"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.
Mrs. Mallard is the main character, the protagonist, the center of attention, and the person around
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Mallard physically, as "young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength" (Chopin 8). Therefore, the reader see Mrs. Mallard as young, pretty, and usually pretty placid. The narrator says that the "lines" of Mrs. Mallard's face indicate that she's keeping a lot of stuff inside, or that she's full of "repression." Up to this point in her life, Mrs. Mallard has not revealed her true feelings or let them come to the surface. In contrast to the way the other characters treat her, which is someone weak and delicate, but during the time alone, Mrs. Mallard has a certain strength to begin anew. Although, it's hard to determine what kind of marriage the Mallards had; Mrs. Mallard describes her husband as always being nice to her and seeming full of love. But those descriptions just doesn’t live up to the tremendous relief about getting to live on after Mr. Mallard …show more content…
“It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin 262). Her meaning for life would not have to mean death to her husband. In conclusion, her lack of self assertion, courage and strong will to address her repressed life made her look at life and death in a different perspective. When in fact there is no need to die to experience liberation while she could have lived a full life to experience it with her husband by her
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.
By contrast, Louise Mallard, the protagonist in Chopin's "Story of an Hour", is a moral woman and loving wife, at least by Western standards. Her life is defined by the accepted social ideal of a husband's will as final. She is so inured to this concept that only upon hearing the news of his death does her true feeling of something "too subtle and elusive to name" (199) come forth. What she acknowledges to herself is that her marriage is not happy for her and she often resents her subservient role and "a kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime".
Mallard is excitable. This trait allows Mrs. Mallard to focus on what is good regardless of how bad things may initially appear. Although being easily excitable may not always be the best trait to have, it certainly came in handy when Mrs. Mallard has needed to cheer herself up. The following is an excerpt that surely describes the role Mrs. Mallards excitability plays in the story, “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word...and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin 2). Mrs. Mallard responds suddenly to her realization. She has little control as she whispers the word “free”. Mrs. Mallard is brought aback by her own words and yet she suddenly begins to pep up. Mrs. Mallard’s excitability is what ultimately turns the situation around. She begins to focus on the good even though she knows the bad. Although in a horrendous situation, Mrs. Mallard was able to cheer herself up due to how easily excitable she
... her true feelings with her sister, or talking to her husband or reaching out to other sources of help to address her marital repressed life, she would not have to dread living with her husband. “It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin 262). Her meaning for life would not have to mean death to her husband. In conclusion, her lack of self assertion, courage and strong will to address her repressed life made her look at life and death in a different perspective. When in fact there is no need to die to experience liberation while she could have lived a full life to experience it with her husband by her side.
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.
Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" proves to be a timeless short story. Although this story was written in the nineteenth century, it is still reflective and relevant of today's society. It is still popular in many high schools and college classrooms. A critical examination of this piece of literature can be done using character analysis. This is an important tool in analyzing the meanings "between the lines" in this story. Mrs. Mallard is the main character and therefore plays the most important role in the story. This makes it necessary to examine her character in order to gain insights into the story's meaning. Several key elements relating to her personality surface in the story. These elements give insights into her feelings and her thoughts. The character analysis shows Mrs. Mallard is portrayed as insensitive, selfish and a wishful thinker.
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...
Chopin reflects her rejection of the “postures of femininity” through her character’s descriptions. She describes her as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression.” Describing her as young and calm are what men looked for in a wife in the 19th century. They wanted a submissive woman to tend to their needs as Chopin’s description suggests. Furthermore, Chopin says of her character Mrs. Mallard, “she would live for herself.” Her character believes she will now be free of her marriage, and won’t be “repressed” as aforementioned any longer by her husband. Wives had a natural servitude towards their husbands as husbands worked and went about their lives. All in all, Chopin displays her character as having a joyous moment after the death of her husband because she is let go of being forced into her “femininity.”
This seems to tell us that she used to live as her husband wished her to live and not by her own wishes. After this, she will live according to her own wishes, something she had not experienced for a long time. In each part of the sentence, the verb “no one” and “herself” occupy the same relationship. This is to mean that either Mrs. Mallard is the idea that no one finds her of value, or she is suggesting that it is only rationale for her to be herself if there is no one else to set rules for her. In the statement, “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin 2), Mrs. Mallard is afraid of what will happen in her afterlife. It is only once she thought her husband had died and that she was free and was now excited about living. This is another example of Chopin’s use of ironic style, for this prayer is not
Mrs. Mallard is described as being young and having "a fair, calm face" symbolizing the beauty and innocence of a child. Brently Mallard had repressed her, and now through this seemingly tragic event she is freed of his rule over her and she is able to go on with her life.
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” focuses on a woman named Louise Mallard and her reaction to finding out about her husband’s death. The descriptions that the author uses in the story have significance in the plot because they foreshadow the ending.
...d not want to live as a dutiful wife all her life. Now that her husband had passed away and she was alone. “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long” (Chopin). She knew her life was going to get better, no more oppression no more exhaustion. No her days will be filled with “spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin).
Mallard states that she is going to live her new life independently now that Mr. Mallard is gone; she accepts her newfound freedom and believes that she is now an independent woman. Mrs. Mallard was oppressed by Mr. Mallard, and Chopin hints at this oppression: “Chopin seems to be making a comment on nineteenth-century marriages, which granted one person - the man - right to own and dominate another - the woman,” (“The Story of an Hour” 266). The men and women should be treated equally in marriage and should be free, which relates to Mrs. Mallard feeling oppressed by Mr. Mallard. She realizes that she was below her husband her whole married life: “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 645). Her inferiority to her husband controlled her; his death allows her to start over as an independent being. Mrs. Mallard is known to have heart trouble, but readers do not understand what that trouble is until they soon find out: “Later, when we see Mrs. Mallard ‘warmed and relaxed,’ we realize that the problem with her heart is that her marriage has not allowed her to ‘live for herself,’” (Hicks 269). The readers find out that Mrs. Mallard’s mystery heart trouble dealt with her being confined by Mr. Mallard in marriage, which she soon turns away from. Mrs. Mallard’s internal struggle is caused by rushing into marriage; she did not develop herself before developing a relationship with someone else, such as Mr. Mallard: “Love is not a substitute for selfhood; indeed selfhood is love’s pre-condition,” (Ewell 273). Mrs. Mallard may have felt constrained by Mr. Mallard in her marriage because she did not know herself before. If she had known herself before the marriage, she would have known her own constraints and opinions, instead of feeling oppressed by Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard accepts her freedom and independence. She decides to live
Kate Chopin's story, "The Story of an Hour", focuses on an 1890's young woman, Louise Mallard. She experienced a profound emotional change after she hears her husband's "death" and her life ends with her tragic discovery that he is actually alive. In this story, the author uses various techniques-settings, symbolism and irony- to demonstrate and develop the theme: Freedom is more important than love. Chopin uses settings to convey particular moods, character qualities and features of theme. Firstly, the author uses time setting to reveal Louise' inner desire and her restrictions.
There is one clear main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard. The story is almost entirely focused on her, her feelings, and her personal mental journey from being a prisoner and a shell of a woman, living in an oppressive, patriarchal society within the confines of a marriage to the elation of newly acquired freedom and a rebirth of that that, for the first time, belongs to her solely.