Can love be so cruel that it causes death? In the short story, “The Story of An Hour”, by Kate Chopin, we are able to get an idea of how restricted women felt in their marriages during the 1800’s. In this story Louise Mallard is at home with her sister Josephine when they are informed of the terrible train accident. A friend comes to tell them that Louise's husband, Brently Mallard, has been killed in the wreck. Louise cries hysterically with grief before asking to be alone and leaving for her room, where she tries to process the news. While there is obvious sadness present, Louise feels another emotion coming on. She knows that her husband was a good, loving man, but what she comes to feel is an overwhelming sense of relief. She feels freedom and joy as she becomes aware that she will be able to make up her own life going on from now. She looks forward to a life of freedom and living for herself. After some time of Josephine urging, Louise opens the door to find comfort with her sister. Soon after, they hear someone at the front door. Brently is standing in the doorway. He was nowhere near the train wreck and wasn't even aware that there had been one. Louise …show more content…
In the 19th century women were considered to be weak and fragile creatures that needed a man to take care of them, so the father would pick who they believed to be the best candidate for their daughter to marry, which resulted in many unhappy and loveless marriages. In, “The Story of An Hour”, we are able to see that appear in the Mallards relationship with the way Louise’s reaction to her husbands death evolves from grief to joy. The external conflict Louise experiences could be identified as the oppression she has experienced- it was not she who was repressing herself, but the
Louise, the unfortunate spouse of Brently Mallard dies of a supposed “heart disease.” Upon the doctor’s diagnosis, it is the death of a “joy that kills.” This is a paradox of happiness resulting into a dreadful ending. Nevertheless, in reality it is actually the other way around. Of which, is the irony of Louise dying due to her suffering from a massive amount of depression knowing her husband is not dead, but alive. This is the prime example to show how women are unfairly treated. If it is logical enough for a wife to be this jovial about her husband’s mournful state of life then she must be in a marriage of never-ending nightmares. This shows how terribly the wife is being exploited due her gender in the relationship. As a result of a female being treated or perceived in such a manner, she will often times lose herself like the “girl
In the beginning of “Story of an Hour” the readers are introduced to Louise Mallard who found out that her husband has died in an accident. Louise reacts to the news like we would expect any wife would. At first she is obviously upset so she excuses herself and rushes off to her bedroom to have some space. While in her room she realizes that she in some sense she was happy. Now she had her freedom. “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: “free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and r...
It is about a young married woman, Louise Mallard, who has a heart condition and a shock can kill her immediately. Her sister, Josephine, was careful not to upset Louise when her husband, Brently Mallard, died in a train accident. Louise cried and went to her room. However, Louise felt happy, even though the situation was tragic. In addition, she realized that she gained freedom from a depressing marriage and from her dominating husband.
Louise left the country to go stay with Albert Hardy and his family in the city, so she could attend school. Louise was very lonely growing up, her mother died when she was an infant and her father never showed her much love. When moving to the city she found herself to be even lonelier than before. Although she was living with the Hardy family which consisted of Mr. Albert, his two daughters, and his son John Hardy. Louise craved some type of companionship. Louise had a plan to make John Hardy her new companion, she
Louise had a heart condition that left her sister, Josephine, wary of breaking the news of her husband’s death to her in fear that it could cause her problems. To the reader’s surprise; however, Louise had the opposite reaction. While weeping and showing glimpses of sadness, she is suddenly overtaken by a calming presence. “Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” [11] When first reading this part, I visualized an evil woman who hated her husband. After finishing the story, I now believe this symbolizes reality setting in on her and she is
In "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, we are introduced to Mrs. Mallard. She is portrayed an unloving, heartless, woman who is overjoyed by the passing of her husband- or at least that is the common misconception. Mrs. Mallard although perceived as inhuman, is actually more human than most would like to believe. While her actions may seem questionable or even to be condemned, they are hardly unthinkable in light of the issues involving marriage and the woman's role throughout history. The story itself presents a valid argument in favor of Louise as she is portrayed as the oppressed wife finally set free after her husband's death.
