Essay Comparing The Story Of An Hour And A Doll's House

When Mrs. Mallard was informed of her husband’s death she reacted in a way that any wife was expected to act after the passing of their loved one. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms (pg.395)”. She grieved on for awhile but then realized that life goes on with or without the love of your life. However many expect one to come to terms with someone’s death some point in life, they don’t expect it to be sudden as Mrs. Mallard’s epiphany.

Women felt like their identity was found in their husband, as seen in “The Story of an Hour.” “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself (Chopin).” That line taken from the text proves that women did not live for themselves. Their desires from life were not typically considered, their role was to help the husband. Because of the standards set for women in this time frame, women were restricted, they did not receive equal opportunities and they appear to be under the control of their husband.

  In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," the main character is a woman who has been controlled and conformed to the norms of society. Louise Mallard has apparently given her entire life to assuring her husband's happiness while forfeiting her own. This truth is also apparent in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. In this story, Nora Helmer has also given her life to a man who has very little concern for her feelings or beliefs. Both of these characters live very lonely lives, and both have a desire to find out who they really are and also what they are capable of becoming. Although the characters of Nora and Louise are very much alike in many ways, their personalities

When her husband is killed in a train accident Mrs. Mallard cries, but for different reasons than would be expected. She is sad for her husband’s death, but, moreover, she is overcome with joy. For now she is free. No one recognizes her true emotions because women fall apart when their spouse dies; it’s required. Marriage is portrayed as a life sentence. "She said it over and over again under her breath: ‘free, free, free!' Her pulse beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body"(1). Mrs. Mallard was relieved that her husband died for she thought her sentence was over. When she realized that he was still alive, and therefore she was still committed to the marriage, she died from the shock and horror of being trapped.

When she hears the news of her husband 's death, Mrs. Mallard 's obliviousness to the beauty of life breaks down under the powerful impact of emotion. Until this moment, Mrs. Mallard hardly thinks it worthwhile to continue her existence; as the narrator of the story says, "It was only yesterday [Mrs. Mallard] had thought with a shudder that life might be long" (194). Her life until this point seems devoid of emotion, as the lines in her face "besp[ea]k repression" (193). Upon hearing the news, her sorrow gushes out in a torrent: "She wept at once with sudden, wild abandonment" (193). The narrator points out, however, that Mrs. Mallard is not struck, as "many women" have been, by "a paralyzed inability" to accept the painful sense of loss (193). On

Chopin expertly adds irony to the story by stating, “When the doctors came they say she had died from heart disease - of joy that kills” (8). However, the readers know that she died because of the sudden loss of her new found freedom. This develops irony because the characters didn’t know the excitement she felt when her spouse “passed away”, but the readers know she rejoiced in her freedom. From the characters point of view, it may seem she died because she was so excited her husband returned safely. After Mrs. Mallard barracked herself in her room, it is stated that she “Abandoned herself” and then started chanting “Free! Free! Free!” (7). This displays her excitement towards her husband's death. However, the other characters are fearing for her health since they believe she is not strong enough to get through the

Reading this story you are given background information and details about the main story unlike “Popular Mechanics” therefore giving it more of a classic short story feeling. This story is about a woman by the name of Mrs. Louise Mallard who receives word that her husband has died in a trainwreck while away on business. In the opening of this story you are told that Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition and that any emotional breaking news would be bad and to be caring and gentle. When she received the news that her husband had passed and the news was a shock, she went to her room alone to weep and sorrow over his passing. As the news became processed, she became less sad and more relieved of her husband's passing. Mrs. Mallard felt as though she had been set free and the weight of the world was let off of her shoulders. She finally left her bedroom and returned to her sister’s company after this. But after leaving and walking downstairs that weight of the world fell onto her as her husband entered the front door. The shock of her husband’s presence and her failing, weak heart killed her and similarly to the other story, it ends with great irony, reading, “When the doctors came, they said she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills,” (Chopin

Women roles have drastically changed since the late 18th and early 19th century. During this time, women did not have the freedom to voice their opinions and be themselves. Today women don’t even have to worry about the rules and limitations like the women had to in this era. Edna in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin and Nora in “A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen were analogous protagonists. The trials they faced were also very similar. Edna and Nora were both faced with the fact that they face a repressive husband whom they both find and exit strategy for. For Nora this involved abandoning her family and running away, while Edna takes the option that Nora could not do-committing suicide. These distinct texts both show how women were forced to

Millard was finally apart of the Bourgeoisie category. She finally had the power that her husband unconsciously held for so long and couldn’t help but feel as it says in the text, "Free! Body and Soul Free!"(237) But, when her husband had risen up from the dead, all of that new found power of independence, and self-worth was ripped from her hands like it was never hers to begin with. In the text it is said that Mrs. Millard had a heart condition, that it was that same heart condition that killed her and that it was seeing her husband walk through that door that triggered that heart to give up. At the end of the story it said, "of joy that kills."(237) Mrs. Millard died because of seeing her husband. She had just obtained some sense of independence and was not ready to give it up, so the only way she could keep it was with

However, the story ends with Mrs Mallard’s freedom being ripped away from her as she dies from shock upon seeing her husband walk through the door. When the doctors come to pronounce her dead, they said “she had died of heart disease, … the joy that kills”. This is foreshadowed that the beginning of the story when it is said that Mrs Mallard “was afflicted with heart trouble”. Also this use of irony suggests how the male ideology of the doctors is foolish and misplaced.

The enforcement of specific gender roles by societal standards in 19th century married life proved to be suffocating. Women were objects to perform those duties for which their gender was thought to have been created: to remain complacent, readily accept any chore and complete it “gracefully” (Ibsen 213). Contrarily, men were the absolute monarchs over their respective homes and all that dwelled within. In Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, Nora is subjected to moral degradation through her familial role, the consistent patronization of her husband and her own assumed subordinance. Ibsen belittles the role of the housewife through means of stage direction, diminutive pet names and through Nora’s interaction with her morally ultimate

Upon hearing the death of her husband's, Mrs. Mallard went through many different emotions. The first emotion is grief, the author tried to compare Mrs. Mallard to other women that would've responded to the news of their husbands death with "paralyzed inability" ( "she

In the nineteenth century, women were supposed to be housewives and mothers, and do whatever their husbands wanted. Men on the other hand were expected to live a public life, whether it was working in a factory or socializing. Women had no rights to say anything without their husband’s permission, at least which was the perception of society. The women duties were cleaning, cooking and taking care of the children, on their free times they have to sew clothes and doing laundry, so there is no social life for women. In the middle of the nineteenth century women when Henrik Ibsen 1 wrote one of his play, A Doll’s House: According to Shideler, Ross. A Doll’s House was published on “December 4, 1879

Some literary works illustrate their characters to be representational of people from the time and place in which they were written. This is presented to audiences explicitly in both Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’ (DOASM) and Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ (ADH), in which both were written during different time periods.

A Doll’s House was published in Norway in 1879 by Henrik Isben. He is known as the father of Modern Theatre. He is also referred as the father of realism. The play is very interesting because of the funny dialogue, the unique characters, and Ibsen 's view of the place of ladies in the public eye. The main characters of the play is Nora Helmer and her husband Torvald Helmer. Imagine what it would be like to live in a doll 's home? It 's a house in which you are controlled and have no energy to settle on any solid choice; It 's a house in which you are a play thing for another person 's amusement. This sounds a ton like an awful marriage, so it 's a house in which your husband holds the satchel strings, in a manner of speaking, and abandons you with no influence over your family 's accounts. In fact, your husband keeps you on a tightrope. Such is the perceived life of Nora Helmer.