Mrs Mallard's Marriage

Through Mrs. Mallard, we could see the social repression that women felt at that time. Therefore, in this story there is so much repression, Chopin said "They were locked into marriages" that probably loved. At least Mrs. Mallard says her husband "never looked at her save with love" (Chopin 34).

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.

Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour” and Gail Godwin’s “A Sorrowful Woman” are similar pieces of literary work. Both stories offer a revealing glimpse of extremely unhappy marriages due to being forced into stereotypical roles. Both stories portray women, who are trapped in their marriages and trapped in their socially expected matriarchal characters. They are identified by their role as a wife and mother.

In Chopin’s short story, she demonstrates how men in the late ninetieth and early twentieth century treated their wives more as possessions than individuals, thus when the protagonist Mrs. Mallard learns her husband Brently Mallard just unexpectedly died, she feels “free, free, free!” (15). Since, Chopin published this short story in 1894; women often got married while they were quite young and typically to men much older. Likewise, divorce was never usually an option for unhappy marriages. Subsequently, Mrs. Mallard appears unhappy in her marriage, after learning about her husband’s death, she pictures how much better her life is going to be, “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that persistence with which men and women believe they have the right to impose a private will upon a

Kate Chopin is known for being criticized for empowering the subject of female sexuality and independence. In Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, it is placed in a time where men were known as being the head of the household while women were only in charge of raising the children and caring for the home. In the 1890s, women didn’t have so much power to themselves compared to today’s society where female empowerment is frequently encouraged. Chopin’s story narrates a sequence of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions that goes within the motion of the story. As she overcomes the sudden death of her husband, her emotion of grief soon turns into the sudden feeling of freedom, later on emerging into a strong independent woman.

Through Mrs. Mallard, we could see the social repression that women felt at that time. Therefore, in this story there is so much repression, Chopin said "They were locked into marriages" that probably loved. At least Mrs. Mallard says her husband "never looked at her save with love" (Chopin 34).

Mallard being a bad husband, the author makes no implications to such a thing. In fact, we are told that he “had never looked save with love upon her,” (CITE) which would imply she had no real ill feelings toward Mr. Mallard. That is, she had no real grounds for her negativity towards him. She even tried to appeal to her own emotions by pointing this reasoning out to herself, but in the end, she put up a poor defense of how she deserved to feel elated over her husband’s death. “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion…” (CITE) Mrs. Mallard allowed her selfish emotions to take over, “her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her.” (CITE) This possibly even ruined a good thing between her and her husband. Then again, the love in the relationship seemed very one sided as Mrs. Mallard admitted that her love for her husband was not complete. The way she tosses aside a relationship like she did makes it challenging for one to sympathize with Mrs. Mallard's character.

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.

Mrs Mallard's awkward attitude after learning of her husband's death establishes an irony- somebody who is really happy in marriage will not enjoy nature in peace and have mixed emotions; the person will feel genuine grief upon hearing of the death of her husband. Here, Mrs Mallard's reaction portrays the extent to which her thirst for freedom was strong. Kate Chopin allows us to visualise the moment that Mrs Mallard is able to shed the bondage of marriage: "free, free, free!." She feels liberated through her husband's death. Much emphasis is laid on her joy upon finding freedom- "there would be no one to live for." The author also points out that "she knew that she would weep again.....folded in death." This only highlights the fact that it is not an expression of love but seems more like a duty that

In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes the series of emotions a married woman with a heart condition, Mrs. Mallard, endures after hearing about the death of her husband, Mr. Mallard. She assumes that she will be a mournful widow, but she ends up silently rejoicing. It turns out that she was not happily married and the thought of freedom from her attachments of marriage gave her

I think Mrs. Mallard felt trapped in her marriage, a marriage where communication no longer existed. I believe this caused her to feel very alone and restless in her marriage. In the late nineteenth century, women basically had little or no rights. It was thought that women’s sole purpose in society was to marry, have children, and to care for their family and household. Women of this era were not allowed to satisfy their own wants and desires. Therefore, we can assume that Mrs. Mallard got married at a young age. This fact, along with the crumbling of her marriage caused her to feel lost in a world where she knew not even herself. The fact that she was unable to experience life for herself resulted in her yearning desire for independence. These explanations contributed to Mrs. Mallard’s overwhelming enjoyment of her newfound freedom.

Chopin includes that Mrs. Mallard tried to fight off these ideas with her will (Booth 307). Her embraced feelings of independence could have been viewed as forbidden. Although she is excited by these thoughts, she tries to resist the pleasure she truly feels when she realizes the freedom that she has gained. The words “free, free, free!” escaped from her mouth (Booth307). She attempted to hold back the overwhelming desires for her own life. Perhaps she is hesitant to welcome these feelings because of the public view on women’s rights, and the potential consequences for those who opposed such views. Despite the faithfulness and love Mrs. Mallard showed for her husband, the extreme relief she felt in no longer having a marital obligation overpowered her feelings of sadness and loss.

All relationship has a problem or assumption of some type, if it didn’t it would not be a relationship. In the story, Mrs. Mallard is happy to hear about her husband’s death because it is like the cuffs around her hands began to loosen up. In the story, Mrs. Mallard is portrayed as a woman without a say in anything but now she does she is free from a man over the female world. For example “ She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with new spring life “ (Chopin page 1). This is

In the short story "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin, the author, presents the reader with an obscure view of marriage. Chopin's main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, experiences the excitement of freedom instead of the devastation of loneliness after she receives the news of her husband's death. Mrs. Mallard disturbingly finds out that Brently, her husband is still alive. She know knew that her only chance at freedom is gone. The disappointment instantly kills Mrs. Mallard. Published in the late 1800s, the overbearing nature of marriage presented in "The Story of an Hour" may very well reflect, but not restricted to, that era.

In, “The Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin is about the protagonist achieving her freedom as she has aspirations to become independent; which is her freedom. Through this short story, the protagonist Mrs. Mallard was confined by gender relations through marriage (Lucas). As noted in this short story there is gender inequality presented by both male and female in marriage, as both “believe(d) they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature” (Chopin 204). Furthermore, the quote as mentioned illustrates the gender inequality present in marriage as either male or female enforce their other partner to follow orders and obligations. Thus, because of the inequality in gender relations, confinement is felt by the other partner. Consequently, leading to a lack of aspirations and a feeling of imprisonment felt by the other partner.