The initially cowardly Francis Macomber and his symbolically castrating wife are being guided on a game hunt by a professional hunter Robert Wilson. Macomber repeatedly shows his cowardice and is chastised by his wife Margot, who sarcastically responds to his assertiveness late in the story with the line, "You've gotten awfully brave, awfully suddenly." Ironically, Macomber does, in fact, finally become truly fearless, as he demonstrates by standing his ground and firing at a charging buffalo, "shooting a touch high each time and hitting the heavy horns, splintering and chipping them like hitting a slate roof..." Margot grabs a gun, ostensibly to stop the still-charging buffalo, and shoots Macomber, killing him. Robert Wilson, having witnessed the profound change of character and self-confidence that had occurred within Macomber, tells Margot, "he would have left you too." Though Wilson says he will report Macomber's death as accidental, it is unclear whether his wife had shot him on purpose or by accident.
No comments:
Post a Comment