How Does Kate Chopin Present The Woman In The Story Of An Hour

786 Words2 Pages

“The Story of An Hour” is a very intense and descriptive tale underlining the aspiration of freedom women had in the 1800’s. The story orbits around the news of Brently Mallard’s death. Kate Chopin utilizes the responses of Brently’s family and friends. Mrs. Mallard is put under a microscope to record her reaction to the news of her husband’s death. Her sister, Josephine and Brently’s friend Richards, are used as supporting characters for the deliverance of the news, and consoling of Mrs. Mallard. Kate’s portrayal of Mrs. Mallard’s reaction was an insight to the possible desire of freedom, which women of the 19th century were deprived off. Mrs. Mallard was a young and composed woman but every human being is a little optimistic for a glimmer …show more content…

And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome Meanwhile, Josephine is being a compassionate sibling, whose is broken up about the worst case scenario. In her mind she is under the impression that her sister is miserable and has locked herself in her room. The little information we have about Josephine’s reaction tells us that she really cares for her sister which can be interpreted by the following, Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhold, imploring for admission. "Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door" Josephine seems helpless and in despair, worried about how her sister may be feeling. What she doesn’t realize is that her sister has accepted the grief and already moved on. When Mrs. Mallard finally opens her door, she ends up being the one consoling Josephine instead of the other way around. The hope of being free gave Mrs. Mallard the strength to face her sister and also had gained self-confidence which is best expressed by, “she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” in Chopin’s own …show more content…

Mallard reactions, I believe that importance of individual freedom is vital in couples of all ages. Spouses should encourage a reasonable amount of individual freedom amongst each other. Obviously excessive practice of individual freedom is also not healthy for relationships but it is still essential in small parts of life. It helps couples to learn new things about each other and thus prosper. If people in relationships keep believing that they have no individual freedom of choice, they will eventually get tired of each other and get to the point where, like Mrs. Mallard, experience joy in the mists of the death of their

Show More
Related

  • Kate Chopin's The Storm and The Story of an Hour

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Comparing Richard Cory And The Story Of An Hour

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mrs. Mallard, in the story, had heart trouble and was carefully let down when they had discovered her husband’s death. Chopin said, “She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams” (307). Throughout the entire story the reader is lead to believe she is sad over her husband’s death; when in reality she feels free again and she cries tears of joy. The story continues to tell the reader about Mrs. Mallard’s grievance, “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she had saw beyond that bitter moment a long with love upon her fixed and gray and dead. But her absolutely” (Chopin 307). Mrs. Mallard looked forward to being free from her husband even though she loved him sometimes. She kept whispering, “free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 308). As her sister thought she was weeping tears of sadness, Mrs. Mallard was happy. As Mrs. Mallard collected herself, she and her sister walked down to the bottom of the stairs together. The door began to open, it was her husband Brentley Mallard, and Mrs. Mallard passed away from “hear disease- of joy that kills” (Chopin 308). The situational irony in this story is Mrs. Mallard

    Read More

  • The Story of an Hour: Sixty Minutes of Freedom

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...d not passed was to overbearing for her. Her husband Brently was alive and although, Mrs. Mallard was free so was he. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, provides more than an unhappy marriage, it delivers her ideas on marriage, love and a woman independence from a structure of male dominance. Many would still describe Mrs. Mallard as a selfish, lonely, and sympatric wife, again, there is a disconnect between the outer world and her introverted self. Some of her emotions are described as monstrous; she is

    Read More

  • Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    She is now told her husband died so she runs to her bedroom to be left alone. While her sister and family friend are downstairs feeling sorry for her and thinking she is destroyed, Mrs. Mallard comes upon an unsuspected feeling that she is now “free.” Since this story was written in 1894, which was a very tough ti...

    Read More

  • An Hour Symbolism

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, it was no surprise when Mrs. Mallard is shocked when her husband is standing at their front door. He had missed his train; therefore, sparing his life. When she is making her symbolic descent down the stairs, she spots her husband and realizes that she can never reverse her progress. The “joy” that kills her is the joy that she refuses to surrender, but for one hour she gets glimpse of what true joy is (Jamil 219).

