Margaret

In the short story The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway, there is definitely a surprise ending. In an "attempt to kill the bull," or as the author would like you to believe, Margaret actually shoots Francis in the back of the head. After the event takes place she is crying and kind of acting like this was all an accident, but the Hunter, Robert Wilson, is accusing her of the murder of her husband. If you ask me, it seems that she shot her husband on purpose, and Wilson was right about her all along. When you look at Francis and Margaret’s relationship over the past few days of the story, they have been arguing a lot, going back and forth between who is superior in their marriage. She even cheated on him right in front of his face when she kissed Wilson and later left the tent in the middle of the night, then lied about it. As the short story states, however, neither one of them would be willing to leave the other because they simply have it too good with one another. Margaret was in it mostly for the money, while Francis stayed simply because he was not good with women. Over the past few days, Margaret had begun to feel superior to her husband because of his hunting failure. This made her feel more confident in the fact that he would not leave her. Toward the end of the story, when he has a successful hunt, he begins to gain confidence in himself. This probably threatens Margaret, since she wanted to be the one to call the shots in the relationship. Also, she feels that he now has the power within himself to leave her. When she sees her opportunity, she shoots and kills him because this way he is unable to leave their marriage, and it gives her the upper hand once again.