Her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret, because Yahweh had shut up her womb.
"Third, the scene ends with Elkanah’s four-fold question, three times lameh, ’why,’ plus a concluding question about his own value to Hannah (1 Samuel 1:8). Elkanah’s questions are voiced in pathos. He does not understand Hannah’s response; moreover he is helpless to change Hannah’s situation. Elkanah is helpless about the problem of barrenness caused by Yahweh, and he is helpless in the destructive interaction between his wives. Hannah is deeply needy and immobilized, and her husband is helpless. The family system seems desperately closed. The only opening is that every year Elkanah goes up to sacrifice to Yahweh, the very one who has closed Hannah’s womb." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 35.] 