“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin have similarities that include character traits, controversial feminist backgrounds, and time period; and their differences, including setting, and the final fates for the women. Both written in the 19th century, the stories confront patriarchal ideas of women and their relationships with their husbands. But their differences main contrast is the country setting for “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the city setting for “The Story of an Hour” and a slightly different end for the women. Both stories’ inherently feminist backgrounds allow the stories to challenge society at the time. Both women’s husbands are given domineering personalities regardless of good …show more content…
In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman writes that John took his wife away to a private estate far away from others, meaning the setting is more rural. However, In “The Story of an Hour,” the setting is briefly hinted at being more urban or suburban with one sentence, “In the street below a peddler was crying his wares.” Because most peddlers stick to urban/suburban areas, it is appropriate to describe the setting as such. While the next difference could be described as a similarity, it is important to note that while both women’s ends were tragic, they were in fact different. In the ending of the “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Jane slips into psychosis. Jane’s descent into to madness includes seeing women in the wallpaper, which leads her to strip it down to free them, only to end with her believing that she is one of the escape women herself. Yet in “The Story of an Hour,” after Mrs. Mallard sees her husband after the false claim that he is dead, she has a heart attack. Ending in madness and death, both stories ends are tragic for both women, but serve a purpose. Without these ends the stories full shock effect would not exist. The purpose of the authors writing these stories was to trigger social change, and the stories needed ends that showed how women’s devalued status greatly affected
beginning of time. From early neolithic ages where the cavemen took woman as ownership to
In the short stories “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, are stories about women who suffer from different conditions, but are very similar. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character suffers from an unknown heart condition, and becomes very detached from her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the main character suffers from a psychological condition, and is taken care of by her husband John but slowly grows away from his care. While these women may have very different situations, they are very similar in the way they grow away from their husbands, feeling oppressed by society, and wanting to feel free.
When we compare contrast the two stories "The Yellow Wallpaper" vs. "The Story of an Hour”. If we first look at the similarities that they have, they are both about women who are controlled by their husbands, and who desired freedom. But both women had different reasons for their freedom. It sounds as though both husbands had control over their lives and both women had an illness. But I don’t believe the husbands knew their wives were so miserable. So as we look at the lives of women back in the 19th century time they have the stereotypical trend of being a house wife, staying at home taking care of kids, the house, and aiding the husband in his work. Being in charge of the household makes women have many responsibilities to take care of
The authors of both stories wrote their stories, either accidentally or on purpose, with the undertones of feminism, hoping to expose the unequal treatment and expectations of females to males. Both stories challenged the stereotypical roles of females, and in both, the females ended up being the one in power of their own destinies and overcame the rule of their dominant male counterpart.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin give intriguing bits of knowledge to life in the nineteenth century. The short story disputes society's perspective of women during that time period and their duty as just mothers and domestic servants to their spouses. It is evident from a women's activist viewpoint this is a critique on the condition of ladies in the late 1800s, and maybe even of the narrators own battles of the way they are treated by their spouses. This topic is clarified through the portrayal of the narrator's superior husband John, Jane's writings, the narration by Chopin, and the imagery in which the setting of both stories is illustrated. These components depict the confinement
Women in history stood best known for a less ascendant sex in the mid-nineteen centuries. Since times have gone by women had fought for their equal rights and freedom. There had been many stereotypes, where the women were considered as a slave to the men’s because the women’s position was to be the homemakers and a mother to their children, while the men’s are out socializing with others. If they were not happy with the marriage, they cannot just walk out or complain because a women role is to endure all these pains without a word coming out of their mouths. Two out of the ordinary short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of An Hour,” mostly focused on a women’s dilemma that they faced near the 19th century. The two main characters in the short stories show some resemblances in some ways, but both characters portrayed them in different ways of how they dealt their sorrows in their marriages.
The narrator in the novel “The Yellow Wallpaper ” and the main character, Lily, in the novel “The House of Mirth” are both women in the 19th century. They both face the gender roles driven by the society they live in. The gender politics imprison the women physically and mentally. While both women struggle to find their place in their gender roles, only the narrator survives, whereas, Lily falls victim to society and perishes.
The stories of the Yellow Wallpaper and Story of an Hour are both stories that have deep meaning, and many hidden symbols. In both stories there is a woman who in some way is oppressed by some outside force and must find a way to overcome this oppression. While in both stories the main charcter goes through a different ordeal, The main theme behind these events are the same and the two experiences can compare to eachother. the events match in both women we oppressed by men and portrayed
Marriage has often been described as one of the most beautiful and powerful unions one human can form with another. It is the sacred commitment and devotion that two people share in a relationship that makes marriage so appealing since ancient times, up until today. To have and to hold, until death do us part, are the guarantees that two individuals make to one another as they pledge to become one in marriage. It is easy to assume that the guarantee of marriage directly places individuals in an everlasting state of love, affection, and support. However, over the years, marriage has lost its fairy
While concentrating in both short stories, we come across many similarities they share. The women in these stories share similar feelings that are not understood by the men in their lives, therefore they are obligated to let go of their personal dreams and continue to live with lost hope. The role of women in these stories are particularly interesting because the response and action these wife’s present to their husbands give us an understanding on the control these men had on these women. Although these stores do have differences, the role these women take on are similar to one another. For example, in “The Story of an Hour” when Louise Mallards learns about her husbands death in a tragic train accident, she secretly has a feeling of relief.
Narrator and Point of View in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour
Throughout the madness displayed in “The Yellow wallpaper” and the disappearance of Nora at the end of “A doll’s house”, we could see both women are confined and controlled by their marriages, Nora from Henrik Ibsen's play “A Doll's House” and the narrator from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" portray the negative treatment of women throughout society during the 19th century. These women long for the activity and stimulation, which they have been deprived of as the product of a society that puts women in the lowest division, and they resolve to triumph over their husbands and free their souls. Therefore, seeing these vast similarities’ in these stories when it comes to the husbands John from “The Yellow
In the stories “The Story Of An Hour” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper” both of the main characters, were struggling for freedom from their husbands. The situations from both stories differ, and the women react differently as well once they are aware of their suppression. For example, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” once the main character finds out she is trapped, she goes crazy and tries to find out what is so intriguing about the yellow wallpaper. In “The Story Of An Hour” once the main character sees her “dead” husband, she dies out of overwhelming herself by thinking she would be a free woman now.
The Story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a great expression of women’s oppression in the 19th century. The story introduces readers to a woman frustrating in her life and suffering from a nervous depression and her marriage as the yellow wallpaper is causing her a real insanity. Having a background about the timing and the setting that the story is written in helps the reader to internalize the whole meaning of the story and understand its important details. The story is told by a narrator using an anxious tone, and she is being angry and sarcastic at the same time. The woman mentions that her husband has taken her to a summer vacation. So, the story takes
Research Paper on “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of an Hour” In "The Story of an Hour" it shows Mrs. Mallard has a heart problem and has to be told carefully about her husband's death, but found out that he was still alive and had a heart attack from happiness. It had showed that she had felt trapped in the marriage but did felt free after her husband’s death. In “The Yellow Paper” it has shown that the unnamed woman’s does not listen to her opinions on being sick and he ignores it. Even the woman’s family members have disclaimed her opinions about being sick and told her that she was just making it up.