Perhaps one of the biggest "Forfeits” he will ever potentially make.
This is a thoughtful and deeply conceptual work by Addams.
The "Lonely Witch" has her mouth open, while the cottage door right behind her is open as well.
She is shoots bedroom eyes to the man. The wife identity is hidden.
Addams is suggesting that it’s the Witch’s desire for the man to throw his wife overboard and then join her for some private time.
It's a fair sacrifice for passage for a Witch. And in perfect keeping with Addam's sensibility, where life is seen from the point of view of his macabre characters.
His carefully crafted composition has the wife right next to a perilous precipice for convenient disposal.
The chimney on top of the Witch's cottage is a clearly phallic in shape.
There is a direct line of sight from the man's eyes to the Witch to the chimney.
A classic reference of intercourse is typically symbolized by a train going into a tunnel.
In this case, it's a car going into a covered bridge. The fact the bridge is covered is no accident.
In prudishly conservative 1956 America, sexuality had to be handled in subtle ways.
This may be one of the only works by Addams where he deals with sex.