Comparing Gender Roles In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

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The ninteenth century signifies a time of social inequality between genders. Women did not have equal status to men, particularly in marriages. Men had the authority in the household, while women were viewed as domestics. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Louise is in an oppressive marriage with Brently (which was typical of the time). While Brently does love her, Louise still feels held back by him. This was the norm for nineteenth century marriages, which greatly contrasts with the equality of men and women in marriages today. Nineteenth century marriages had clear set gender roles. The role of a wife included cooking, cleaning, watching after her children, and caring for her husband. A husband, on the other hand, provided for his

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    When her husband was still with her, she had no identity, she was branded exclusively as Mrs. Mallard, Brently Mallard’s wife. Now, Louise distinguishes that she can finally be her own person and be identified by who she is, not only as someone else’s wife. As Louise departs from her room, she develops into a new person and as Mark Cunningham (2004) writes in his Literary Criticism, The Autonomous Female and the Death of Louise Mallard in Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour”, “With Brently’s return, with the reconstitution of her marriage and previous social position, Louise once again vanishes among her husband and her relatives” (para. 3). This explicates that when Louise’s husband was with her, and when he returns, she fades into the background. In the short time Louise is deprived of her husband, she grows into her own identity and this gives way to her feminist ideas. As Louise realizes that she now does not have to live for anyone else in the years to come, Chopin (1894) writes that “There would be no powerful will bending hers” (para. 14). This demonstrates that Louise frequently felt that her husband’s opinion conflicted on hers and she rarely received the attention she deserved. Now, Louise has no one to rule above her, no one to be associated with as lesser than

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