Description

The plot is structured as the confession of a pawnbroker standing over the coffin of his young wife, who has committed suicide. He attempts to understand the reasons behind the tragedy by recalling the history of their marriage: how he, a forty-year-old man with wounded pride, took a sixteen-year-old dowerless girl as his wife, deciding to ‘conquer’ her with his silence and austerity.

His desire to dominate and mold his wife into an ideal, submissive creature leads to a silent psychological confrontation and mutual alienation. By the time the protagonist finally realizes his love and readiness to change, it is too late — A Gentle Creature, unable to endure the spiritual oppression and seeing no way out, throws herself from a window holding an icon.