mr. Oakly knew that his wife got angry
because she was jealous. He tried to calm and ensure his wife that he didn’t involve in
any prohibited affair with any woman. Finally, his wife gave the letter to him. It was
found out that the letter was not for Mr. Oakly. In fact, the letter is aimed to his
nephew, Charles Oakly. However, his wife didn’t believe it. She kept angry with him.
In this novel, Mrs. Oakly is described as someone who is rude, curious, emotionally
unstable, full of jealousy, and overprotective woman. Due to the emotional and
psychological trait that Mrs. Oakly had in facing the conflict, the approach that is
used to analyze the novel is psychological approach. The analysis will be focus on the
indication of Mrs. Oakly’s characteristics in the novel and the psychological reason of
why Mrs. Oakly may have that kind of characteristics.
Based on the novel, it can be seen that Mrs. Oakly got angry with his husband
and accused him of having filthy intrigue to cheat her (Act 1). She also accused her
husband that he has willingness to leave her. Basically, all of those reactions are
triggered by the content of a letter which stated that his husband who is eloped with
another woman. Psychologically, it is normal for a woman to get angry when she
finds out that his husband is having affair with another woman. It can be analyzed
that the reason why Mrs. Oakly express a horrible wrath to his husband is that Mrs.
Oakly love his husband too much. She didn’t want him to go with another woman. It
can also be seen that Mr. Oakly also knew about this reason. Therefore, he didn’t
react harshly to his wife’s anger although his wife rudely accused him for being a
cheater. This reason of Mrs. Oakly’s anger was also discussed by Major Oakly, the
brother of Mr. Oakly, when Mr. Oakly shared his problem to him. Then, Major Oakly
stated that jealousy is a certain sign of love, and Mr. Oakly should not be worry of his
wife’s terrible anger.
The indication of Mrs. Oak’s irrational jealousy is also described in the other
part of the novel (Act 2). After Mr. Oakly went home, Mrs. Oakly asked him to
forgive her brutal anger. Then, they talk about Charles affair with Harriot. Mr. Oakly
stated that Charles is a lucky man that he got the most deserving young woman. Mr.
Oakly also stated that admired her after seeing it in the major’s house and her father’s
house. Listening to his husband’s statement, Mrs. Oakly got angry again. This
response shows that Mrs. Oakly’s emotion is not quite stable. She got jealous only
because she heard that his husband admired other woman who will become the life
partner of his nephew. In this case, Colman has successfully described on how some
women might have the high level of jealousy and the trigger of jealousy may come
from various reasons.
The other indication of Mrs. Oakly’s horrible jealousy is when she caught her
husband talked to Ms. Harriot in their house (Act 3). She didn’t want to listen to his
husband’s explanation about why Ms. Harriot came to their house. She kept saying
that his husband is a bastard, and she asked him to leave her. Related to the novel, the
fluctuation of Mrs. Oakly’s anger is also caused by the provocation of Lady Freelove
that said about Mr. Oakly’s affair with many women. Again, it proved that Mrs.
Oakly’s jealousy is actually excessive. It is also considered rude by accusing other
people for doing bad things without listening to their reason. In this case, the author
of this novel has smartly portrayed the irrationality of jealousy in his novel.
At the end of the drama (Act 4 and Act 5), it can be seen that Mrs. Oakly is
actually a good wife. When Mr. Oakly gave time to his wife to think about her
mistake because Mr. Oakly was tired of his wife’s ridiculous jealousy, Mrs. Oakly
finally realized her own mistake. She just realized that his husband did not have
romantic affair with Harriot. Harriot only loved Charles. Mrs. Oakly also admit that
her jealousy has driven herself to do ridiculous act. Then, she asked for forgiveness
from his husband. Finally, their relationship became closer than before. From this
part of the novel, it can be analyzed that Mrs. Oakly is actually a good wife who
loved his husband. However, her jealousy sometimes hurt his husband and herself.
Unfortunately, she needs a long time to realize about it.
Based on the novel, it can be concluded that excessive jealousy is dangerous
because it can bother the peaceful relationship. However, the existence of jealousy is
also considered normal as it is the sign of love. Based on the novel, it can also be
stated that the anger triggered by jealousy should not be replied by the anger too in
order to solve and maintain the relationship. In this case, it can be inferred that
George Colman has successfully delivered the message related to the nature of
jealousy through his comedy drama “The Jealous Wife”.
 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF DRAMA
“THE JEALOUS WIFE”
By: GEORGE COLMAN

BY:
RIZKA AMELIA ISTY
1305115080

ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM

LANGUAGE AND ARTS DEPARTMENT
TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
UNIVERSITAS RIAU
PEKANBARU
2017