In the Story of An Hour, Mrs. Mallard seemed to me like an old misunderstood woman and as we are told in the very first line, afflicted with a heart trouble. I was surprised later, when it said that she was young. I think that Chopin is showing us a social situation of the times with the woman as a prisoner of her husband. Marriage was not always about mutual love between two people and during that time Chopin was writing, which was during 1804-1904, this was often the case. Marriage was as much about monetary comfort, social status as it was about possible love. There are no children mentioned in the story, which makes me wonder if there was a sexual relationship between the Mallards.
It seems from the description that Mrs. Mallard has been trapped in this marriage for a long time even though we know she is young. How young is she? I would probably guess that she would be in her middle thirties. She probably got married very young, as they usually did at that time. The women would usually stay at home and the men would go to work. Things have changed a lot now a day. I don t think that this marriage is arranged. I think that she has been forced by her society to marry despite what she may want to do in her heart and soul. I believe she does love her husband, but it is possible to love a man and not be married to him. Is her heart condition purely physical or is it psychological and emotional? We know that women can be hysterical, timid, weak and very emotional. When is her first name mentioned and why? That is the interesting part of the story that gave me the idea of my whole conclusion. Her first name is only told to us after she hears of her husband’s death and when she feels the freest. Before her husbands death she is referred to us as Mrs. Mallard or she, and after when her husband returns home, she is referred to as wife.
When Louise marries Brently she becomes Mrs. Mallard; she loses her identity and assumes a new and strange one. While it seems very normal and average for a wife to assume her husband s name in marriage and in that time, become the property of him, it cannot be ignored that a certain part of the self is lost.
The Story of an Hour is a short story of Ms. Mallard, a woman with a heart condition who receives short term good news. Chopin uses contrast between independence, marriage, and gender to show how hidden emotions can effect a woman’s actions in the time period where women did not have much power or right to speak what came to their mind.
Mrs. Mallard in 'The story of an hour', is a woman that has had to live her life composed and in control as the wife of her husband, Brently Mallard. Chopin details Mrs. Mallard's reaction to the news of her husband's death with convolted emotions that were considered appropraite and yet horrifying to the reader. At the end of the story, her death came as no surprise.
In "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin meticulously chooses diction that encourages a defined view of the female characters. The role Mrs. Mallard plays, as well as Josephine's, displays positive examples of feminine characterization in the story. Notably, it is important for the reader to recognize differences between the antagonist's opinion of Mrs. Mallard and the way she sees herself. Although the author in many ways displays both females as weak, she does so in order to provoke thoughts within the onlooker. Throughout the entirety of the writing, Chopin alludes to the need women have for others. Both positions played by women in this story initially exhibit women as weak, but a closer look demonstrates to readers their strength during tribulations.
For women, the 19th century was a time of inequality, oppression, and inferiority to their male counterparts. A woman's social standing depended solely on her marital status. For these reasons many women were forced to lead a life of solitude and emotional inadequacy, often causing depression. In Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," setting plays a significant role in illustrating the bittersweet triumph of Mrs. Mallard's escape from oppression at the ironic cost of her life.
Kate Chopin is a phenomenal writer, with two published novels and over one hundred short stories, not only does her writing style keep the reader intrigued, but also the setting, dialect, and history behind her work tell a story all its own. Chopin uses contrast in her writing "The Story of an Hour" through the hints about the quality of Mr. And Mrs. Mallard 's marriage, Mrs. Mallards emotions toward her husband 's death, and Mrs. Mallards death to emphasize her theme of gender roles in a time when women had no rights.
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.
She has now found a new desire for life. However, without warning, the tone abruptly reverts back to its grief stricken “ horror.” As Mr. Mallard walks in the door, her thoughts, dreams, and aspirations, quickly fade away. Louise’s heart, so weak, simply stops and all bliss transfers into extreme heartache. The drastic changes of tone reveals that freedom can be given and taken from someone in a heartbeat and the heartache will always remain.
She would not have grieved over someone she did not love. Even in the heat of her passion, she thinks about her lost love. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked safe with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. Her love may not have been the greatest love of all time, but it was still love. Marriage was not kind to Mrs. Mallard, her life was dull and not worth living, her face showed the years of repression.
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
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.
Right now try to imagine watching a friend get married to someone who they don’t love and maybe not even like. Now imagine having to cook, clean for them and take care of your kids all day every day until you die. In "The Story of an Hour", Chopin introduced, to the world, Mrs. Mallard. To her, her life is terrible but she is constantly portrayed as a heartless woman who seems to be overjoyed by her husband’s death. Mrs. Mallard although viewed as inhumane, is actually more humane than most people would want to believe. While her actions seem questionable or even maybe harsh; but they are far from what is perceived. What readers need to think about is what it was like for women during those times. “The story itself presents a valid argument in favor of Louise as she is portrayed as the oppressed wife finally set free after her husband's death.” (Marquand) In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, she uses the feeling of bondage and true freedom through Mrs. Mallard, to show how women can be trapped in a restrictive relationship because of society's beliefs.
Upon seeing her husband alive and well, Louise realizes that the life she has imagined is not to be. The return of Brently signals a return of the patriarchal oppression in her life, and after imagining herself as an individual and then being denied the chance to live freely is a punishment far worse than the crime. Louise loses her identity and once again becomes "his wife. " Richards once more tries to protect her, a helpless woman, by attempting to block her view from her husband, because of the fragile state of her heart. Mrs. Mallard's strengths are gone, never to be acknowledged by the men in her life.
Unlike Mathilde Loisel, Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of An Hour” doesn’t suffer from her middle-class lifestyle. Mrs. Mallard, who is a fragile woman afflicted with heart trouble, suffers from being trapped in a marriage. She loves her husband, however she longs for freedom.
Key Elements:The story of an hour · Plot: Standard plot. A woman who receive the notice of her husband's death, and when she begins to felt freedom her husband appear again and she can't accept it and fall died. · Characterization: Few characters a. Mrs. Mallard or Louise: Mallard's wife. Was afflicted with hearth trouble.
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.