The Story of an Hour ""The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin (1894) " (p.1) talks the sitting of a women who is called Mrs. Mallard who had heart trouble, which mean that everyone should be careful before breaking any bad news in front of her. Her sister Josephine and her husband's friend Richards Noted from the news paper that her husband was killed, so they were there at her home to tell her, the breaking news of her husband’s death. However, they were rather being cautious, so she would not get hurt or shocked by the news. The story seems controversial in how Mrs. Mallard thinking about her husband death and the joy that she had. What happened in this story illustrate that things are not always what they seems. By examining that Mrs. Mallard …show more content…
Mallard seems comfortable as she was hiding something in her. Therefore, "blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met" (p.1) as she looked out upon the window that meant that there was a hope and "new spring life" is coming for her. The "window" (p.1) might emphasize the freedom that she will get after her husband’s death or it might be her mirror of her soul. "The sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air" (p.1) all of these gives a good atmosphere around her as she experience the happiness. "she was striving to beat it back with her will --as powerless as her two white slender hands " (p.1) the author point’s out that there was something that took her to the old days. When she said something powerless maybe, she meant that her husband’s would get upon her will, which made her powerless because he had imposed her. Finally, she pushed her feeling out "free, free, and free!" (p.1). Maybe she thinks that now she is free from her husband's will and now she can enjoy her life without …show more content…
Mallard was full of "joy" (p.2). She was excited of her new life without her husband. No sadness shown "she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window" (p.2) even she got the chance to drink without given any kind of importance to her husband death news. "She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities" (p.2) as she is now strong enough to fight her grief and ready to her new life "a goddess of victory" (p.2). Suddenly "someone was opening the front door with a latchkey.”It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella" (p.2). What would be Mrs. Mallard reactions? Does her heart trouble is going to affect her life after seeing Mr. Mallard at home? I can realize from " Richard's quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife" (p.2) that she hadn't faced any kind of shock after she got all of that excitement of her husband death news, and now she can see her husband standing in front of her. Moreover, I could understand from the doctor’s explanation "the joy that kills" (p.2) that Mrs. Mallard had passed away. What made the story weirdness that Mrs. Mallard death was of the good news, which is the news of her husband, being
They hear the key turning in the front door and Mr. Mallard walks in the door. He was not on the train that he was always on, so he did not die, and it was only speculation from Richards that he had died. Mrs. Mallard was in shock when she saw her ‘dead’ husband walk through the door, and she died right then and there. The doctors said that she died from the “joy that kills”(Pg. 280). But it seems that is not true because she became glad that her husband had passed
Mrs. Mallard's confusion begins by her first feeling "sudden, wild abandonment, " but then a short while after begins to have strange feelings of relief.
Mrs. Mallard was a young and composed woman but every human being is a little optimistic for a glimmer of independence either consciously or unconsciously. Finding out about the death of her husband broke Mrs. Mallard’s spirit and she plunged into a dark abyss. Being disheartened is an obvious reaction to the news of a loved one’s death but it is also a freeing experience. Mrs. Mallard did not want to be delighted in shadow of her husband’s death but when the thought of relieved oppression came to her she could not help herself. She loved her husband but could not understand the peculiar sense of freedom she was feeling. It is hard to imagine how she could feel free and joyous in such an emotionally devastating situation but we have to remember that this story was inscribed in the 1800’s. In those times women were merely possessions of their husbands, they had no individual rights.
Mallard shows from the story that the death of her husband had taken a toll on her emotional state of mind. “With a paralyzed inability to accept its significance”, Mrs. Mallard wept, heartbroken as she threw herself into her sister arms. After Josephine informs Mrs. Mallards about the death of her husband she locks herself in her room. “Quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams”. Mrs. Mallard sits with “her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair”, she still upset over the fact that she had lost her husband. “Abandoned herself a little word escaped”, “free, free, free”, Mrs. Mallard was trying to quit making herself sad. “The look of terror had followed”, she did not want to accept the fact that she was happy for not feeling guilty. “Free! Body and soul free”, Mrs. Mallard was happy about the death of her husband and accepts that he was
... Mallard opens the door very much alive. After it is all said and done, it seems like her body gives her what her mind wants the most: freedom.
The narrative begins with Josephine temperately (she does not want the news to trigger Mrs. Mallard's heart condition) informing her sister of the tragic death of Brently Mallard. Knowing, that Mrs. Mallard would need comforting, Richards--who was a close friend of Mr. Mallard, was also there to console her. Situational irony is displayed when Mrs. Mallard laments for a brief moment about the demise of her husband. As soon as the news was broken to her, Mrs. Mallard (the round and dynamic character) instantly accepts her husband's death and grieves for only a moment. "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." (Chopin 3). Mourning and feelings of shock were the type of emotions I expected from Mrs. Mallard. However, unbeknownst to the others she was brimming with delight that her spouse was dead.
is also oppressed by the circumstances within her marriage. Mrs. Mallard however suppressed her feelings and of unhappiness and in which the story implies puts stress on her heart. The announcement of her husband death brings on conflicting feelings of grief and joy. Mrs. Mallard paradoxical statement about the death of her husband changes her perception about life. “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.
Mallard does not really interact with the other surrounding characters. She, instead, secludes herself in her room where she finally becomes conscious of her independence by embracing her newfound freedom, “the strongest impulse of her being” (Chopin,128). But before becoming aware of her identity, we are introduced to Louise’s inner life, which depicts a gloomy portrait of marriage. Now, the open window in her room is a very important element, for it represents Mrs. Mallard’s hope, an aperture to the “long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (raza and saghaei, 303). “Spring days, and summer days and all sorts of days that would be her own” (raza and saghaei, 303).
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...
Brently was dead, that her sister referred to her as just Louise. She suddenly became a person who has control over her own life rather than her husband controlling her. Initially, Mrs. Mallard felt a “storm of grief,” symbolizing the inward sentiments that were seething through her; in any case, as she sits in her room she watches “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds,” symbolizing a steady move in her feelings. Mrs. Mallard’s “heart trouble” that is mentioned in the beginning can be a form of symbolism. It can give the reader some sort of foreshadowing of what is to come later on. The ironic ending is where her “heart” condition is mentioned again. When the doctor deliver’s the line “the joy that kills” because he is not aware of Mrs. Mallard’s true disappointment and despise towards the man that she thought was dead. The limitation helps better express the themes of the story because being such a short story requires a limited description of Mrs. Mallard’s surroundings. This makes her life seem truly empty and isolated on the inside. The limited setting better represents her emotional distress that she is experiencing with her
Mallard’s emotions over the presumed death of her husband. The author used both dramatic and situational irony to mislead the reader and surprise them with a plot twist ending. By utilizing both external and internal conflict the author expresses the internal debate of Mrs. Mallard’s true feelings and those of the people around her. The author used symbolism to display Mrs. Mallard’s desire for freedom from her marriage. In the end it was not joy that killed Mrs. Mallard but the realization that she lost her
Mallard and her husband to present how true feelings are hidden. This is shown to tell the reason why Mrs. Mallard feels glad and free as a result of her husband's death. After realizing her freedom, she senses that
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
Mallard is feeling. Instead, the reader must look into Mrs. Mallard's actions and words in
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.