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How did Chopin portray Mrs. Mallard’s character
The Tragedy Of Mrs Mallard In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin
The Tragedy Of Mrs Mallard In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin
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Irony is displayed by Mrs. Mallard’s death. “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.” From the first line of the story it is known what will cause her death in the end. Mrs. Mallard’s sister informed her gently of her husband’s death, and prepared her to deal with this loss; however while she was adjusting she would never be equipped for him to walk through the door. Chopin allows the reader to create their own perspective of Mrs. Mallard’s health, leading them to believe she is physically ill. Ironically, Mrs. Mallard is excited from her husband’s death; the opposite emotion her family expected from her. “Louise, open the
door! I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill.” Josephine was concerned that her sister would become ill from her joyous celebration. However, the arrival of her presumed deceased husband is what provokes Mrs. Mallard’s passing. Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard’s feelings in detail, allowing the reader to interpret her feelings by imagery. “When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone.” Louise is described to have mourned her husband’s death, then excused herself to the solidarity of her own room. “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.” Imagery was used to depict that Mrs. Mallard was unable to hold her own body up, as her grief had left her exhausted; she sank into the chair rather than sat expressing her lack of energy. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.” Chopin uses the phase new spring life, to portray Mrs. Mallards understanding of a fresh start for her life, that was suddenly presented to her. Without the imagery used, the reader would have a hard time understanding how Mrs. Mallard is feeling throughout the story.
Dramatic irony is used through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s return. His death had brought her such great sorrow but upon his return she died. Her death then created sorrier bringing in the irony of the beginning of the story where it was said that Mrs. Mallard’s heart was bad and she was tried not to be stressed.
“Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin unveils a widow named Mrs. Louise Mallard in which gets the news of her husband’s death yet, the audience would think she would feel sorrowful, depressed, and dispirited in the outcome her reaction is totally unusual. Meanwhile, day after day as time has gone by Mrs. Mallard slowly comes to a strange realization which alters a new outlook over her husband's death. "And yet she had loved him- sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! 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, 2). The actuality that she finds a slight bit of happiness upon the death of a person who particularly is so close to her is completely unraveling w...
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.
Without irony in a story it may be very boring and easy to put the story down. With irony included in the story the reader does not want to put the book down and stays interested throughout the entire story because irony makes the reader want to know what is going to happen next because they can’t guess it. Kate Chopin uses irony to perfection in this short story. She does this by using irony to let the reader better understand the purpose and meaning of the story. Without the irony in this story it would be dull and boring, but with irony, the story has suspense and unexpected events. This story was not like other stories that you usually read. It was not predictable at all. I love the vivid imagery throughout the whole story. I like this story because you can not really predict what is going to happen. When you can predict, it usually ruins the story. It kept you wandering about how it was going to end.
Mrs. Mallard is the example of a typical housewife of the mid 1800’s. At the time, most women were not allowed to go to school and were usually anticipated to marry and do housework. During that time, the only way women could get out of a marriage was if they were to die or their husbands was to die. In that time period, the husband had control of all of the money, so it would not be wise if the wife were to leave the financial freedom that was provided by the husband. This is most likely why Mrs. Mallard never leaves her husband’s death, she is sad at first but then experiences an overwhelming sense of joy. This shows that she is not in a fulfilling marriage as his death means she will finally have own individual freedom, as well as financial freedom being the grieving widow who will inherit her husband’s wealth. In the words of Lawrence I. Berkove he states, “On the other hand, Chopin did not regard marriage as a state of pure and unbroken bliss, but on the other, she could not intelligently believe that it was desirable, healthy, or even possible for anyone to live as Louise, in the grip of her feverish delusion, wishes: to be absolutely free and to live totally and solely for oneself.” (3) Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death is Chopin’s way of expressin...
Situational irony is used in "The Story of an Hour" through Mrs. Mallard's reaction to her husband's death and the description of the settings around her at this time. Upon hearing the news of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard "wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment" (Chopin 213). It appeared to everyone that as a result of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard was incredibly sad. She insisted upon being alone and retreated to her room. The sort of reaction she had seems like one typical to someone who had just lost a loved one. She experienced grief and shock. However, once she is alone in her room, the reader discovers another side of her emotions. Once she calms down, she whispers "Free, free, free" (Chopin 214), and the reader realizes that she is not having a typical reaction. Instead of being saddened by the loss of her husband, Mrs. Mallard is relieved. "She saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome" (Chopin 214). Mrs. Mallard, instead of wondering who will support her in years to come, realizes that she will have no one binding her a...
...giving it boundaries and distinctive characteristics about the situation. Setting preys upon reader stereotypes and preconceptions about the certain time frame or location in which the story takes place in order to bring out more meaning. In this work, Chopin develops the story based on the reader's knowledge and understanding of a woman's place in late nineteenth-century America. But the specific setting--the time of year and the structure of the Mallard house--also gives clues to help readers understand Louise and attempt to determine the cause of her death. Louise may die of heart disease, as the doctors say at the end of the story, but setting indicates that the disease was not "joy that kills" (14).
