"The Story of an Hour" is a short story in which Kate Chopin, the author, paints a picture of a sort of off relationship between husband and wife. When a loved one dies one may think, the first natural action would be, to go in shock. Mrs. Louise Mallard, the main character, did indeed have that reaction but only for a split second. The next feeling that drifted across the room like mist over a placid lake, is the one to change the entire tone of the story. She felt freedom and an unfamiliar happiness after she hears of her husband's death. All the bliss goes out of the window when she learns that her husband, Brently, is still alive. The disappointment and shock, killed Mrs. Mallard. The narrator knows more than we, the audience knows, …show more content…
Brently Mallard is not a bad person, for the most part we understand that he loves his wife and wants only to be there to help guide his wife into the right direction, “Brently had only ever looked at Mrs. Mallard with love (Paragraph 13)”. Much like third person there are different opinions in the relationship and the difference between the Mallards point of view is uncanny. Mrs. Mallard believes she is being held back in her marriage. Mrs. Mallard feels that the control he has on her is not helping and when she learns of her husband's death, she knows that there will "be no powerful will bending her" ... There will be no husband who believes he has the "right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature (paragraph 14)”. When Mrs. Mallard learns of her husband's death, she realizes that he will no longer be there to block her dreams and passions in …show more content…
Does the shock of her husband still being alive do her in or is it the heart condition mentioned in the beginning of the story? When Mrs. Mallard walks down the stairs with her sister, she has triumph in her eyes (paragraph 20). For this short period of time Mrs. Mallard, realizes that life is hers to live and she can live it however she chooses. She gains freedom, independence, individuality, and a multitude of things to look forward to in life. When Brently walks in the door, Mrs. Mallard knows that she will never be free. This being a bit too much for Mrs. Mallard to handle, her freedom being given to her and snatched away from her in the same day she felt life had been forbidding before, but now she knew she’d have to face the fact that life wasn’t changing to freedom for her. Now that Mrs. Mallard has tasted what life might have been like without her husband, the idea of continuing her former life is unbearable. When Mrs. Mallard sees that her husband still lives, she dies, killed by the disappointment of losing everything she so recently thought she had
Mrs. Mallard and Mrs. Sommers have a fair share of intemperance. Mrs. Mallard has come to the realization that the death of her husband is not only a tragic occurrence, but also a beneficial cutting of her previously binding marital ties. The crisis of her grief has given her new insight on her life, and Mrs. Mallard understands that her marriage has limited her independence and freedom. Due to this realization she immediately forgets about the accident and starts to think about her freedom: ““Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering” (paragraph 14). It is only an hour after Mrs. Mallard has received the bitter news of her husband’s death. Considering that her husband is gone, instead of mourning, she is overwhelmed with the freedom she
Mallard has a heart condition, which makes it very hard to anyone to break to her the sad news of the death of her husband in the beginning. Everyone treats her cautiously and with care, and they tiptoe around the issue of the death of her husband. When her sister and close family get the news that Mr. Mallard had died in an accident, they take time and gently break the news to her, fearing that any carelessness could be fatal to her due to the heart condition she suffered from. She weeps and cries, then goes ahead to lock herself up in her room. She seems terrified and in awe about something that is about to come to her, which is her freedom.
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.
This personal confession shows that Mrs. Mallard, though she will mourn at first, now is free to “live for herself,” (228) not for her imposing husband. Before her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard believed she was in a healthy, normal marriage. This death revealed to her how while she cared about her husband, she despised the lack of freedom her marriage had given her. All of the realizations that Mrs. Mallard reaches during her time of reflection shows the readers exactly why she will no longer mourn the death of her husband.
Mrs. Mallard is a woman that is suffering in marriage. We realize that she was not very optimistic about her married life. The night prior to the "death" of her husband, she had quietly prayed for her life to be short. She had reached a point of disillusionment and would gladly welcome death as an option out of the marriage. When she learns that her husband had perished in the train accident, she first reacts by
Initially, Mrs. Mallard reacts with great sadness over the news of her husband’s death. Knowing that Mrs. Mallard suffers from “heart trouble”, Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister decides to “hint” her the news of Brently’s death in “broken sentences”. Josephine assumes that Mrs. Mallard “[loves]” her husband, and naturally
Whatever side one picks on the character of Mrs. Mallard, it is hard to overlook her tragic ending. Some might disagree with the doctor’s opinion in the end of the story in that she died from “a joy that kills” (CITE). It could be quite the opposite, they might say she died in despair at the idea of her newly found freedom being taken
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
The story continues to reveal a conflict Mrs. Mallard may have had in the relationship with her husband. Though she speaks about him lovingly and knows that he loved her, there is something deeper that is brought to the surface in
Upon hearing the news, Mrs. Mallard is overwhelmed with grief, which swiftly turned into hope. Mrs. Mallard’s reaction upon receiving the news of her husband 's death is considered to be unusually by society’s standards. In the beginning of the story it is revealed that Mrs, Mallard suffers heart problems; however, when it is revealed that her husband is dead her heart is relieved. She was thrilled that she was able to be her own person again. It was revealed through her reflection on her marriage that she “had loved him - sometimes” (16). Mrs. Mallard overcame is quick to overcome her grief after the realization that she has been set free of her horrible marriage. As a married woman, Mrs. Mallard is miserable, but as a widow she feels a sense of relief that she is free of her marital vows. At the end of the story Mrs. Mallard dies of a failing heart which it ironic because typically a woman would be filled with joy to find out
The story unviels its theme at this point: Mrs. Mallard, for the first time in her life, experiences a new-found freedom. Instead of dreading the future without her husband, "she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely". She could now live her life and be absolutely free of the imposing will of her husband: There would be no one to live for her during the coming years; she would live for herself. There would be now powerful will bending hers in the blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.(15)
With the knowledge that she had heart problems, it posed a threat to her peers because they feared that if they delivered the news, the shock of it could potentially cause her to have a heart attack. With Mrs. Mallard having no affect after hearing the news shows that the marriage had some faults in it because in these types of cases, a man or woman with a weak heart would have reacted differently and would not be able to handle the situation the same as Mrs. Mallard. The heart trouble also shows its symbolic meaning of a bad marriage towards the end when Brently Mallard returns "Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained. When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills.
Mrs. Mallard husband Brently enters, as Mrs. Mallard falls apart and dies of shock. Mrs. Mallard death was described as "a heart disease of joy that kills". She didn't die of joy but the fact that her husband killed her joy of her living a newfound
Mallard has a heart condition and her husband recently has died. She feels depleted at first, but then she starts to not feel sorry as she realizes she has more freedom. However, Mr. Mallard comes in through the door being alive this whole time and everyone is in shock. Once Mrs. Mallard see her husband she is in shock and passes away at the sight.
(654) It is quite apparent that Mrs. Mallard was struggling to fight back certain feelings about her husband?s supposed death. Although she is at first sad, she slowly begins to realize that the death of her husband can mean a number of great things for her. As the story progresses Mrs. Mallard eventually solves her internal conflict by accepting her husband?s death as a gift.