Mrs Mallard's Identity

836 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of a story of an hour

Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour,” is about the revelations Mrs. Mallard has after her husband’s death. Her sister and friend break the news to her that her husband has died in a train accident and she initially breaks down over her loss. After she retreats to her bedroom and has some time for reflection, she realizes that with her husband gone, life is hers to be lived however she pleases; she becomes hopeful and begins to look forward to life. When she comes back out composed, she receives the ultimate shock of her husband walking through the front door of the house, perfectly unharmed and very well alive. Mrs. Mallard collapses and dies on the spot from the heartbreak of knowing her freedom has been taken away from her, though everyone else believed her sensitive heart gave out from the joy of seeing her husband again. Mrs. Mallard’s excitement of the thought of freedom, and her despair at it being taken away reveals Chopin’s theme of her story: that one must retain his/her identity and independence, even in a marriage, otherwise personal …show more content…

Mallard is the central and dynamic character of the story. After learning of her husband’s death, she sits in her room looking out her window contemplating what has just happened. She first begins to have a feeling of panic towards the unknown feeling rising within her, but the panic switches to excitement as she realizes that she’s “free, free, free!” of her husband, and it’s a realization that “relaxed every inch of her body” (13). “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being,” she remarks (14). Mrs. Mallard seems to have never been moved so greatly, than by the knowledge that her life is now her own to live as she pleases. Had she not attached herself so strongly to her husband throughout their marriage, perhaps she would not have been lacking the independence she suddenly

Show More
Related

  • Symbolisms and Irony in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    1455 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is about young a woman who is addressed by her married name, Mrs. Mallard, whose husband befalls a tragic death. Instead of being sad and full of despair for the rest of her young life she feels a very strong sense of relief because in all honesty she never liked the idea of not having free will in her marriage. As she sits in her room and thinks about her situation she only feels relieved, almost happy that her husband died because now she can live her life. However just when her life seemed to be going in a very positive direction Mr. Mallard turns up at the house, very much alive. Seeing her husband alive causes her such distress that she has a heart attack and dies immediately. The irony in this situation with the use of many distinct symbols, help establish the theme of the inherent oppressiveness of marriage.

    Read More

  • Unveiling Mrs. Mallard's Paradox: Freedom in Death

    1407 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like in many tragically true stories, it would seem Mrs. Mallard 's freedom came too late. Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour” begins by introducing Mrs. Mallard as a person afflicted with heart trouble. The story builds on this by having Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine and her husband Richard explain the situation in a very sensitive manner. Their efforts would prove to be in vain however as Mrs. Mallard then proceeds to emotionally break down. The news shocks Mrs. Mallard to her very core and has her at odds with how she should feel now that all was said and done. After coming to terms with her situation, fate delivers its final blow in a cruel and deceitful ploy towards Mrs. Mallards. And with that, Mrs. Mallard 's dies. In her hour of change Mrs. Mallard 's was delicate, thoughtful and excitable.

    Read More

  • Mrs. Mallard's Loss In The Story Of An Hour

    2087 Words  | 5 Pages

    Mallard finally finally realizes her freedom without her husband she can live her life to do whatever she wants to do. This final realization has reinvigorated her she is ready to move on in her life almost immediately she has skipped through the stages of grief and realized her happiness and has accepted her husband's death “She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.” (Kate Chopin 3). The very end of the story reveals that her husband is actually still alive and as he walks in Mrs. Mallard dies of the shock and realization that she no longer has her freedom kills her.

    Read More

  • Marriage And A Woman's Role In The 1800s

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, it talks about marriage and a woman’s life in the 1800’s. This story illustrates the stifling nature of a woman’s role during this time through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death. When Mrs. Mallard obtains news that her husband is dead, she is hurt after a brief moment and then she is delighted with the thought of freedom. This story shows how life was in the mid 1800’s and how women were treated around that time.

    Read More

  • Mrs. Mallard's Experience

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    Locked in her room, mourning over her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard goes through a transition, from grieving for her husband to liberating herself from his oppression:

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    In "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin tells the story of a woman, Mrs. Mallard whose husband is thought to be dead. Throughout the story Chopin describes the emotions Mrs. Mallard felt about the news of her husband's death. However, the strong emotions she felt were not despair or sadness, they were something else. In a way she was relieved more than she was upset, and almost rejoiced in the thought of her husband no longer living. In using different literary elements throughout the story, Chopin conveys this to us on more than one occasion.

    Read More

  • The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kate Chopin provides her reader with an enormous amount of information in just a few short pages through her short story, “The Story of an Hour.” The protagonist, Louise Mallard, realizes the many faults in romantic relationships and marriages in her epiphany. “Great care [is] taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin 168). Little do Josephine and Richards know, the news will have a profoundly positive effect on Louise, rather than a negative one. “When she abandoned herself,” Mrs. Mallard opened her mind to a new way of life.

    Read More

  • Mrs. Mallard's Short Story Of An Hour

    230 Words  | 1 Pages

    The time period in which this story was written was during the late eighteen hundred’s, early nineteen hundred’s. This time period is known for the men being the head of the household. In fact, women had zero civil rights during this time. As young girls, their fathers made decisions for them, up until the point in which they were married off. From here, their husbands would take over in making decisions. A women’s job during this time was to simply cook, clean, and have babies. This was the case for Mrs. Mallard, so much that she begins to whisper to herself “free, free, free” after discovering that her husband had been killed in a railway accident. She was so overcoming with joy, that when her husband walked into the room after being presumed

    Read More

  • The Story of An Hour Theme

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    Kate Chopin wrote a short piece called “The Story of an Hour” about a woman’s dynamic emotional shift who believes she has just learned her husband has died. The theme of Chopin’s piece is essentially a longing for more freedom for women.

    Read More

  • Story Of An Hour Analysis Essay

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most women in Mrs Mallard’s situation were expected to be upset at the news of her husbands death, and they would worry more about her heart trouble, since the news could worsen her condition. However, her reaction is very different. At first she gets emotional and cries in front of her sister and her husbands friend, Richard. A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...

    Read More

  • Story Of An Hour Analysis

    404 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Mrs. Mallard's Character in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    493 Words  | 1 Pages

    At the beginning of the story, the author describes Mrs.Mallard as a woman having the distinctive trait of self-assertion which is constrained by her marriage. She seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but occasionally loving husband. Being told of her husband's death, "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance."

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. The relief, however, is short lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death take on opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she lacked the courage to stand up for herself.

    Read More

  • “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”

    Read More

  • Three Readers Response to The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first reader has a guided perspective of the text that one would expect from a person who has never studied the short story; however the reader makes some valid points which enhance what is thought to be a guided knowledge of the text. The author describes Mrs. Mallard as a woman who seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but occasionally loving husband. Being told of her husband's death, "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." (This shows that she is not totally locked into marriage as most women in her time). Although "she had loved him--sometimes," she automatically does not want to accept, blindly, the situation of being controlled by her husband. The reader identified Mrs. Mallard as not being a "one-dimensional, clone-like woman having a predictable, adequate emotional response for every life condition." In fact the reader believed that Mrs. Mallard had the exact opposite response to the death her husband because finally, she recognizes the freedom she has desired for a long time and it overcomes her sorrow. "Free! Body and soul free! She kept whispering." We can see that the reader got this idea form this particular phrase in the story because it illuminates the idea of her sorrow tuning to happiness.

    Read More

More about Mrs Mallard's Identity

Open Document