Compare And Contrast Elka And Gimpel

Both protagonists are orphans who, perhaps unconsciously, seek familial ties, and in order to attain that dream of wife and family, each man is willing to place himself in the arms of a scheming woman. Gimpel denies his own doubts about Elka’s fidelity when she blocks his access to their bed, but then births a child soon after their wedding. “How can you make such a fool,” [Gimpel] said [to Elka], “of one who should be the lord and master?” (Singer 280). But the counsel of a learned villager easily sways his understanding and Gimpel then claims, “they argued me dumb” (Singer 281) and chooses to believe assertions that the child is his. When he later spots another man asleep in his bed with Elka, her husband first says of himself, “Gimpel isn’t going to be a sucker all his life. There’s a limit even to the foolishness of a fool like Gimpel” (Singer 281). The rabbi takes his side in the matter, yet Gimpel again heeds the urging of the troublesome villagers and his own desire for a home and family, and returns to Elka. On another occasion, he recognizes the man in her bed but Elka enlists help in making Gimpel question his own sanity and how his career might be affected by unfounded accusations, ensuring further silence. But, explains psychoanalyst Janet Hadda: …show more content…
Gimpel finds purpose beyond his orphan status and label of “fool,” while Elka finds stability to counterbalance her reputation of “whore” (Singer 279). Eventually, the balance of control shifts to Gimpel after Elka’s death, when she has asked for his forgiveness, and he chooses to strike out on his own rather than retain his slipping grasp on the family with which she had teased