The Wasp — 1895 — page 638: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts two well-dressed men in conversation. The figure on the right, appearing sympathetic, tells the grieving man on the left: "Jones, we miss you lots. You haven't been to the club since your wife died. Well, don't worry. I shall marry again, old man." The satire mocks the casual callousness of upper-class social circles regarding death and remarriage. The speaker's presumptuous reassurance—implying the widower will simply replace his deceased wife as one might rejoin club activities—reveals the period's treatment of marriage and loss as social inconveniences rather than emotional experiences. The cartoon's title, "Only Temporary," emphasizes this satirical point: to these clubmen, even a wife's death is merely a temporary absence from leisure activities.