The Bell

The tolling of the church bell symbolizes the insistence and inevitability of death. Throughout the wedding ceremony, the church bell tolls deeply and solemnly in the fashion of a funeral knell. This sound foreshadows, and then accompanies, Dabney and Ellenwood’s eventual embrace of the inevitability of their own deaths.

Wedding Dress

Mrs. Dabney’s wedding dress symbolizes her denial of her age and the inevitability of her death. Even in her sixties, Mrs. Dabney remains in denial of the passage of time and the idea of her death. Thus, she wears a resplendent wedding dress that does not suit her elderly form, and she has a bridal party consisting only of young people.

Mr. Ellenwood’s Shroud

Mr. Ellenwood’s shroud symbolizes an acceptance of death. Mr. Ellenwood arrives at the wedding wearing a somber suit and a funeral shroud, and he is accompanied...