Jane Wyman's Character --- Enabler

I know that we are supposed to see Helen St James as loyal and loving and good, but frankly, she gives me the creeps.

In the film, three years had elapsed since Helen learned that Don was a drunk. No woman in her right mind would give three years of her life to a penniless drunk. Her constant babying of him, the excuses she always makes for him, the refusal to make any demands of him... And that creepy speech she make when she learned of his alcoholism. She bragged of her strength and determination, as if she could will Don to sobriety. He is her construction project, a shining reflection of her goodness.

Dedicating your life to trying to change someone is a fool's enterprise. Beneath its seeming humility is an incredibly arrogant assumption about your power to influence others. Even if Don sobered up for good, he will view her as a medicine. Something that was helpful when he was sick. You stop taking medicine when you are well. He will feel guilt/pity about it but he will demand a fresh start in a relationship with a woman who won't baby him and whose willingness to make demands of him he will respect.