Imagine your spouse died, how would you feel? Mrs. Mallard was ecstatic. In the “Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard is a repressed 17th Century woman whose husband dies in a railroad accident. Soon she is making up scenarios of the funeral and her future life without a husband. She sees a full life ahead of her, being able to make choices for herself. Soon her whole world crashes down as Mr. Mallard returns with no knowledge of any accident, and she dies of heart failure. When her sister attempts to enter her room in fear of her dying, we see situational irony as she is happy hearing the news of her husband’s death and awaits her new life. This irony shows how repressed she really was and how she felt about her husband’s death. The use of situational
Anyone who receives notice of a loved ones death is never expected to take it lightly. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard is informed of her husbands “death” as gently as possible, and immediately she understands the enormous significance this loss will have on her life. Unlike many widow’s, her feelings of utter devastation do not last. Mrs. Mallard’s sobs of loss turn to cries of joy after she reflects upon her own character and discovers truths about her marriage.
And eventually die together as comrades. In the story of an hour the irony is whenever Mrs. Mallard neighbors find out that her husband has died they try to break the news to her softly so that she will not die from her heart condition, but it turns out that her husband never died in a train wreck, so her surprise at seeing him walk in the door alive causes her to die. “
In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. The relief, however, is short lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death take on opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she lacked the courage to stand up for herself.
In “The Story of an Hour”, the main character Mrs. Mallard, gets news that her husband has been killed in an accident. Her sister delays telling her the news because she has a bad heart, but when she finally tells the news, Mrs. Mallard wants to be left alone. They think that she is very upset by her husband’s death, but
In "The story of an Hour," Kate Chopin reveals the complex character, Mrs. Mallard, In a most unusual manner. THe reader is led to believe that her husband has been killed in a railway accident. The other characters in the story are worried about how to break the news to her; they know whe suffers from a heart condition, and they fear for her health. On the surface, the story appears to be about how Mrs. Mallard deals with the news of the death of her husband. On a deeper level, however, the story is about the feeling of intense joy that Mrs. Mallard experiences when she realizes that she is free from the influences of her husband and the consequences of
Mallard in the Story of an Hour is told her husband has been in an accident and passed away. The woman loved her husband only sometimes and chose to grieve in an expected and justified manner. The story portray’s that Mr. Mallard had oppressed Mrs. Mallard and made it so that she could not show her real personality and self worth. Once alone in her room she let the news sink in and became excited to start the new chapter in her life saying “..she would live for herself”. Mrs. Mallard finally comes out of the room to find out her husband is alive. The heartbreak and shock of what can never be caused Mrs. Mallard to have a heart attack. Mrs. Mallard dreams of “…no powerful will bending hers…” was crushed by her passing away and sadly never getting her
The audience would have expected Mrs. Mallard to be upset after learning of her husband’s death in “The Story of an Hour” but she expresses joy. Her joy does not come from a place of true hatred; she claims that she did love him at some point, she was just tired of her life being control by her husband. She realizes that her husband’s death means her freedom and that, “There would be no powerful will bending hers in
Kate Chopin was a notorious American author who wrote various short-stories, poems, and novels. She was born during the nineteenth century in St. Louis, Missouri; throughout her childhood she was mentored by her mother, grandmother, as well as her great grandmother with no male authority present. She had a very dramatic life throughout her childhood, in 1855 her father was killed in a railroad accident, followed by her great grandmother passing away in 1863.
In the short story, The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard is a married woman in a time where the men had the control in the relationship and the women had little to no free will. She is informed by her sister that her husband has been into a train accident and has died, which sends her into a long train of thought that leads to her realizing she is indeed free, which freedom is the central idea of this work of literature. The story opens up by telling us that Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition but is actually a fair, young woman and not an elderly lady as the characteristic of a heart condition would portray her as. One of Mr. Mallard’s friends, Richard, had seen his name on this list of killed and had quickly rushed to tell Mrs. Mallard in a
Reaction to the Character of Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
Mallard’s death expresses her relationship with her husband. “The Story of an Hour” takes place in the either the late 1800’s or at the turn of the century. During this time period, most women in their marriages were oppressed. The man in the relationship was superior and the woman had no say. Mrs. Mallard is relieved one day to hear that her husband, Brently Mallard, has passed away.
Mrs. Mallard (Louise), in the “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, seems uncaring when faced with the death of her husband. Later in the story you see her conflict between the love for her husband and her feeling of being free from the marriage. When grief consumes her whole body her feelings scare her, she’s not sure what they are. She struggles with the feelings she has, remembering the love she had for husband and he had for her through their marriage. She realizes she is free of marriage, no longer bound to someone else’s beliefs and wants, free to do what she wants and be herself.
Can being overjoyed from the news of your presumed dead husband truly be a legitimate cause of death? Some readers of Kate Chopin’s “The story of an Hour” may claim that is what happened to poor Mrs. Mallard. However, when looking into the bizarre death further, one might find that Mrs. Mallard may have actually died from being upset over seeing her husband still alive. On the other hand, what kind of wife would ever want her husband dead? According to the passage, heart trouble had been something Mrs. Mallard had been struggling with, which is why the people of the town made sure her sister was there to break the news. She took the news in a strangely different way than a woman would normally react to her husband’s death. One theme that can be taken from “The Story of an Hour” is that things are not always what they seem. Back in the 19th to 20th century, women had little to no say in anything and were kept to the confinements of their homes. Most women accepted this as the way things were, but perhaps Mrs. Mallard was one of the outliers begging for freedom.
Life is like a ball of yarn: it can lead to having happiness just to start all over in disappointment. Author, Kate Chopin, in her short story, “The Story of an Hour,” expresses the over celebration of Mrs. Mallard towards her husband’s death. She adopts an anticipation and ironic tone in order to portray the actions of Mrs. Mallard through the oppression of women. Through symbolism and irony, Chopin conveys to the audience that Mrs. Mallard’s reaction shows how excited she was towards her opportunity of freedom. Chopin starts off her short story by expressing the reaction Mrs. Mallard had about her husband’s death.
“The Story of an Hour” tells the story about Mrs. Mallard, who learns that her husband is dead and right after that faces a great variety of emotions and feelings. Mrs. Mallard has a heart problem. One day she gets news that her husband has died in a railroad disaster. She starts crying at once, goes upstairs and locks herself in her room. She feels very lonely at first but then she starts feeling happy and free from her marriage. After some time she opens the door and descends the stairs. She surprisingly sees Mr. Mallard at the door. When she looks at Mr. Mallard, she dies suddenly. The doctor says that she dies of her heart disease, from the "joy that kills." This story illustrates the dependent condition and status of married women in the 19th century and reveals the fact that there is no way of escaping from marriage except one’s death.