The Henpecked Husband
written in 1788
The Henpecked Husband - meaning Summary
Domestic Tyranny Mocked
The poem is a short, comic denunciation of a domineering wife and the husband reduced to her control. The speaker condemns men who submit completely to their wives’ authority, portraying such marriage as humiliating and intolerable. He declares he would rather break his wife’s spirit or heart than live under tyranny, proposing violent, exaggerated responses that register as satirical bravado. The voice mixes moral judgment with coarse humor, presenting marital conflict as social comedy rather than a sober argument about gender or law.
Read Complete AnalysesCurs'd be the man, the poorest wretch in life, The crouching vassal to a tyrant wife, Who has no will but by her high permission; Who has not sixpence but in her possession; Who must to her, his dear friend's secret tell; Who dreads a curtain-lecture worse than hell. Were such the wife had fallen to my part, I'd break her spirit, or I'd break her heart; I'd charm her with the magic of a switch, I'd kiss her maids, and kick the perverse bitch.
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