One of the film""s major motifs is the confining, sexually-frustrating institution of marriage.[Note: There are three married couples in he film that provide the commentary: Margaret and her abusive husband John, Professor and Mrs.After his horse refuses o eat from a bag of oats, he sprinkles it with salt and eats the horse""s meal.There, he was criticized and reprimanded for his unkempt appearance: "The idea of working in your shirt sleeves...At Franklin, Vermont, where I lived until sometime ago.The Franklin papers, both of them, agreed that I had a future.I play all sorts of parts.Hedda, you know, lbsen""sHeddaof course, the old woman inRiders o the Sea, the queen inThe Queen""s Enemiesby Dunsany, and Kitty in Shaw""sYou Never Can Tell." Maggie insisted that she go alone, without Tracy: "It""s gotta be me and him."Maggie went to sleep to confront Freddy in the dreamworld, where she encountered various stages of Freddy""s life, seen in his memories:Maggie awoke in Doc""s office, but no one else was there.