The definition of selfhood is the state of being an individual person. In the story, The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Louise Mallard a wife in the 19th century was searching for selfhood and freedom. This short story was written at a time where it was common sense and tradition that women “were inferior to men in status and opportunities” (Berkove p152-158). The Story of an Hour has probably inspired a great deal of women to oppose their husbands if they feel like their marriage isn’t quite as equals as it ought to be. The story illustrates the authority a man has over a woman. Women are properties of men in a conservative society, so it is hard for women to have their own lives. Chopin clearly implies that any woman’s search for ideal feminine …show more content…
We know this because Chopin tells us that Brently Mallard, Mrs. Mallard husband works on the railroad. Throughout this short story there are examples showing how Mrs. Mallard's actions and ideas are focused on her selfhood and freedom. The author also describes the realization of freedom as if it were a evident thing, "there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it" (Chopin para. 9). There are also thoughts and ideas that show Mrs. Mallard realizing that love is by no means a substitute for independence. "The Story of an Hour" also deals with societal conflicts through their impact on the protagonist. Mrs. Mallard is seen to be unaware of the conflict and resulting oppression, until events occur that force her to see it. She is ultimately defeated by the social …show more content…
Mallard first name is only told in the story after she hears of her husband’s death and when she feels free. Before this she was acknowledge as Mrs. Mallard. Chopin is pointing to something very interesting here which leads me back to the title of woman as “wife.” When Louise marries Brently she becomes Mrs. Mallard, she lost her identity and assumes a new one. While it seems very normal and average for a wife to assume her husband’s name in marriage and in that time become the property of him, it cannot be ignored that a certain part of the self is lost. This woman is very in tune with this loss and even though her love for her husband keeps her from it, the freedom she feels when she thinks he is dead becomes unavoidable and enjoyable. According to Steven Doloff “Commentators have suggested that since only her married name, ‘Mrs. Mallard’, is given in the story’s first line, this delay in personalizing her identity apart from her husband’s is meant to underscore the narrative’s generally perceived theme: the unhealthy repression of a woman’s natural sense of individual self-worth by conventional sexist expectations of late nineteenth-century matrimony” (Doloff pg.
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.
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.
...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
Mallard loved Brently. The narrator elaborates. She loved Brently “sometimes.” Further, the narrator explains that whether Mrs. Mallard loved him “sometimes” or not often it did not matter because when it came to love in their marriage Mrs. Mallard now recognized that the most important part of her life was “this possession of self-assertion.” This self-assertion now consumed her being. It was “the strongest impulse of her being” because now she was “[F]ree! Body and soul free! Mrs. Mallard now wanted her own identity. Entering her room, she was known as Mrs. Mallard. Her identity was through her marriage to Brently Mallard. Through her epiphany of emotions and self-discovery, the reader recognizes Mrs. Mallard to be Louise. She discards her married self and takes on a new persona by “drinking in a very elixir of life through that open
Though Kate Chopin recounts to Mrs. Mallard's story, she does not do so in first person. Chopin reveals the short story through a narrator's voice. The narrator is not simply an observer, however. Louise Mallard, in ‘'The Story of an Hour’', is an average lady and protagonist of the 1890s who enjoys little in her quest for individual flexibility. When she learns of her significant other Brently's passing in a railroad disaster, in any case, she rapidly starts to understand the new potential for her own self assertions.With him gone, Louise senses feelings that change her, and with her quiet repetitive chant of the word 'free,' the reader soon learns just what that thing is. She finds herself feeling independent, but feeling guilty for having such reverence for herself, after her husbands passing. She then exposes the idea of feeling guilty. She is
In the beginning of "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard is just a typical wife. It is not until she hears of her husband's death that she then simply becomes Louise, now an individual, no longer overshadowed by her husband. Following her husband's death, Louise feels she will no longer suffer a "powerful will bending her" (14), thus indicating she had lacked a voice in the marriage. Chopin clearly indicates this lack of freedom and individuality in Louise's marriage stating, "[. . .] that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature." (14). This statement reflects how men and women oppress each other, denying one another freedom and a sense of identity. This is in line with the common view that women lost their individuality because their, "legal existence had been extinguished by the status of marriage." (Robson). Next, we learn that Louise actually begins to accept, even enjoy the notion of a life by herself, as Chopin writes the years "that would belong to her absolutely [. . .] she would live for herself." (14). Louise woul...
