Louise Mallard: A Complex Woman
In "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin introduces us to a woman living in the oppressive times of the nineteenth century, Louise Mallard. She appears to be an old lady with a bad heart who is blindly living in a bad marriage, like everyone else at the time. However, a closer look at Louise reveals a more complex woman: a spiritual and fragile, young woman who is aware of her incarcerating marriage.
When I first began reading "The Story of an Hour", my first impression of Louise was that she was an old woman with heart trouble. I was surprised in the eighth paragraph when Chopin tells us that "she was young, with a fair, calm face" (paragraph 8). We are informed that, even in her youth, Louise is "afflicted with a heart trouble" (paragraph 1). Even so, I believe that her heart trouble is more than just a physical ailment. It's an important part of who she is. Louise has heart trouble, but it doesn't necessarily mean that she is old. The story uses specific details from her family suggesting that she is old, but she actually isn't. There are also two more references to Louise that indicate old age. One is when her sister Josephine, insists that Louise "will make herself ill" (paragraph 17) if she does not open the door and come out of her room. This suggests that Louise's family expects her to be physically hurt by the terrible news concerning her husband, Brently. Another reason to believe that Louise is an older woman is when her sister used "veiled hints" (paragraph 2) to reveal Brently's death. This indicates that
Louise's family thought she was unable to handle too much information. They were cautious and concealing when they told Louise what had happened to Brently.
Chopin wrote th...
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...er marriage. This all comes out during the one hour that Louise believes Brently is gone. After she sees him at the door; alive, we learn one last thing about Louise. She drops dead. I previously stated that heart trouble is an important part of who Louise is, not just the condition of her heart. That is easily visible at this point in the story. Ironically, those around her think that the "joy that kills" (paragraph 23) is joy at seeing her husband alive. Some readers think that knowing the joy of being free and then having that joy taken from her is what kills her. Thus leaving us restless to know what really went on within this complex woman, Louise Mallard.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 5th ed. Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell. Boston: Heinle, Thompson Corporation, 2004. 82-83.
Amongst the short stories titled "A Story of an Hour" and "The Revolt of Mother", both of the main women in these narratives have experienced living life in a society which viewed them as inferior to the opposite gender. Mrs. Mallard, the main character in "A Story of an Hour", is an ill woman who was faced with the hardship of coping with her husband's sudden death. However, to the reader's surprise, Louise Mallard "did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance" (Chopin 1). Since Mrs. Mallard was the wife of Brently Mallard, she was undoubtedly expected to grieve endlessly for the loss of her own husband. Yet, Louise expressed her feelings of sorrow and pain only for a short
By contrast, Louise Mallard, the protagonist in Chopin's "Story of an Hour", is a moral woman and loving wife, at least by Western standards. Her life is defined by the accepted social ideal of a husband's will as final. She is so inured to this concept that only upon hearing the news of his death does her true feeling of something "too subtle and elusive to name" (199) come forth. What she acknowledges to herself is that her marriage is not happy for her and she often resents her subservient role and "a kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime".
In The Story of an Hour, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is a young woman with a heart condition who learns of her husband’s untimely death in a railroad disaster. Instinctively weeping as any woman is expected to do upon learning of her husband’s death, she retires to her room to be left alone so she may collect her thoughts. However, the thoughts she collects are somewhat unexpected. Louise is conflicted with the feelings and emotions that are “approaching to possess her...” (Chopin 338). Unexpectedly, joy and happiness consume her with the epiphany she is “free, free, free!” (Chopin 338). Louise becomes more alive with the realization she will no longer be oppressed by the marriage as many women of her day were, and hopes for a long life when only the day prior, “…she had thought with a shudder that life may ...
Berkove concluded his essay by stating that the things Louise simply desired was impossible to have. He also says he thinks the character was immature and an egotistical. The story was never about marriage but about irony. The interpretation of "The Story of an Hour" "Chopin projects irony of what would happen if an Immature and shallow egotist were to face the earthly consequences of an impossible dream of hers afflicted heart."(158).
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Heritage of American Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol. 2. Austin: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1991. 487. Print.
Berkove, Lawrence I. “Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’”. American Literary Realism 32.2 (2000): 152-158. Web.
“Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin presents a woman of the nineteenth century who is held back by societal constraints. The character, Louise Mallard, is left to believe that her husband has passed away. She quickly falls into a whirlwind of emotions as she sinks into her chair. Soon a sense of freedom overwhelms her body as she looks through the window of opportunity and times to come. She watches the world around her home run free as nature runs its course. Louise watches the blue sky as a rush of “monstrous joy” shoots through her veins (Chopin). She experiences a new sense of freedom. Although she sometimes loved her husband, his “death” breaks the chain that keeps her from experiencing a truly free life. Thoughts over times to
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Introduction to Literature: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing.2nd ed.
In the beginning of "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard is just a typical wife. It is not until she hears of her husband's death that she then simply becomes Louise, now an individual, no longer overshadowed by her husband. Following her husband's death, Louise feels she will no longer suffer a "powerful will bending her" (14), thus indicating she had lacked a voice in the marriage. Chopin clearly indicates this lack of freedom and individuality in Louise's marriage stating, "[. . .] that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature." (14). This statement reflects how men and women oppress each other, denying one another freedom and a sense of identity. This is in line with the common view that women lost their individuality because their, "legal existence had been extinguished by the status of marriage." (Robson). Next, we learn that Louise actually begins to accept, even enjoy the notion of a life by herself, as Chopin writes the years "that would belong to her absolutely [. . .] she would live for herself." (14). Louise woul...
Kate Chopin's story, "The Story of an Hour", focuses on an 1890's young woman, Louise Mallard. She experienced a profound emotional change after she hears her husband's "death" and her life ends with her tragic discovery that he is actually alive. In this story, the author uses various techniques-settings, symbolism and irony- to demonstrate and develop the theme: Freedom is more important than love. Chopin uses settings to convey particular moods, character qualities and features of theme. Firstly, the author uses time setting to reveal Louise' inner desire and her restrictions.
Right now try to imagine watching a friend get married to someone who they don’t love and maybe not even like. Now imagine having to cook, clean for them and take care of your kids all day every day until you die. In "The Story of an Hour", Chopin introduced, to the world, Mrs. Mallard. To her, her life is terrible but she is constantly portrayed as a heartless woman who seems to be overjoyed by her husband’s death. Mrs. Mallard although viewed as inhumane, is actually more humane than most people would want to believe. While her actions seem questionable or even maybe harsh; but they are far from what is perceived. What readers need to think about is what it was like for women during those times. “The story itself presents a valid argument in favor of Louise as she is portrayed as the oppressed wife finally set free after her husband's death.” (Marquand) In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, she uses the feeling of bondage and true freedom through Mrs. Mallard, to show how women can be trapped in a restrictive relationship because of society's beliefs.
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” focuses on a woman named Louise Mallard and her reaction to finding out about her husband’s death. The descriptions that the author uses in the story have significance in the plot because they foreshadow the ending.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 4th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martins, 1997. 12-15.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Eds. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson, 2010. 261-263. Print.
...egaining her husband and all of the loss of freedom her marriage entails. The line establishes that Louise's heart condition is more of a metaphor for her emotional state than a medical reality.” (Koloski) It is ironic that she accepts the death of her husband and is joyous and free, and then he ends up being alive after she walks out of the room with a sense of power. The ending of The Story of an hour by Kate Chopin implies that maybe the only true resolution of conflict is in death.