Disappointment and Satisfaction in The Heiress, Our Town, Oedipus, and A Doll's House

In The Heiress (1949), Catherine Sloper is disappointed first by the abandonment she experiences when her fiancé, Morris Townsend, makes her aware of her vulnerability. She is equally disappointed when Townsend returns and claims that he loves her and wants nothing more than to marry her. Catherine recognizes that she has disappointed her father and that she has expected Townsend to be honest. Instead, he is merely a man seeking a wealthy wife. She vows never to be hurt again.

In Hamlet, Shakespeare (1952) creates a character who recognizes that he has expected too much from his mother, a woman who went from her husband's funeral to a new marriage bed. Hamlet also learns that his father's death was the result of his uncle's murderous act and that he is not able to act decisively to avenge that murder. As described by Shakespeare (1952), Hamlet has lost both father and mother, seen his inheritance taken away from him, and ultimately lost the woman he loved.