she unwillingly gives in to his wife, Jeannie’s, plea for help

she unwillingly gives in to his wife's, Jeannie’s, plea for help

she unwillingly gives in to his wife Jeannie’s plea for help

For what it's worth, I'd say the first is definitely wrong because,if you remove the parenthical ',Jeannie's,', 'wife plea for help' doesn't make sense.

I'd favour the third: 'wife Jeannie's plea for help' where the two nouns are in apposition. As a negative example, you wouldn't say 'Rudolf's the red-nosed reindeer's nose'. The second on the other hand seems to read a little awkwardly even if it may be strictly correct.

Chris

The sentence is a bit complicated, I would suggest simplifying it.
eg:

Unwillingly, she gives in to his wife's plea for help.

If Jeannie is a minor character then it's probably not worth naming her.
Or, if she's a major character then use:

Unwillingly, she gives in to Jeannie's plea for help.




<Added>

oops, I mean cluttered, not complicated.

I'd go for the third, as 'his wife' is being used as an adjectival phrase so you don't really need the comma.

I agree with Daisy. The third is correct.

Yes, I'd agree with the third one.

Emma

Thanks everyone. I'll go with the third.