If any other characters in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” were to read Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, they would surely be horrified. What sort of sane, caring woman would feel joy and relief at the death of her husband? She must be a terrible person, despite her reasoning for those feelings. How could Mr. Mallard have chosen such a woman for his bride? She’s a gem, truly; note the sarcasm. Though, one does have to consider what else there is to Mrs. Mallard. She is a human and there is much more to her than her seemingly ill feelings toward her late husband, such as her desire for freedom, her genuine care for Mr. Mallard, and her capacity to exhibit strong emotions.
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.”
When her husband was still with her, she had no identity, she was branded exclusively as Mrs. Mallard, Brently Mallard’s wife. Now, Louise distinguishes that she can finally be her own person and be identified by who she is, not only as someone else’s wife. As Louise departs from her room, she develops into a new person and as Mark Cunningham (2004) writes in his Literary Criticism, The Autonomous Female and the Death of Louise Mallard in Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour”, “With Brently’s return, with the reconstitution of her marriage and previous social position, Louise once again vanishes among her husband and her relatives” (para. 3). This explicates that when Louise’s husband was with her, and when he returns, she fades into the background. In the short time Louise is deprived of her husband, she grows into her own identity and this gives way to her feminist ideas. As Louise realizes that she now does not have to live for anyone else in the years to come, Chopin (1894) writes that “There would be no powerful will bending hers” (para. 14). This demonstrates that Louise frequently felt that her husband’s opinion conflicted on hers and she rarely received the attention she deserved. Now, Louise has no one to rule above her, no one to be associated with as lesser than
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...
Marriage was an oppressor to Chopin, she had been a victim of this institution. Being a victim of marriage, Chopin's "Story of an Hour," is an expression of her belief that, marriage is an institution that oppresses, represses, and is a source of discontent among human beings. Mrs. Mallard loved her husband. She wept at once. This was her first response to the news of his death.
...ge that she does not wish to be in. This woman suffers a tremendous amount from the commitment of her marriage, that the death of her husband does not affect her for long. A marriage such as this seems so unbelievable, yet a reader could see the realistic elements incorporated into the story. This begs the question of how undesirable marriage was during Chopin’s life. The unhappiness felt by Mrs. Mallard seems to be very extreme, but Chopin creates a beautiful story that reflects upon the idea of marriage as an undesired relationship and bond to some women in the nineteenth century.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, the struggle for freedom is dominant. The main character, Mrs. Mallard, stands for a woman who is struggling internally and externally for freedom. After the sudden loss of her husband, Mrs. Mallard gets a taste of the freedom she was lacking in her marriage. Like Mrs. Mallard, women throughout history have struggled to find freedom and success away from their husbands. Chopin herself only became successful after the loss of her husband. In “The Story of an Hour”, Chopin shows women’s struggle for freedom during the Victorian period through Mrs. Mallard’s struggle for her own freedom.
I read a story, after I finished reading it my mind was still reeling over what I had just read. Stories like this are quite impressive magnificent; they draw the reader into the story and leave them with a strong impact. How we interpret a text is in itself impressive, as every person is different, every interpretation is too. As I read “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, I could not help but notice that Kate Chopin uses the window to symbolize the future that Mrs. Mallard has been pinning for all her life. Chopin also uses Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition as a symbol of Mrs. Mallard’s marriage. The short story is consequentially the story of an oppressed woman who had to confine herself to the social norms of marriage. Through Formalism Criticism, we will explore the various symbols that Chopin uses to describe how Mrs. Mallard yearns for freedom, and through the Feminist Criticism, we will explore how the institution of marriage oppresses our heroin.
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