In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, she introduces the characters by stating that Mrs. Mallard has a heart disease, so Richards, Mr. Mallard's friend, and Josephine, Mrs. Mallard's sister must break the news to her very carefully. When she hears the news, she weeps “with wild abandonment” at first, and when she has stopped crying, she goes up to her room and locks herself in. While she has a feeling of deep sadness, the positive imagery in the open window in her room shows the beauty in life, greatly contrasting her current emotions towards her husband's death. After seeing this, she slowly has an epiphany and gets a new, sweeter feeling, which she reveals as freedom. She knew she would weep again at his funeral, but she could now live …show more content…
for herself. Her husband's death had freed her from her marriage. This tells the reader that while her her husband didn't abuse her or make the marriage particularly horrible, it still repressed her and disallowed her to live her life to the fullest, as almost all did in the 1890s.
At the time, women could not even own property. She felt overwhelming joy and hope for the future. All the while, her sister pleads her to open the door, thinking that she might make herself ill. Louise looked out the window once more, and then opens the door to her sister. While descending down the stairs with her sister, Josephine, the front door opens and her husband enters through it. Upon seeing this, she immediately dies of a heart attack. The doctors say that she died of immense joy, which strained her heart and killed her, but the reader can assume otherwise based on her past emotions. While she loved her husband and he loved her, the marriage held her back. It repressed her and escaping it gave her a sweet sense of freedom. She saw the true beauty of the scenery outside her window, and could now live her life however she pleased. She felt this freedom for a few minutes before the sight of her husband in the doorway, alive and well, tantalizingly ripped that feeling away. She did not die of happiness, but rather the heartbreak of having to go back to the oppressive life she had previously
lead. It seems cruel to rejoice at the death of a spouse, but considering how much unhappiness Louise felt toward the marriage, made it understandable. During her marriage, she did not wish for a long life because since she did not have the ability to divorce at the time, she saw death as the one and only escape, and in the end, she received exactly what she had hoped for. While her feelings drastically changed for the short period of time that she believed she finally had freedom, these feelings proved fruitless, for her husband lived.
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, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is a young woman with a heart condition who learns of her husband’s untimely death in a railroad disaster. Instinctively weeping as any woman is expected to do upon learning of her husband’s death, she retires to her room to be left alone so she may collect her thoughts. However, the thoughts she collects are somewhat unexpected. Louise is conflicted with the feelings and emotions that are “approaching to possess her...” (Chopin 338). Unexpectedly, joy and happiness consume her with the epiphany she is “free, free, free!” (Chopin 338). Louise becomes more alive with the realization she will no longer be oppressed by the marriage as many women of her day were, and hopes for a long life when only the day prior, “…she had thought with a shudder that life may ...
Like in many tragically true stories, it would seem Mrs. Mallard 's freedom came too late. Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour” begins by introducing Mrs. Mallard as a person afflicted with heart trouble. The story builds on this by having Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine and her husband Richard explain the situation in a very sensitive manner. Their efforts would prove to be in vain however as Mrs. Mallard then proceeds to emotionally break down. The news shocks Mrs. Mallard to her very core and has her at odds with how she should feel now that all was said and done. After coming to terms with her situation, fate delivers its final blow in a cruel and deceitful ploy towards Mrs. Mallards. And with that, Mrs. Mallard 's dies. In her hour of change Mrs. Mallard 's was delicate, thoughtful and excitable.
In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. The relief, however, is short lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death take on opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she lacked the courage to stand up for herself.
In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” Louise Mallard, is going through a life changing event that is brought on by the news of the death of her husband’s death, grieves for a very short time and discovers that she will now be able to live for herself. The end of her last hour comes when she sees her husband walking through the door. Kate Chopin displays symbolism starting with Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble representing her dissatisfaction with her marriage and unhappiness, the open window represents the new life and opportunities that await her, and the patches of blue sky represents freedom and a tunnel of hope to show the emotions and changes of Mrs. Mallard after hearing of the loss of her husband.
The symbols and imagery used by Kate Chopin's in “The Story of an Hour” give the reader a sense of Mrs. Mallard’s new life appearing before her through her view of an “open window” (para. 4). Louise Mallard experiences what most individuals long for throughout their lives; freedom and happiness. By spending an hour in a “comfortable, roomy armchair” (para.4) in front of an open window, she undergoes a transformation that makes her understand the importance of her freedom. The author's use of Spring time imagery also creates a sense of renewal that captures the author's idea that Mrs. Mallard was set free after the news of her husband's death.
