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He Yellow Wallpaper

Decent Essays

"The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was first published in 1892, and "The Story of an Hour" written by Kate Chopin, was written and first published under the title "The Dream of an Hour" in 1894. These two stories deal with the position of women in the late 1800’s. This era is especially interesting because women were still treated as second-class citizens. These two stories had a lot in common and shared a lot of the same views about life of women governed by the laws of men. Aside that both husbands, Mr. Mallard from "The Story of an Hour" and John from "The Yellow Wallpaper" are very similar as they both have a very strong hold and control over their wives, they also are very different such as John demonstrates …show more content…

Mrs. Mallard’s life has not been her own ever since she got married. When Louise marries Brently she becomes Mrs. Mallard, she loses her identity and assumes a new and strange one. “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky” (Chopin 2). Love, in “The story of An Hour” I believe is somewhat superficial. Mrs. Mallard tells that “And yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not” (Chopin 3). The short amount of time it took her to mourn the death of her husband also helps to support the argument that there was no real love in that marriage. When she learns of her husband's death, her thoughts on what life would be like without her husband are pleasing. "Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 3). Mrs. Mallard wants to live without her husband. She believes freedom is hers; however, when she finds out her husband is not dead; she had shock of her losing it again causes her to have a heart attack and die. However, death is eternal freedom for her.
These two husbands are very similar but also very different. Both husbands love their wives who are very weak and they both have a very strong hold and control over their women, but both are different type of male dominance. Each story had own way of demonstrating

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