A Woman Far Ahead of Her Time, by Ann Bail Howard, discusses the nature of the female characters in Kate Chopin’s novel’s and short stories. Howard suggests that the women in Chopin’s stories are longing for independence and feel torn between the feminine duties of a married woman and the freedom associated with self-reliance. Howard’s view is correct to a point, but Chopin’s female characters can be viewed as more radically feminist than Howard realizes. Rather than simply being torn between independent and dependant versions of her personality, “The Story of an Hour’s” Mrs. Mallard actually rejoices in her newfound freedom, and, in the culmination of the story, the position of the woman has actually been elevated above that of the man, suggesting a much more radically feminist reading than Howard cares to persue.
Louise has turned into a little girl that must depend on man to take care of her. Louise pleads with Brently to go to the gardens of Paris. She begs like a child begging for something that is impossible to give. Brently must lock her up in their home to protect her from her curiosity and need to see the world. The filmmakers do not give her the commonsense to realize the dangers she would face in seeing Paris and all the other places she would like to visit. Louise remains the little girl in the flashbacks and Brently has replaced her dead father as the soul keeper of her world. Brently must protect her from the world and herself. She is made to be completely dependent on him from her everyday needs to being her only window into the outside world. There are no female positions of authority in her life. Aunt Joe is left in the background and Marjorie must ultimately answer to Brently. Louise is left to see men as the only authority in her life. She herself as a woman must feel powerless to the will of men. Brently even chooses the destinations of their daily visits to far off and exotic places. These excursions are Louise's only escape. Brently is made to be her captor and savior at the same time. Her fate is completely dependent in his yet she is given no control of either.
With a knock on the door, Louise Mallard found herself surrounded by her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards. They carefully told her the news that her loving husband had died in a horrible train wreck, because they were worried about her heart condition.
Upon seeing her husband alive and well, Louise realizes that the life she has imagined is not to be. The return of Brently signals a return of the patriarchal oppression in her life, and after imagining herself as an individual and then being denied the chance to live freely is a punishment far worse than the crime. Louise loses her identity and once again becomes "his wife. " Richards once more tries to protect her, a helpless woman, by attempting to block her view from her husband, because of the fragile state of her heart. Mrs. Mallard's strengths are gone, never to be acknowledged by the men in her life.
Louise Mallard, character in the story of an hour, she understands the “right” way that women are told to behave; but her internal thought are anything but correct. When Mrs.Mallard is told of the death of Brently she is very dramatic with her crying, rather than be numb to everything like women are subpost to be. Her reaction immediately shows that she is emotional and knowns that she should be grieve for the loss of Brently and what will come of her future, but instead she is thinking about this newfound independence that she has, that she has all these new opportunities in life that await her, but when the time comes she will grieve over the loss of Brently. Louise in the hour that she believes that her husband is dead does her heart problems goes away like all her problems have gone away isn’t he has died, but when Brently walks in not knowing what has happened does Mrs. Mallard heart problems reappear and that it kills her in the end. The doctors
" The strength conveyed in the image of Louise carrying "herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory" is unmistakable. However, the irony that her husband lives, and therefore, she cannot, conveys the limited options socially acceptable for women. Once Louise Mallard recognizes her desire to "live for herself," and the impossibility of doing so within the bounds of her marriage, her heart will not allow her to turn back.
She has now found a new desire for life. However, without warning, the tone abruptly reverts back to its grief stricken “ horror.” As Mr. Mallard walks in the door, her thoughts, dreams, and aspirations, quickly fade away. Louise’s heart, so weak, simply stops and all bliss transfers into extreme heartache. The drastic changes of tone reveals that freedom can be given and taken from someone in a heartbeat and the heartache will always remain.
She has defied her husband, instead of being better, she is now worse. In “Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard now truly believes her husband is gone, “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (“Story of an Hour”). She is happy at last. Through these characters, actions we can see their feminist side. They all had tragic endings; two died and one went insane all because of their oppression.
The main theme in “The Story of an Hour” is a woman’s freedom from oppression. Mrs. Mallard does not react accordingly to the news of her husband’s death; in the third paragraph it states, “she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment.” After her initial wave of shock and sadness has passed, however, she becomes elated with the thought of finally being free of her husband. Originally, she is described as being “pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body” and having lines that “bespoke repression”; in an attempt to be a perfect wife to a man whom she did not even love, Mrs. Mallard has been masking her true self. Once she realizes that she has finally gained the freedom that she has been longing for, Mrs. Mallard begins to