The “Story of an hour” is a short story written by Kate Chopin is a very heart tugging story about a woman with heart trouble, Mrs. Mallard. Who had received terrible news about her husband’s passing caused by a train wreck. After receiving such news from Josephine and Richard Mrs. Mallard hurried off to her room to grieve alone, but also to find herself where we see now her feelings have mutated into somewhat of happiness. Ultimately, Mr. Mallard death was fallacy, but it was to late Mrs. Mallard died “of joy that kills”. The short
In the opening of this short story, “The Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard is identified as a woman with “heart trouble”. Although it is never specified in the story as being strictly physical, “heart trouble” alludes to the emotional distress Mrs. Mallard is in at the time according to the heavy burden her marriage lays upon her and her freedom. After her husband’s tragic death in a railroad incident, Louise realizes that now without the weight of a husband upon her, she is free to live her life for herself and as is satisfies her. By being circumscribed to a constricting marriage and not possessing the free will to express thoughts of her own, she is lead to a unique conclusion of her current condition. Louise is
"The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin reflects the development of Mrs. Louise Mallard's character through the death of her husband; it demonstrates that the true identity cannot be sheltered forever. Among several of the characters in "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard is a dynamic, round character: a dynamic character usually undergoes some sort of epiphany that changes their life. Social settings in Mrs. Mallard life is the main cause making her repress what she really think and feel. The setting in the story helps analyze the perspective of Mrs. Mallard’s consciousness. The perspective also brings deeper meaning to the character as well.
Unfortunately, her hope for long years and many beautiful spring days was abruptly ended in an ironic twist. Unbeknownst to herself and her company, Mr. Mallard had survived, and within an hour the promises of a bright future for Mrs. Mallard had both began and came to an end. Her grievous death was misconstrued as joy to the others: "they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills" (Chopin 471). This statement embodies the distorted misconception that a woman lives only for her man. The audience, in fact, sees just the opposite. To Louise her life was elongated at the news of her husband's death, not cut short. Throughout the story, one hopes Louise will gain her freedom. Ironically, she is granted freedom, but only in death.
Mallard 's death provides the resolution in the story. When Mrs. Mallard 's husband arrives at the house, and she realizes he is alive, she dies instantly. The doctor informs Josephine, Richard and Mr. Mallard: "She had died of heart disease - of joy that kills" (). In "Story of an Hour," Kate Chopin uses three different symbols to portray the idea of freedom. In the beginning, of the story the first symbol Chopin describe Mrs. Mallard as fragile and weak when she states she is "afflicted with a heart trouble" (). The description implies that great care must be given to when relaying the unhappy news. This can be seen when Josephine, her sister, and her husband 's friend Richards worry about her reaction to the news of Mr. Mallard death. Thus, when she is told of her husband death in a train accident, the news is conveyed to Louise gently, "in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing" (). Louise responds instantly, "she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment" (). Soon after she ran off to her room. This reaction could be interpreted as grief. However, her reaction instantly changes from grief to joy as she understands that she no longer has to live for anyone but herself. Chopin states "she did not hear the story as many women have heard the
Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”
“The Story of an Hour” is the story of Mrs. Louise Mallard who suffers of a weak heart. This being the first we know of Mr. Mallard, she is carefully being told that her husband had just passed away in a train accident. As every good wife should, Mrs. Mallard breaks out in grief. At first, the story goes, as it should. Then Mrs. Mallard goes into her room where she begins thinking, and her first thought is that she is free. Mrs. Mallard after years of being in an unhappy marriage is finally free to do what she wants, with no one to hold her back. Yet everything is against her, when she finally accepts that her life will begin now, her husband enters his home, unscathed and well, not having known that everyone thought him dead, a...
In “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin, readers are introduced to the characters of Mrs. Mallard’s sister and Roberts, her husband's friend, who was the first to hear the news. The death of Mrs. Mallard’s husband left her sister speechless as she tried to find the words to break the shocking news. Once it was out in the open, Mrs. Mallard locked herself in her room, seemingly distraught, but it was later seen that she was not actually as upset as readers would have expected. At the end, her husband coming home leaves Mrs. Mallard as the dead dead one, shocked at the revelation that her happiness of his death was short lived. Mrs. Mallard’s struggles between internal and external conflict are very prominent throughout the story, giving the readers a
In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard is a woman living with a heart condition that causes severe stress in her life. When she discovers that her husband has passed away in a tragic accident, she goes into shock and does not know how to cope with such a tragedy. In this story, there are several literary techniques used to display the matter. For example, there is the use of situational irony, allegory and symbolism, and the main theme. Mrs. Mallard lives in a middle-class home, with family and friends around. She has a problem with worrying about her freedom and independence. When she starts coping with the loss of her husband, she soon unearths the true fate of her liberty.