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Character analysis mrs. mallard the story of an hour
Character analysis mrs. mallard the story of an hour
Character analysis mrs. mallard the story of an hour
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“The story of an hour” by Kate Chopin is a short story about the reflection of the author’s life experience from women and independence. In this story, Louise Mallard, the main character, is a married woman with a heart condition, suddenly became a widow when her husband died. She decided to break against the rule of the society once it came to her mind to become a free woman.
In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard, a wife who suffers from heart trouble, is known simply by her married name. She is described as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” Her husband, Brently Mallard, is away and new comes that he has perished in a horrific train accident. Her sister, Josephine, gently breaks the news to her. She
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This also means she has no freedom, no excitement, no interest before or her marriage is not happy as it is supposed to. She is not happily married and the thought of freedom from her bonds of marriage gives her joy. Mrs. Mallard assumes that she will be a widow, but in a mournful way. She can’t keep thinking about how great her new life would be without her husband. After locking herself away in the room, Mrs. Mallard continued to think what she will do in the rest of her life with no longer a man bounding her. She could now reach towards to the taste of freedom, a comfortable life, and a sense of independence that have escaped from her for a long time. Fearing for Mrs. Mallard’s health, Josephine begs her to come out of the room and worries the isolation may affect her sister’s heart condition. After finally getting used to being free, response to Josephine by “Go away. I am not making myself ill.” she decided to go outside, walked with a grace in her steps, a proud and triumphant expression painting her face. She believes that she is from now on. To her, there is nothing sad or important than her freedom. Unfortunately, while descending the stairs, Louise is greeted by her husband opening
An important detail is that Mrs. Mallard has a heart disease so Josephine, her sister, has to be very careful telling her the news. Josephine learned of Mr. Mallard’s death
She knows that she will cry again when she sees him dead. But she keeps whispering, “Free! Body and soul free!” Josephine kneels at the door and tells Mrs. Mallard to open the door. Mrs. Mallard makes a quick prayer that life might be long, and then opens the door.
Mrs. Mallard?s freedom did not last but a few moments. Her reaction to the news of the death of her husband was not the way most people would have reacted. We do not know much about Mr. And Mrs. Mallards relationship. We gather from the text that her freedom must have been limited in some way for her to be feeling this way. Years ago women were expected to act a certain way and not to deviate from that. Mrs. Mallard could have been very young when she and Brently were married. She may not have had the opportunity to see the world through a liberated woman?s eyes and she thought now was her chance.
In conclusion, “The story of an hour” is a clear depiction that women status in the society determines the choices they make about their lives. In this work, Chopin depicts a woman as a lesser being without identity or voices of their own. They are expected to remain in oppressive marriages and submit to their husbands without question.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, it talks about marriage and a woman’s life in the 1800’s. This story illustrates the stifling nature of a woman’s role during this time through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death. When Mrs. Mallard obtains news that her husband is dead, she is hurt after a brief moment and then she is delighted with the thought of freedom. This story shows how life was in the mid 1800’s and how women were treated around that time.
Written in 1894, “The Story of an Hour” is a story of a woman who, through the erroneously reported death of her husband, experienced true freedom. Both tragic and ironic, the story deals with the boundaries imposed on women by society in the nineteenth century. The author Kate Chopin, like the character in her story, had first-hand experience with the male-dominated society of that time and had experienced the death of her husband at a young age (Internet). The similarity between Kate Chopin and her heroine can only leave us to wonder how much of this story is fiction and how much is personal experience.
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.
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. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...
Brently opens the door at the end of the story, and Louise is surprised to find her husband alive. She was shocked and died of a heart attack. Ironically, the doctor declares “she died of heart disease--of the joy that kills” (Chopin). In the movie we saw, it was different. Louise was kept in the house because Brently is afraid that she might die or because he is afraid that seeing the world could give her an idea to rebel against him.
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.
Josephine and Mrs. Mallard feel very differently about the societal restrictions placed on them. Josephine is portrayed as the perfect nineteenth-century woman. She fulfills her duty as care-giver. This duty is seen when Josephine is kneeling before Mrs. Mallard's locked door pleading for admission: "'Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door-you will make yourself ill,'" Josephine implores. Josephine is concerned about the well-being of her sister. She is present when Mrs. Mallard hears the news of her husband's death and provides comfort and compassion. On the other hand, Mrs. Mallard feels trapped and burdened by the restriction placed on her by society. Mrs. Mallard longs to be an individual who d...
In “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin expresses many themes through her writing. The main themes of this short story are the joy independence brings, the oppression of marriage in nineteenth century America, and how fast life can change.
Mallard repeatedly says “free, free, free!” this statement tells us that even though her marriage appears to be relatively satisfied, what seems more significant to her is her freedom from her husband. She now realizes that her life is free from anything, beause she was experiencing both physical and emotional cruelty from her supposedly husband. One of the outcomes of her husband’s death is to live for herself. In the story, it says that “There stood, facing the open window, a confortable, roomy rmchair”.
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
The story takes place in the late nineteenth century, a time when women had very limited rights. Mrs. Mallard, a young woman who has a bad heart, plays the main character in this story. She receives news that her husband has been killed in a railroad accident. Mrs. Mallard is shocked and bewildered by the death of her husband. However, the feeling of bewilderment is only a temporary feeling that quickly leads to an overwhelming sense of freedom. A freedom she has desperately longed for. Yet, shortly after receiving the news of her husbands death there is a knock at the door. Upon opening the door, she discovers that her husband is not dead, for he is standing in the doorway alive and well. Mr. Mallard’s appearance causes his wife to die. “[T]he doctors … said she [has] died of heart disease – of jo...