Ernie,
 
I don't think your adendum helps my feminist reading.  The character of
the dead wife plays into the terribly worn out female role of
nurturance and redemption, albeit in a way very specific to the
Western.  I suppose the only significant revision on this front has to
do with her being dead by the beginning of the film, rather than the
traditional ending of the cowboy domesticated by marrying this woman...
 
Amanda Aaron