The Other Woman

Virgilio Samonte
Moralistic Approach

I. Characters
1.1 Protagonist
Nana Cecilia: She is the wife who had dearly loved his husband. Nana Cecilia or
Nana Ceiling never thought of giving up to her philandering husband who keeps
on preying for mistresses when he had still possessed a healthy body. She
cared for him even more when he was already bedridden and seldom leaves by
his side. He had taken Loida in the house as a means of desperate measure,
thinking that a harelip would repel him.
1.2 Antagonist
Loida: In the story, the harelip woman is the antagonist. She was taken as a
desperate measure to repel the lusty man, because of her imperfections. The
harelip woman, Loida, appeared to be indignant with an attitude that dismays an
employer. Loisa is a harelip who turned out proclaiming that the sick man loves
her too.
II. Moral Issues
2.1 The first moral issue present in the story is philandering. As defined by the
dictionary, philandering means to carry on a sexual affair, especially an
extramarital affair, with a woman one cannot or does not intend to marry. Used of
a man. According to cher quotes, Husbands are like fires - they go out when
they're left unattended. A fact form Shirley Glass states that, Men in pursuit of
extramarital sex can carry on their philandering actions for decades without being
detected, or they could encounter personal and professional catastrophes
because of their habitual risk-taking behaviors. The paradox that is difficult for
most women to understand is that these philandering men frequently perceive
that they are committed to their wives and regard themselves as happily married.
They are able to compartmentalize their sexual exploits as separate from their
marriages until they are discovered. The underlying causes are usually individual
issues which vary greatly although the contrasting patterns may look similar on
the surface.
2.2 The second moral issue I found in the story is suspicion. Suspicion of Nana
Cecilia to Nana Cora. This moral issue broke the relationship of two sisters in the
story, it also affect their morality, Nana Cora has to leave to San Nicolas.