The Concept of Happiness in Katherine Mansfield's "Bliss" - Essay Sample

Introduction

"Bliss" by Katherine Mansfield is a story which focuses on the elusive happiness of a young woman who is also the protagonist called Bertha. The author provides a series of illustrations of how Bertha lives in a state of bliss which she cannot explain. Her thoughts and feelings are clouded with a great sense of happiness to the extent that she becomes naive and insensitive. The author presents Bertha as someone with a simplistic view of what constitutes a blissful life. For instance, at some point, she construes the blooming pear tree in her garden as symbolic of her happy life and even goes ahead to accentuate her joy by recounting a series of things such as marriage, wealth, music, financial stability, an excellent cook and travel plans overseas that bring joy from her standpoint. The elusive concept of happiness in "Bliss" is epitomized by the materialistic and superficial understanding of life whereby Bertha erroneously has a feeling of joy while in actual sense, she is blinded by materialism, patriarchal controls, and incessant struggles to attain the societal description of beauty and what it means to be a typical woman.

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Through the eyes of Bertha, the author portrays that happiness is erroneously attached to the feeling of having a full filling marriage or a loving spouse. According to Bertha, Harry epitomizes her bliss since he provides her with whatever she desires. Understandably, marriage contributes to a sense of fulfillment and mental calm especially if someone is confident that the husband is not only faithful but also provide for the family. In the case of Bertha, she is married to Harry who is a wealthy man with whom she has a beautiful daughter and a lot of possession. In her eyes, Harry is a perfect man and an ideal husband. She naively believes that Harry has the same feeling of love, faithfulness, and compassion for her. In the story, "Bertha Young desired her husband. Oh, she'd love him -she'd been in love with him, of course, in every other way... (Mansfield 141). At some point, she uses decoration and arrangement of fruits at the dining table to express her fulfillment with the husband whom according to her is loving and caring. She does not have any doubts or suspicions that even though Harry is providing her with everything, there could be some underlying deceptions. By matching the fruits in attractive colors at the dining table, Bertha expresses her great love for her husband Harry and her commitment to a happy married life with him. Bertha is deluded by the things that Harry does which make her develop an inner feeling of complete satisfaction. In Bertha's initial situation, it may be incorrect to perceive her as someone who is barely living in fantasy and illusion (Sadeq 16). The reality that Berth has an ideal husband is too perfect for her to think otherwise. It is this preoccupation with the material things, what Harry does and her affection for him that gives her satisfaction and great happiness. Nonetheless, it turns out that the man is an infidel. She discovers the unlikely thing that Harry is having an extramarital affair. This extramarital affair defeats Bertha's initial feeling of complete love for Harry. Nonetheless, out of her sheer naivety and feeling of helplessness, Bertha does not know how to react to the sight of her cheating husband (Sadeq 18). In the story, Bertha exclaims, "'oh what is going to happen now?" She feels betrayed, cries and feels paralyzed.

Happiness is also framed as delusory when it is looked at through narrow lenses such as material passion. Through the life of Bertha, it is clear that material possessions do not automatically lead to perfect happiness. While having tangible and physical things in life may inspire a sense of joy, in Bertha's case, they turn out to be just a simplistic look at what real bliss means. In "Bliss," Bertha imagines that by being financially stable, having wealth, friends, a family, and a rich husband, she has everything. She does not realize that real bliss derives from various things including sustained trust and faithfulness of a spouse, self-extrication from the limitations of the society, attainment of ultimate freedom and awakening. From the onset of the story, Bertha inclines her entire happiness to visible things hence loses it upon realizing that they are not the real source of joy (Sadeq 16).

