Story Of An Hour Critical Analysis

It was normal for her to be upset with the death of her husband, but the story had both her sister and her husband’s friend be there to break the news to her. Mrs. Mallard has heart problems which can make the reader see her as a weaker person right at the beginning of the story. Another way to make Mrs. Mallard appear as a weaker person was when she went to her room alone to cry. After she goes in her room she goes to the chair and the story says, “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.” This shows us that her emotions caused her physic... ... middle of paper ... ...was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” The death of her husband gave her a new look of life in her future. Now that she could live for herself, she wanted nothing more.

Her sister held Louise when “she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment…” (4). This leads the reader to not knowing whether it is out of grief or if it is a cry of relief. 7. Two important quotes from the story are: “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.” (14) This quote explains the sadness she feels for the loss of her husband, but the realization that after years of confinement in her marriage, she will finally have a chance at a life. “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills.” (23) This quote speaks to the irony of how fleeting life is.

At the beginning of the story Mrs. Mallard reacted with sadness when she first heard the news from her husband’s friend Richards. “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arm” (197). However, she changed her mind when she came to her own room. She started to feel free, “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.” (198)She thought she ... ... middle of paper ... ...!”(199). Most Victorian women wouldn’t react the way she did at that time.

In Kate Chopin’s unraveling story The Story of an Hour, shows Mr. Mallard’s marriage behind closed doors and in the public. Mrs. Mallard has just found out that her husband has passed away in an accident, and her sister fears that it’s something that she will not be able to handle with her failing heart. After she finds out she find out from her sister, Josephine, Mrs. Mallard weeps a little but behind closed doors she ponders the idea. She comes up with the idea that she can be free and happy again. Mrs. Mallard get excited about the fact that she can now live her life as her own, but then something shocking happens.

The main character in this story is Louise Mallard, a delicate woman whose life is changed with the announcement of her husbands’ death, delivered by her sister and a family friend. Louise receives the news with overwhelming grief and tears where others would have been shocked into disbelief. Her grief is short lived as she begins to imagine her future alone. Any burdens Louise had felt were lifted at her thoughts of being free to live for herself. As she sits in her room digesting all the mixed emotions running through her mind and heart, Louise experiences the fact that her marriage of discontent was over.

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.

His death is seen as the beginn... ... middle of paper ... ...ge that she does not wish to be in. This woman suffers a tremendous amount from the commitment of her marriage, that the death of her husband does not affect her for long. A marriage such as this seems so unbelievable, yet a reader could 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.

The Story of an Hour – by Kate Chopin Kate Chopin wrote a short story about women’s liberation in the 19. century. In “The Story of an Hour” we are introdused to Mrs Mallard who is told that her husband is dead. Mrs Mallard has got heart troubles, and therefore the sad news are brought to her carefully by her sister and her husband’s friend Richard. Mrs Mallard reacts with grief and she wants to be alone, so she locks herself into her room. At first, I got the impression that Mrs Mallard was sad because of her husband’s death.

The doctors thought “she had died from heart disease-of joy that kills.” However, she didn't die from the joy of getting to see her living husband but from losing her future filled with freedom. 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.

Mallard supposed to be with her husband by his side and giving him advice she was not. This also lead to the news that they gave her husband had died and she was happy , she felt free. Her sister thought Mrs Mallard was crying in her room or very sad but she was not. “She said it over and over under her breath: Free, Free, Free!”(Kate Chopin 's View on Death And Freedom in the story Of An Hour,1).This was unexpected and weird in many ways . It was expected that Mrs Mallard was going to react differently as she really did.