Women were supposed to stay home and take care of the family whereas the husbands went out to work. Women really lived a silent life. To convey the theme of women’s role in marriage and feminine identity, Chopin skillfully uses the character Mrs. Mallard and the symbols of closed door versus open window. Chopin smartly uses the character Mrs. Mallard to express the theme of the story. Family in this story seems to be reduced to the couple: the husband and the wife.
In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" we go through an hour of Mrs. Mallard's life as she learns of her husband's death and embraces the freedom this brings forth. This new-found freedom is short lived as the sight of her allegedly dead husband walks through the front door, Mrs. Mallard succumbs to her death immediately. This story, although it is short, it is deeply symbolic, filled with irony that is used to achieve major themes of freedom and societal views. Mrs. Mallard's heart condition is used as a symbol of the way society views women. Women tend to be viewed as delicate, emotionally and physically.
The death of Mr. Mallard would be a transition from Mrs. Mallard being some man’s wife to becoming her own person. After she is told the news about her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard goes upstairs and looks out the window. Out the
The imagery in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is used to understand Mrs. Mallard as a character, express the theme of freedom, and to identify the irony in “death by joy.” First of all, imagery is used in “The Story of an Hour” to help the reader understand Mrs. Mallard as a character. A long list of the deaths from the crash were delivered to the newspaper office. Leading the list off, right up top, was “Brently Mallard.” Right away, Kate Chopin tells the reader that Mrs. Mallard is afflicted with heart disease. Brently Mallard’s friend, Richards, comes to break the news to Mrs. Mallard. “It was her sister, Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing” (6).
“The Story of an Hour” is a short story written by Kate Chopin in 1894. In this story, the author presents us a woman named Louise Mallard, spouse of Brently Mallard, who lives under a suppressing marriage. Until one day, she receives the news about her husband’s death, causing a mess in her emotions. Later in the story, Mrs. Mallard dies from a heart attack after a shocking revelation. It is considered by an extensive part of readers as a master piece of literary work.
What did it matter!” shows that although Mrs. Mallard was married, she had not always loved her husband (8). Mrs. Mallard valued her new freedom over her relationship she had with her husband enough to exclaim “What did it matter!” while she was thinking about her deceased husband and her future life (8). This makes the reader assume that Mrs. Mallard felt as if she was bound to something while her husband was still alive. The bondage is broken since her husband’s “death”, and she can now rejoice over her prolonged freedom. This next quote, “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.
When she found out that Mr. Mallard was dead, she felt free from the male abuse that she had been a setback of since the day she and her Mr. Mallard were married. Marriage, in the story of an hour, it appears to be the husband having total control over their wife. It also appears like Mrs. Louise Mallard thought that she wasn’t even permitted to have her personal opinions which was possibly true. To impeach your husband at this period intended that you had been being an out of control spouse. In my opinion, Mrs. Louise mallard realizes that she has been living her existence via boundaries caused from being
The Story of an Hour" is a short story in which Kate Chopin provides an often unheard-of viewpoint of marriage. Mrs. Mallard, who is the main character, experiences the satisfaction of independence instead of the desolation of loneliness after she learns about her husband 's death. Later, when Mrs. Mallard learns that Brently, who is her husband, is still living, she realized that all hope of independence is gone. The breath-taking disappointment kills Mrs. Mallard by giving her a heart attack. Published in the late eighteen hundreds, the oppressive nature of marriage in "The Story of an Hour" may also be a reflection of, even though not specific to, that time period.
The topic I chose to conduct my research on is the short story “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin. While reading this story the deeper meaning may not be initially apparent, but after some careful analyzation it is clear what led to Mrs. Mallard’s demise. I have chosen to conduct my research on “The Story of an Hour” because I previously studied it in my Intro to Fiction course last semester and it’s impactful message stood out. The deeper message being communicated through “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is how oppression by patriarchal forces hinders female independence. If the last line of “The Story of an Hour” is taken in the literal sense, it can be perceived that Mrs. Mallard was not oppressed and was ecstatic that her husband was alive, ultimately being killed by the excitement.
Because of the attitude towards women in the society of that day, many women possessed strength that they were never allowed to use. Chopin implies that this strength is repressed when she describes Mrs. Mallard as having a face "whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength" (Page 202). Mrs. Mallard is a strong woman who immediately begins to take her life into her own hands and starts to make decisions and plans for her future. Many women would not have had the strength to deal with these new ideas and emotions but would have simply allowed another man to take control of their life. Women should not only be powerful but also beautiful and independent.