Would there be only sadness for a woman who lost her husband? Would it be wrong for her to feel a bit of happiness? In The Story of an Hour written by Kate Chopin, the main character Mrs. Mallard is a woman with heart trouble who hears that her husband has died. However, instead of wallowing in her sadness deep in her feelings, she feels happiness and freedom from her husband and wishes for a long blessed life for herself. In this story, Kate Chopin shows that perception does not equal reality by using extreme ironic situations in the contradictory setting, other character's perspectives, and plot twists based on the main character
First, the author uses an ironic setting to hint that current sad situation can have glimmer
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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
"There would be no one to live for her 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."
This thought process demonstrates how Mrs Mallard thinks about her marriage. During her marriage, Mrs. Mallard is not happy about that she have to live for her husband. Mrs. Mallard wants her own life and also doesn’t understand why her life have to be interferenced by her husband just because she is married. Therefore, after listening her husband accident, Mrs. Mallard starts to experience freedom for her life. Also, the author shows how much Mrs. Mallard is glad that her life is changing. After realizing her freedom, she acknowledges that
"Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be
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Mrs. Mallard is a beautiful and young lady, who seemed like she’s having a lovely and satisfied marriage. However the truth is opposite, and she is not in love with her husband. Using Mrs. Mallard, the author shows that life is more than meets the
Mrs. Mallard was never physically unfaithful, but mentally and emotionally she lost herself in the idea of her new life without her husband.
Mrs. Mallard?s freedom did not last but a few moments. Her reaction to the news of the death of her husband was not the way most people would have reacted. We do not know much about Mr. And Mrs. Mallards relationship. We gather from the text that her freedom must have been limited in some way for her to be feeling this way. Years ago women were expected to act a certain way and not to deviate from that. Mrs. Mallard could have been very young when she and Brently were married. She may not have had the opportunity to see the world through a liberated woman?s eyes and she thought now was her chance.
From an outside view, everything in relationships seems to be wonderful. However, on many occasions, taking a deeper analysis of the women and their daily lives, one can realize the true dangers they face around their husbands. It is important to understand the reasons why the women in the following stories behave and feel the way they do. Firstly, in the story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, the female character is in danger because her boyfriend wants her to have an abortion. Secondly, in the story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Louise Mallard is at risk because her husband, throughout years of marriage has limited her freedom. Finally, in the story of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinback, it is the frustration Elisa Allen feels towards her life because her husband never shows admiration towards her beauty which leads her to have a melancholic and miserable life. Even though men took an important role in the stories, it is clear they were the cause of the women’s suffering and perilous lifestyles.
Mallard’s belief is that she will finally be happy without her husband. Mrs. Mallard believes that since her husband has dead in a train accident, that she will be able to live a long life of happiness and be free. The irony of this story is when Mrs. Mallard engages her joy, she soon comes to learn as her husband walks through the door still alive, her happiness takes the best of her life. Kate Chopin, tells this story in a way to connect with the reader on her past and to show that true happiness can be deadly… “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills. ”(Chopin,
Mallard struggle between her personal values and the demands of a male-controlled society. After learning of her husband’s accidental death, Mallard has “a dull stare in her eyes, gaze was away off yonder...suspended of intelligent thought” (426). Even though, yes Mrs. Mallard did mourn in the solitude of her own room, her emotions change as she considers what this truly means for her. In this society wives are bound to serve and worship their husbands, now with Richard gone Mrs. Mallard realizes how ‘“free, free, free!”’she truly is (426). Mrs. Mallard had come to the realization that she was no longer bound to be her husband’s slave and suddenly she had her life returned to her; “The vacant stare and the look of terror...They stayed keen and bright” (426). Romance was highly absent in this era most married for money, for stability, or because it was what the parents wanted, Mallard confesses “she had loved him – sometimes” (426). For too long Mrs. Mallard had suffered to please someone else other than herself, now with her husband gone, she could focus on what truly mattered herself. Once this is realized of her independence, she stops her tears, and “she breathes a quick prayer…with a shudder that life might be long” (426). Unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard’s independence is ripped from her grasp when her husband, unharmed, walks through the door. The utter realization of her freedom being taken from her once again kills Mrs. Mallard instantly. The
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.
The couples share a certain amount of love for each other but the disconnection was stronger. The protagonist’s disconnection is evident because her husband treats her like a little girl instead of a wife when he takes her “ …in her arms and called [her] a blessed little goose” (p121). The Mallard’s disconnection is also evident because her husband’s “face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (p 15). This is not the emotion a wife wants to feel from her husband.
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 would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.
The short stories “Souls Belated” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” have in common ‘Marriage’ as main theme. However, the marriage is treated quite differently in both short stories. In "Souls Belated", Lydia chooses to take control of her destiny, to deviate from conventions and to choose what is good for her. She is the strongest character of the couple. Whereas, in "The Yellow Wallpaper", the name of the main character who is also the narrator of the story is not known. She is identified as being John’s wife. This woman, contrary to Lydia in "Souls Belated" is completely locked up in her marriage. This essay will first describe and compare the characters of Lydia and John's wife in the context of marriage, and then it will look at how marriage is described, treated and experienced by couples in these two short stories.
Mallard states that she is going to live her new life independently now that Mr. Mallard is gone; she accepts her newfound freedom and believes that she is now an independent woman. Mrs. Mallard was oppressed by Mr. Mallard, and Chopin hints at this oppression: “Chopin seems to be making a comment on nineteenth-century marriages, which granted one person - the man - right to own and dominate another - the woman,” (“The Story of an Hour” 266). The men and women should be treated equally in marriage and should be free, which relates to Mrs. Mallard feeling oppressed by Mr. Mallard. She realizes that she was below her husband her whole married life: “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!” (Chopin 645). Her inferiority to her husband controlled her; his death allows her to start over as an independent being. Mrs. Mallard is known to have heart trouble, but readers do not understand what that trouble is until they soon find out: “Later, when we see Mrs. Mallard ‘warmed and relaxed,’ we realize that the problem with her heart is that her marriage has not allowed her to ‘live for herself,’” (Hicks 269). The readers find out that Mrs. Mallard’s mystery heart trouble dealt with her being confined by Mr. Mallard in marriage, which she soon turns away from. Mrs. Mallard’s internal struggle is caused by rushing into marriage; she did not develop herself before developing a relationship with someone else, such as Mr. Mallard: “Love is not a substitute for selfhood; indeed selfhood is love’s pre-condition,” (Ewell 273). Mrs. Mallard may have felt constrained by Mr. Mallard in her marriage because she did not know herself before. If she had known herself before the marriage, she would have known her own constraints and opinions, instead of feeling oppressed by Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard accepts her freedom and independence. She decides to live
... This woman suffers a tremendous amount from the commitment of her marriage, and the death of her husband does not affect her for long. A marriage such as this seems so unbelievable, yet a reader can see the realistic elements incorporated into the story. This begs the question of how undesirable marriage was during Chopin’s life. The unhappiness felt by Mrs. Mallard seems to be very extreme, but Chopin creates a beautiful story that reflects upon the idea of marriage as an undesired relationship and bond to some women in the nineteenth century.
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...
As Chopin mentions, “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with shudder that life might be long”(497). Just the thought of having a long life in your marriage makes you shudder shows that Mrs. Mallard was not happy in her marriage. Mrs. Mallard was happy about living a long life once she accepted the fact of freedom once her husband died. As Cathryn Hunter mentions, “The serious and wide-ranging negative effects that relationship distress can have on individuals”(55). The relationship distress played a toll on Mrs. Mallard mainly because although she was sad that her husband death, she could not help but feel free.
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.