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Kate chopin a story of an hour analysis
Kate chopin a story of an hour analysis
Kate chopin a story of an hour analysis
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A Deadly Marriage
Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour,” focuses on a woman named Mrs. Mallard who is informed that her husband, Brentley Mallard, is killed while working on the railroad. However, Mr. Mallard is far from dead, and reappears at the end. Whenever most people think of marriage, they often associate it with being in love. Although this may be true in most cases, love was not the circumstance in Mrs. Mallard’s marriage. Despite her instant sorrow, Mrs. Mallard began to feel relief once her grief deviates. Mrs. Mallard is relieved by her husband’s death, feeling her freedom come back to her, a feeling that suddenly leaves her whenever Brentley Mallard appears through the door of their house. The loss of her new-found freedom causes Mrs. Mallard much more grief than her husband’s death, and she dies of what the doctors claim to be heart disease, however, the real cause of her death is the distress she feels at the sight of her husband being alive and the realization that will not be re-claiming her freedom.
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Mallard is initially informed of her husband’s death, she is filled with grief, unlike the other wives and mothers who struggle to accept the reality of their losses (Chopin 3). When Mrs. Mallards tears seized and her grief had passed, she only wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Suddenly, she felt her sadness turning into something else, something she could not yet recognize. Until it hit her, she no longer felt sadness for her loss, she felt free. Her new-found feeling of freedom is proved when the narrator says, “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: ‘free, free, free!’” (Chopin 6). Mrs. Mallard now saw her husband’s death as an opportunity to live her life for herself (Chopin
Her husband’s friend, Richards, and her sister Josephine have to tell Mrs. Mallard that her husband has died in a train accident. They are both concerned that this news might harm Mrs. Mallard’s health. However, when Mrs. Mallard hears the news, she feels excitement and a spur of freedom. Even though her husband is dead, she doesn’t have to live the depressing life she has been living. Mrs. Mallard sits in a chair and then whispers, “Free, free, free!”
Mallard, like anyone in a dependent relationship, felt trapped. Particularly in nineteenth-century America, when it was seen as a person’s social calling to find a spouse and settle down rather early in life, many of those people (especially women) did not have lives outside their own, and would have been shunned if they divorced broke away from the social norm. Even Chopin, as cavalier as she was for her time, couldn’t resist the compulsion to marry young, at twenty years of age, and settle down. The last line of “The Story of an Hour”, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills” (Chopin 3) highlights this point with the poignant use of irony. Mrs. Mallard did not die from the “joy that kills”, the bliss of seeing her husband once again, as society would have mandated. Instead she died from her unwillingness to return to the day-to-day drudgery of living as the lesser half of one married
Mrs. Mallard is the example of a typical housewife of the mid 1800’s. At the time, most women were not allowed to go to school and were usually anticipated to marry and do housework. During that time, the only way women could get out of a marriage was if they were to die or their husbands was to die. In that time period, the husband had control of all of the money, so it would not be wise if the wife were to leave the financial freedom that was provided by the husband. This is most likely why Mrs. Mallard never leaves her husband’s death, she is sad at first but then experiences an overwhelming sense of joy. This shows that she is not in a fulfilling marriage as his death means she will finally have own individual freedom, as well as financial freedom being the grieving widow who will inherit her husband’s wealth. In the words of Lawrence I. Berkove he states, “On the other hand, Chopin did not regard marriage as a state of pure and unbroken bliss, but on the other, she could not intelligently believe that it was desirable, healthy, or even possible for anyone to live as Louise, in the grip of her feverish delusion, wishes: to be absolutely free and to live totally and solely for oneself.” (3) Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death is Chopin’s way of expressin...
Later on, it states she said “Free! Body and soul free!” Her sister was begging her to let her in, but Mrs. Mallard refused. When Mrs. Mallard finally came downstairs, someone was opening the door. It was Brently Mallard (Chopin 338). Richards tried to quickly shield him from his wife view, but he was too late. The doctors said Mrs. Mallard had died of heart disease—of joy that kills (Chopin 339).
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.
A common feeling when a spouse loses his or her significant other is devastation like Mrs. Mallard initially felt when “she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment,” but then she began to feel free (Chopin 236). She expresses her feelings for freedom by repeating the word “Free! Body and soul free!” (237). She was exalting with glee as she came to more of a realization that her husband’s death meant “she would live for herself;” however, right after her celebration, her husband walked in the front door (237). This shocked Mrs. Mallard to the point of death, ending her emotional breakdown.