    Read More

  • Marriage And A Woman's Role In The 1800s

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    While Mrs. Mallard’s husband is dead she feels more free and at peace with herself and also life. She feels as if weight is lifted off of her shoulders. Her husband is not there pressuring her, she is independent and experiencing a new life without him. Also, she feels as though it might be hard without him. As much as it might be hard on her she feels as if it will be equally if not more enjoyable. She will find herself within these new steps and experiences in her

    Read More

  • The Mall Hour By Lousie Mallard

    780 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mallard’s heart condition. The very first paragraph informs us of her heart trouble, and how her loved ones were so careful and cautious while breaking the news to her of her husband’s death. In paragraph 11, where Mrs. Mallard cries out “free, free, free!” her heart condition is no longer an issue since her husband is dead. Her body is “warmed and relaxed.” At the end of the story, I found it ironic how Mrs. Mallard’s loved ones took spontaneous and surprising means to protect her from the realization that her husband was alive. They took little care and caution regarding her heart condition. I thought these portions of the text were significant because there was some reference to Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition throughout the text. In the first few paragraphs, my feelings were those of sympathy and pity for the wife who just lost her husband. Around the eighth paragraph, I experienced a little confusion, “Is she happy that her husband is dead?” At the eleventh paragraph, I felt relief along with Mrs. Mallard. I felt her freedom. At the beginning of the next to the last paragraph, I felt nervous, anticipating the worst for Mrs. Mallard, that it would be her husband opening the door. I could feel the disappointment when Louise opened  the door was Mr.

    Read More

  • Mrs Mallard

    810 Words  | 2 Pages

    The open window indicates the importance of her freedom. Now her husband is gone, and she starts to see that life will be

    Read More

  • Story Of An Hour Analysis Essay

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis on Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    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, ...

    Read More

  • Kate Chopin Literary Analysis

    1675 Words  | 4 Pages

    At the end, Mrs. Mallard was in sudden shock about her husband not being dead killing her with joy. The ironic part about the story was that she was relieved to be free from the thought husband deaf. And later knowing about his falsify death an hour of meditating gave her a heart attack of “joy” freeing her still of her marriage from over thinking about no longer seeing her

    Read More

  • Story Of An Hour Theme Analysis

    711 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mrs. Mallard who says her husband was loving and nice, still feels a sense of joy and freedom when she thinks he has died. Louise feeling this way suggests that all marriages are oppressive in some way and take away independence from those in them. Louise is introduced as “Mrs. Mallard” at the beginning of the story and referred to as “she” up until she becomes “free” after her husbands death. This lasts until the reader figures out Brently is not dead and her status as a wife is reestablished. The very last sentence in the book, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills” (Chopin 301) .The fact that the doctors, who happen to be men, had the last say in Mrs. Mallard’s life is another example of men dictating the way she lives. Chopin makes the setting confined to one hospital room to illustrate the confinements Mrs. Mallard is living in due to her marriage. She finally escapes from that room at the very end of the story but only for seconds before discovering her husband is still alive and it destroys everything she was looking forward

    Read More

  • Theme Of Identity In The Story Of An Hour

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brently was dead, that her sister referred to her as just Louise. She suddenly became a person who has control over her own life rather than her husband controlling her. Initially, Mrs. Mallard felt a “storm of grief,” symbolizing the inward sentiments that were seething through her; in any case, as she sits in her room she watches “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds,” symbolizing a steady move in her feelings. Mrs. Mallard’s “heart trouble” that is mentioned in the beginning can be a form of symbolism. It can give the reader some sort of foreshadowing of what is to come later on. The ironic ending is where her “heart” condition is mentioned again. When the doctor deliver’s the line “the joy that kills” because he is not aware of Mrs. Mallard’s true disappointment and despise towards the man that she thought was dead. The limitation helps better express the themes of the story because being such a short story requires a limited description of Mrs. Mallard’s surroundings. This makes her life seem truly empty and isolated on the inside. The limited setting better represents her emotional distress that she is experiencing with her

    Read More

  • Gender Inequality In The Story Of An Hour

    2024 Words  | 5 Pages

    “The Story of an Hour” expresses the difficulties of being a women in the late 1800’s in South America due to the issues of gender inequalities. This story, written by Kate Chopin, who was a married woman in late 1800’s, provides the perspective of a young married women who has limited freedom and is largely controlled by her husband. Throughout this story gender norms are clearly displayed in different ways. One clear example is when Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist, is expected to act a specific way when she hears the news of her dead husband, yet she feels the extreme opposite. The narrator then does a great job of expressing the reality of how Mrs. Mallard is truly feeling and uses that as a way to express the control as a conflict. The outcome

    Read More

More about How Does Kate Chopin Present The Woman In The Story Of An Hour

Open Document