“It’s only since we’ve had Steve with us that I’ve realized how much of himself a man has to give before he’s really possessed. I used to think it was possession because we lived together as man and wife. I didn’t know how little it can amount to wanting a woman at night, putting up with her in the daytime.”
The Bentleys’ romantic relationship is not perfect and is coupled with tensions between the two even becoming toxic in nature. Mrs. Bentley spends most of her time observing the dynamic of her marriage, people, and the environment. Therefore through the journal, she observes a change in their household once they adopt the child Steve. Philip has always wanted a child but she could not give it to him, hence for Philip, it is a dream come true though short-lived. For once she notices the unconditional love and adoration from her husband to the child that has been missing in their union. Accordingly rekindling the spark in their romance that was dying off as he finally gets in touch with his romantic feelings again.
“A man’s tragedy is himself, not the events that overtake him, and the same Main Street slight and condescension that put cloud over Philip for life…”
Philip is unhappy and fairly depressed contributed by his childless marriage, unpursued vocations, manipulative spouse, and non-affectionate union. Mrs. Bentley loves his husband though she is obsessive in her quest for her love to be requited at the same extent. She forms theories in her diaries to justify the lack of affection in her marriage and the unhappiness in the household. Subsequently, going through a stream of consciousness and later taking unnoticed actions to achieve the lacking factor in the relationship. Thus, she does not assume herself as a cause of the tension in the marriage but due to external factors.
“Religion and art…are almost the same thing anyway. Just different ways of taking a man out of himself, bringing him to the emotional pitch that we can ecstasy or rapture.”
As a religious couple and also artists in their own right, they find delight in their ministry and artistry. Philip is reserved and estranged emotionally from his wife but occasionally does fine art to quench his creativity. Mrs. Bentley on the other hand deals with loneliness, convinces herself that she is not satisfied, disappears in her journals and thoughts of her failed dreams in music. Henceforth shares this same sentiment to her husband as she views both as frustrated as the other and gets lost in their vocations.
