Perhaps I'm not reading it correctly (I'm not very good at these things), but I enjoyed what I perceived to be a movement of power in the relationship - at the

Perhaps I'm not reading it correctly (I'm not very good at these things), but I enjoyed what I perceived to be a movement of power in the relationship - at the beginning of the story, the wife appears to be the boss, but by the end of it she's reduced to begging to keep the relationship - the power balance has shifted (or been revealed for what it really was).