In "Bliss," false happiness, is portrayed as having the potential to conceal social vices such as patriarchy which only becomes evident when the perceived sources of bliss waste away. Bertha's happiness is characterized with an incessant entanglement in patriarchy which she seems not to realize or remains oblivious of it thus undermining a true sense of bliss. Bertha does not have an express and deliberate ability to confront the wrongs of her husband which seem to be motivated by the fact that she is a female and naive. Through various actions and decisions, Bertha shows her weaknesses as well as inability. For instance, upon realizing that her husband is having an affair with another woman, she is not bold enough to admonish, reprimand and caution him firmly (Anderson 388). Inwardly, she has a feeling of betrayal and describes the husband's smile as hideous which implies that his actions make him look ugly and unchaste. But due to the fear of male authority, she experiences confusion and shock. She looks like someone who lacks information on how to react to the unfolding situation of unfaithfulness. Besides, she feels blame for the man; she cannot express anger and disappointment. Fearing to case a scandal and facing a man, Bertha cowers into silence and feels as not being in control of the situation. This patriarchy is predicated on a sense of male authority. In fact, at some point, Bertha ignorantly celebrates the absolute male authority which expresses that she is not free, Bertha has not attained true happiness but is rather in a state of delusion and insensitivity. For instance, when Harry rings and tells her that he would be late for the party, she out of sheer naivety ponders, "What had she to say? She'd nothing to say. She only wanted to get in touch with him for a moment. She couldn't absurdly cry. "Hasn't it been a divine day" (Mansfield, 143). She crystalizes everything that makes her happy on her obliviousness of Harry's deceptive nature.

Ultimate happiness is shown to be attained only when one rises above societal expectations and limitations. Without this, an individual remains a salve of the society and strives to fit into its prescriptions. Even though Bertha feels like she is living a blissful life, she is not. She has somehow submitted to societal limitations and prescriptions of what she ought to do, look, and behave. Classically, ultimate happiness comes from freedom and overcoming the controls of society (Anderson 400). For instance, sometimes she has a desire to express her deep-seated happiness in a way that satisfies her but she feels restricted by constricting views in society. She sometimes feels angered by such limitations but cannot deny them. In the story, the author shows that Bertha cannot just stand still and laugh at nothing since she fears that the society around her would think that she is "drunk and disorderly " (Sadeq 17)This alone dents Bertha's happiness and portrays her as someone one who embraces only a simplistic look at blissful life. Furthermore, she is predominantly swayed by what society describes as beauty. For instance, she looks at herself in the mirror and sees herself having big dark eyes. According to her with smiling, trembling lips, with big, dark eyes gives a feeling of true beauty and a sense of ideal womanhood (Anderson 400). This is a stance that affirms the societal definition of a beautiful woman. Furthermore, she has embraced the societal belief that women have to look romantic and attractive at any time. No wonder she plans to wear "white dress, a string of jade beads, green shoes and stockings" (Mansfield 146) so that she makes her presence at the party to be realized.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Bertha has a shallow understanding of what constitutes happiness which makes her deluded to think that she lives a blissful life. She has an erroneous feeling that idea happiness comes from material possessions, wealth, having a family, a wealthy hatband, financial stability, and friends and planning a trip abroad. While these may be the things that add to happiness, they blind her to the extent of being naive and insensitive. In actual sense, Bertha is not happy as the unfolding story shows her struggles to please the society, her submission to patriarchy, and obsession with materialism. If Bertha is to be deemed to have attained actual freedom, she should show in actual the ability to rise above societal limits, the courage to confront the misbehavior of her husband and detachment of happiness for the physical things. Without this, she unknowingly remains engrossed in self-deception.

Works Cited

Anderson, Walter E. "The Hidden Love Triangle in Mansfield's" Bliss."" Twentieth Century Literature 28.4 (1982): 397-404.

Mansfield, Katherine (1922). Bliss and Other Stories. Plymouth: William Brendon & Son Ltd.

Sadeq, Ala Eddin. "A Study of the Conscious and Unconscious Perception of the Status of Happiness in Katherine Mansfield's Short Story Bliss." Studies in Literature and Language 4.3 (2012): 15. DOI: 10.3968/j.sll.1923156320120403.1233.