Edward and Florence has Problems

The pressure on your wedding day

Society has rules and guide lines we should follow to make certain occasions easier. However does following these rules mean that it is easier for men to talk to women, and visa versa, when actually most men have trouble talking to women and visa versa. When men and women talk to each other they experience difficulties that are hard to understand if you are not in that situation. That impedes them from becoming closer together. In the novel On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, Edward and Florence have trouble having conversations with each other and being close to each other especially on their wedding night. This couple demonstrates how much pressure is on men and women on their wedding night and on other occasions. And it does not help when they cannot produce the words that express their emotions, even if the possibility to over come these problems are probable.
Before that dreadful night a couple has to talk and get along. Corny words and sayings are said to get the ball rolling. Minute actions like a held gaze brings two people together yet can surprise each in the end. When Edwards and Florence where talking their “conversation had returned again to these moments, by now enriched by a private mythology, when they first set eyes in each other” (71). Their relationship seemed to have moved forwards Edwards and Florence become more comfortable with each other. These moments are rare and few and far between for Edward and Florence. Both being from completely different families, they are working hard to let time take its course to bring them closer together. As Edward and Florence are a model for most modern couples, they continue to bring themselves closer together by these precious moments. Florence “raised herself up on one elbow to get a better view of his face, and they held each other’s gaze,” (72) and as Edward “drew her closer, until their noses were almost touching and their faces when dark.” (73). These moments express the goodness and calm situations before the wedding night how close they were coming. These situations, however do not mean the pressures of the wedding night are not present. Edward and Florence seem to be able to be intimate with out the dread and worry they were experiencing earlier. However it all ends up with true emotions being expressed, by Florence saying “ [a]ctually, I’m a little bit sacred” (103). These words are trying to express the feelings Florence is feeling. This combined with actions these words accentuate the meaning they are trying to put forth. Florence is realizing the pressure, rules and consequences that come with her actions. These precious moments add to the excitements of their life and lead them to the pressure before them.
On your wedding night you have to be perfect. You can have no fault or error, and certain actions typically occur on your wedding night that most people will assume you do. This pressure plus personal pressure adds to rash decisions. While Florence says “I’d want it, I would because I want you to be happy and free” (189), demonstrates how Florence wants Edwards to be happy yet, does not know how to do include herself in his happiness. She is trying to be open and free however is failing because of her country tradition husband. Even though Florence is speaking, the silence between them makes it harder and harder for them to get close. “There was a silence, a kind of stalemate of indeterminate length, during which they listened to the waves and intermittently, the bird, which had moved farther off” (184) this silence is a parallel to how their relationship is now and where it is headed. They ended up being forced into silence since they do not know how to continue. They would have been doomed to listening to the world and events around them as when they were eating dinner and listening to the wire down stairs. The silence is the only time when there are not problems. Each time either speaks, their problems start to stir and they end up down a dark path of pain. Edwards tries to be a nice husband with a “touch [that] was kindly, spreading a warmth along her spine and into the small of her back” (184) but he does not realize that Florence is having a panic attack on the inside. She has to over come her problems and all the pressure she is feeling by Edwards touch, but she does not know how to let all her problems go. She wants Edward to be happy and even though his touch is what makes her happy she knows she can never return the favor. All the talking and touching between them is leading to what makes Florence run away and become an unconfident person. Edward’s touch is what she wants, just as much as making him happy, but Florence does not know how to make everything better between the two of them, and to make Edward sexually happy.
The pressure Edward and Florence have acquired has ended up harming their relationship. Pushing each other away instead of bringing each other together. This couple was not meant to be and in the end the anxieties that Florence has, brought her to the conclusion that “[p]erhaps [Florence] should be psychoanalyzed. Perhaps what [Florence] really need[s] to do is kill [her] mother and marry [her] father” (187).