Revenge: Gender Roles & Hubris

The husband’s role as a working man and leader of the household is clearly evident. As he woke up and went to work at the factory, he held a traditionally masculine job. His nine to five working at the plant was stereotypical of a 1950’s household where the man went off to work and provided the income to take care of his family. He woke up early and then had a brief morning interaction with his wife before he left (Hitchcock). In leaving to go to work, he asked his neighbor, Mrs. Ferguson, to look after his wife and check up on her while he was gone. He was very strongly depicted as a strong male figure that was merely looking after his wife and taking care of her during a time of severe emotional duress for her (Hitchcock). Finally, upon returning home to find his wife was supposedly beaten, he once again showed masculine behavior by taking an initiative to look over his wife and do everything in his power to find the culprit.

In contrast, the woman was depicted as an emotionally weak woman who could not handle the realities of life. Her profession as a ballet dancer was very stereotypically female as this job coincides directly with female attire, attraction and aesthetics. As her husband went to work, she lounged around the house while trying to bake a cake and surprise her hard working husband. It is extremely significant that while he was working hard, she was merely sunbathing and doing very little productive work with her time. Moreover, although she carried a profession, the fact that she had a nervous breakdown further illuminated the notion that women were not fit for the workforce and cannot emotionally handle working for a living. Her further incompetence is even more evident as the story unfolded.

In claiming to be beaten by a salesman, the woman was clearly emotionally overrun and even portrayed traits of madness. For example, when the husband found her, she was passed out and then had a difficult time communicating while in bed. She could barely utter a word, despite not showing any physical signs of abuse (according to the doctor). Naturally, the doctor suggested that she should refrain from doing anything and stay in bed. Even after the episode was over, she showed signs of madness as she claimed that different men on the side of the road were the salesman that beat her. Here, we see very clear evidence of not only gendered depictions of physical and mental weakness, but also madness. Even in claiming that the salesman killed her, she was speaking in a manner that the audience would perceive as craziness. Despite this evident craziness that she had a clear history of with her past, the husband took his wife’s words very directly. Instead of contemplating that his wife might need more psychiatric help, he immediately took ruthless action without thinking about the consequences. 

Even worse, the man’s actions of killing another man based on a whim of a crazy woman showed that he suffered from both hubris and irrationality based on his affection for his wife. Despite the woman still clearly being in a state of trance, the man saw it fit to take revenge based on very little rational thought. The woman claimed that the street man was the killer without even seeing his face. In attempting to take revenge instantly, the husband proceeded to kill the man without even speaking a word to him. This evidence further suggests that the man’s role as a husband and leader of the household overshadowed his logic and reasoning abilities. As men are portrayed as a strong sex who is supposed to be physically protective, this characterization fit evenly with the stereotype of gender roles. Without putting much thought into his behavior, the man blindly took revenge. It was only after the woman pointed out a second possible assailant that the husband finally realized that he was acting in hubris. Thus, in not taking the consequences of his actions into account, the man merely played out and supported the gendered role of a protective husband who wanted more control over the events in his life. 

Ultimately, the storyline made strong characterizations about the protective and irrational nature of men who are stereotyped as being the leader and provider of the household. Simultaneously, the woman was portrayed as being not only emotionally weak, but also crazy as she clearly made claims that both and her husband could not fully substantiate. The core demographic and character profiles at the beginning reflected the man’s position as a strong, stable and working man who provided for his wife. She reflected behavior that showed she was mentally weak and lounged around the house all day as a remedy for her nervous breakdown. As the events unfolded and the climax of the husband murdering the other man occurred, the audience gained a true sense of the nature of revenge and taking the law into our own hands. While the narrator argued that the moral of the story was mainly that police should be the only ones to carry justice, the gender roles offered a much richer perspective into life during the 1950’s. 

Works Cited

Hitchcock, Alfred. "Episode 1: Revenge." Alfred Hitchcock Presents. CBS. 2 Oct. 1955, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNoDdm2Jueo, Accessed 23 Jan. 2019.