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...
“There is no perfect relationship. The idea that there is gets us into so much trouble.”-Maggie Reyes. Kate Chopin reacts to this certain idea that relationships in a marriage during the late 1800’s were a prison for women. Through the main protagonist of her story, Mrs. Mallard, the audience clearly exemplifies with what feelings she had during the process of her husbands assumed death. Chopin demonstrates in “The Story of an Hour” the oppression that women faced in marriage through the understandings of: forbidden joy of independence, the inherent burdens of marriage between men and women and how these two points help the audience to further understand the norms of this time.
In the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the reader is introduced to Louise Mallard, the wife of Brently Mallard who supposedly died in a train accident. The story uses multiple literary devices such as irony, conflict and symbolism to convey Mrs. Mallard’s emotions within the hour that she discovers the sudden death of her husband.
Mrs. Mallard had heart trouble, which made it imperative to break the news of her husband’s death, gently. Thus is why Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister, “told her in broken sentences, veiled hints that revealed in half concealing,” (Chopin, 1894, para. 2). Once she was told the horrible news, Mrs. Mallard was alone in front of her “open window.” She “sank into a comfortable armchair,” (Chopin, 1894, para. 4). She was exhausted. Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard’s experience sitting there; she saw the tops of trees; rain in the air; a peddler was crying his wares; the notes of a distant song reached her; and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. (Chopin, 1894, para. 5) The descriptions involve the senses of seeing and hearing, which allow the reader to imagine what Mrs. Mallard’s experience was.
Her sister, Josephine, broke the news to her “in broken sentences, veiled hints that revealed in half concealing”. After hearing of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room to mourn. She sits in a chair facing an open window and begins to sob. As she sat gazing at an open patch of blue sky, a thought started to come to her. “Free, free, free!” escapes her lips.
Mallard. Her self-assertion surpassed the years they were married and the love she had for him. She is beginning to realize she can now live for and focus on herself. The text insists “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” (Chopin 477.) Finally she can live freely and no longer worry about being confined in her marriage and inside her own home. She has come to realization that she is now independent and can think freely and achieves happiness and freedom. She is no longer held down or back by her marriage. She will no longer be someone’s possession she will be free and respected. Her husband Brently returns and he is alive the happiness and freedom she once possessed briefly with the mere image of her deceased husband were quickly torn away. “When the doctors came they said she died of heart disease of joy that kills” (Chopin 477). She was free but still confined without the knowledge of her husband who wasn’t dead. Chopin illustrates at the end that she was free because joy killed her. She was joyous because she was finally set free but she is now once again confined by the grief knowing her husband was not killed
Character Analysis of Mrs. Mallard in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour Mrs. Mallard Chopn’s main character in “The Story of an Hour”, has under gone the loss of her husband Mr. Mallard. The story depicts that she has been contemplating through different feeling about the situation. Mrs. Mallard may start off as a timed wife, however through the death of her husband sorrow and sadness turns to freedom and respite.
In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes to her readers a young woman’s response to her husband’s death, or at least his presumed death. The opinions readers will draw from this story will vary from person to person due to personal experiences. The experience and wisdom that I have gained through the trails and tribulations of my life help me to understand, relate, and even despise Mrs. Mallard’s character. On one hand, I feel pity for Mrs. Mallard. I think she felt trapped in a situation that she found to be inescapable. She felt lonely, restless, and did not know how to help herself. Yet, on the other hand, I do not feel sorry for her character. Almost immediately after finding out that her husband is dead, she rejoices at her newfound freedom. I think that her actions portray in her a selfish and cowardly nature.
My belief on marriage is a sacred vow taken by two people which joins them in union. Most people carry the belief that marriage should occur only when two people are in love; although this belief is common it is not always the case and people marry for a variety of reasons. In the short story "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin suggests that in the case of Mrs. Mallard and Mr. Mallard, love was not a deciding factor for their reason to get married. Though the response of three readers, one being myself, we will explore the character of Mrs. Mallard and the idea of love in her marriage. Kate Chopin has given little detail about the Mallards and therefore left much to the imagination of the reader. Although there are similarities in details between readers such as: point of view, setting, and character, each reader brings new perspective and ideas. This type of analysis of the text allows a richer and more knowledgeable outlook; not only by enhancing ones own ideas by introducing new ones.