Mallard at the end of the story stands for the suffrage of women during this time to be free. She would rather die than lose her newfound freedom. Chopin’s biography before the story states “[t]he loss of her husband, however, led to her assuming responsibilities…Eventually devoting herself entirely to writing” (30). Her success was found only after she was free from her marriage; Chopin herself could have been hinting to the fact the she would have rather died than lose her own freedom. Chopin also uses the heart condition to kill Mrs. Mallard. She writes “the doctors…said she had died of a heart disease—of the joy that kills” (32). The metaphor of the heart condition standing for the weakness put on women returns with her husband. She is no longer strong and free; she is weak and trapped by her marriage. Chopin uses this purposely to show that women are weak in marriage and need to be set
If there was an award for the woman with the biggest roller coaster of emotions in one hour, it would go to Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. Mrs. Mallard goes from content to devastated, to overjoyed, to shocked over her husband’s death. Although Mrs. Mallard’s emotions are running wild, “The Story of an Hour” is enjoyable, entertaining, and an attention grabber because of the character’s varied emotions, outrageous plot twist, descriptive imagery, and irony.
Chopin describes her as a fragile woman. Because she was “afflicted with a heart trouble,” when she receives notification of her husband’s passing, “great care was taken” to break the news “as gently as possible” (1). Josephine, her sister, and Richards, her husband’s friend, expect her to be devastated over this news, and they fear that the depression could kill her because of her weak heart. Richards was “in the newspaper office when the intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of killed” (1). He therefore is one of the first people to know about his death. Knowing about Mrs. Mallard’s heart, he realizes that they need to take caution in letting Mrs. Mallard know about it. Josephine told her because Richards feared “any less careful, less tender” person relaying the message to Louise Mallard (1). Because of her heart trouble, they think that if the message of her husband’s death is delivered to her the wrong way, her heart would not be able to withstand it. They also think that if someone practices caution in giving her the message, that, ...
Firstly, I read my father the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. After he read the story, I asked him what he thought on whether or not she is a sympathetic character. My dad responded with a huge no claiming that she was a very selfish character. He said that although it was a male dominated society back in her time period, no one should be happy with the death of one of their family members; especially her husband. Furthermore, he claimed that any woman would be heartbroken and have a paralyzed fear to accept its significance. Also, he pointed out that she would now have nothing left with her. Society in her day was very male dominated and it was the males that brought home money for the family, not females. She may not be heartbroken to hear the news of her husband’s death, but she should have showed emotion on acknowledging the fact that her life will take a turn for the negative.
In retrospect, Mrs. Mallard wanted a forbidden fruit she was unable to attain at the time. Her freedom was denied, and she was bound to a man she no longer loved. Although Mr. Mallard was not a bad person, Mrs. Mallard felt oppressed by him. She sometimes felt that she also suppressed him as well. In the end, the irony was the death of Ms. Mallard. She so desperately wanted the death of her husband. In the end she was the one that passed away. She was so close to obtaining that freedom. Her freedom was just across her doorway arc. In her death, she gave Mr. Mallard the freedom that she wanted for herself.
The definition of situational irony is “irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected” (situational irony”). This irony plays on what the reader thinks will happen, although it is not what actually happens. One of the first instances where situational irony is found in “The Story of an Hour” is as Mrs. Mallard finds out Mr. Brently Mallard has died. She grieves and then proceeds to want to be alone, locking herself in her room. Later she emerges euphoric and blissful. (Chopin 199-201). The anticipation is that Mrs. Mallard will be completely distressed over the passing of her husband, instead she is content with his death. The most pronounced form of situational irony in “The Story of an Hour” comes at the closure of the story when Mrs. Mallard leaves her room with Josephine full of life, lightness, and ready to take on the world. Only seconds later as she descends the stairs, Mr. Brently Mallard walks through the door killing her instantly (Chopin 201). The expectation is that Mr. Brently Mallard is dead and will not walk through the door. The irony is he does. Additionally the sudden death of Mrs. Mallard just from seeing her husband, is not
Irony in Katherine Mansfield’s story “Miss Brill” demonstrates the reasoning of Mansfield’s argument. Every day we should live our lives not thinking about what others think of us, but some people do. Many occasions we come across others who are on their own paths. When we go out in public, we observe one another and maybe make judgments about the people we see or talk with. These judgments can shape how we see ourselves.
Mallard through the acts of forbidden joy and the oppression of marriages contributes to the understanding of the work and the time that it was written. The story opens with the reader knowing that Mrs. Mallard was, “afflicted with heart trouble” (Chopin, 15), suggesting a more symbolic notion that she is ambivalent towards her marriage and expresses her unhappiness towards he lack of freedom. Mrs. Mallard ultimately throughout the story questions the meaning of love and rejects it as meaningless. It is arguable to say that Chopin was influenced by women’s roles and other writings at the time, which contributed to her understanding of the meaning of love and courtship. This understanding could be said that it was altered and became more dejected. When Mrs. Mallard dies in the end of the story, it is ironic that she was to die of “heart disease.” This particular death proves that Chopin’s claims of the loss of joy and the return to oppression would kill a woman in this time since independence was a right to be given through the death of their husbands. Another symbolic figure that Chopin uses is the use of the open window, which Mrs. Mallard sees, “blue sky showing here and there through the clouds” (Chopin, 15). The window is Mrs. Mallard’s salvation, ultimately concluding that Chopin doesn’t see any other way for women to be free of their prison during this time. This window acts as a barrier between life and death itself. Once Mrs. Mallard turns away