Repression in the 18th Century Essay

As she beings to consider all of the opportunities that will soon await her, Mrs. Mallard becomes Louise. She blossoms into a free, relaxed woman who was ready to begin her life on her own. During the hour which Louise believes Brently is dead, her heart beats strongly. She opened and spread her arms out, welcoming her new life. She whispers to herself repetitively, “Free! Body and soul free!” (158) A statement that shows her new independence really is for her. Louise soon becomes a woman aware of her own desires, enjoying the anticipation of being freed from the confines of her marriage.

At the time of this story many women didn’t have any source of revenue, so in order for her to gain the money she wanted to get the freedom she finally deserved; she would have to obtain it in two ways: inherited from her husband or receive it from her family. Mrs. Mallard was on her way to becoming the free woman she needed to be but there was this one thing holding her back, money, and the only the question was how she was going to get it in a respectable way. In the later half on the 19th century women looked at as the wife and mother, keeper of the household, guardian of moral purity of all who lived there. The home was to be a haven of comfort and quiet and sheltered from the harsh realities of the working world. Children were to be cherished and nurtured, and to pulling against these traditions was the sense of urgency. Women’s roles were meant to steady, but women could not help but see opportunities for themselves in this growth. Jobs opened up in factories, retail establishments and offices, giving women new options.

Immediately after the news of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard races upstairs into her room where she settles into “a comfortable, roomy armchair” (para.4). The armchair symbolizes the rest from the oppressive life she had and freedom from society's expectations. Since it was tradition for women to be married by a certain age, Louise Mallard must have obligated to marry Brently. Sitting in the armchair, she gazes out of the window and starts indulges in deep thought, which establishes her as an intelligent individual.

Suddenly she feels a sense of liberation. Nature also plays a part in Mrs. Mallard feeling the way she does, just as it did with Calixta in ?The Storm.? Mrs. Mallard has just learned of a horrible death but yet she could not help but see that the trees were blooming with new spring life; there was new fallen rain, and birds were singing. The rain, as it did in ?The Storm,? replenished and allowed nature to grow just as the news would allow Mrs. Mallard to grow as a reborn, liberated women, free from bondage. ?And yet she loved him ? sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter!? (21) It seems as if she is trying to convince herself there is nothing wrong with her feeling this way. There was something about the thought of living for herself, she would no longer have anyone to answer to, she was free to be herself, and most of all free to love again. ?Free! Body and soul free!? (21) Mrs. Mallard was not making herself ill as her sister had thought. She was taking in an elixir of life. It was almost as is her body had been healed. The heavy weight that was once on her chest and heart had been lifted. Louise emerges from her bedroom a liberated woman and as she descends the stairs she is brought back to reality by Brently Mallard opening the front door. She collapses and dies perhaps from the shock of losing her freedom once again.

Mrs. Mallard feels the freedom run through her body, she finally says what she truly feels. She has been under so much distress living for her husband, and now she feels the comfort of being alone. Mrs. Mallard clearly expresses the feelings she’s been keeping to herself because she now has the freedom to think for herself.

Louise wants to live her own life, she wants to be her own person but she cannot because of the restrictions her husband and even her sister put on her. Louise has a heart condition and that along with her husband stop her from living freely and doing what she wants. She cannot divorce her husband because women in this time were supposed to have a husband, they were thought of as lesser. Women were seen as feeble and weaker than men in the late 19th century. When Louise realizes the silver lining of her husband’s death means she can finally be free of her oppression she is overrun with joy.

Mallard transitions from a married woman seemingly tied down by her title and her husband to a free woman ready to live for herself. It is never doubted that Mrs. Mallard loved her husband. However, Chopin says with the death of Brently, Mrs. Mallard is escaping the “powerful will bending hers” indicating signs of a controlling husband and an oppressive marriage. Symbolic signs of Mrs. Mallard’s newfound freedom begin to present themselves after the news of her husband’s death. In his article “The Story of an Hour – Kate Chopin,” Dermot conveys the idea that calling Louise by Mrs. Mallard was another way she was bound to her husband, and calling her by her first name was another indication of her independence.

The Theme that the author is trying to convey is “Ambivalence feelings over freedom”. Louise is confronted with the uncertainty of freedom at first she dreads it, but once it had come to her it filled her with a new found experience, that is quickly taken away from her upon her husband’s return.

Mrs. Mallard, or simply Louise is a “frail” and gentle woman, who spends her days serving her husband. But sadness strikes before the first page is turned. A pensive sorrow is evident so a person might be confused when Louise

Louis Mallard feels relief when she knows her husband died. Did she really love him? Can we call that “Love”? the word we are looking for here is the opposite of love, maybe hate. Louise yells the word “Free”!, in other words she is saying she can finally do anything she wants and doesn't have to feel controlled or pressured. She cries, but of happiness and not of sadness. Louise starts to think of her future where she can finally be alone, and she feels joyfulness. She will be free, on her own without anyone to oppress her. She thinks that all women and men oppress one another even if they do it out of kindness. Louise knows that she often felt love for Brantley but tells herself that none of that matters anymore. She feels overjoyed with

Louise Mallard is the important character in this story. In my opinion, Louise Mallard is a victim in an unwilling marriage and medical condition. I believe that Mrs. Mallard is a woman who is in deep suffering from a medical condition and a marriage that she did not like it. From the beginning, we know that Louise Mallard “afflicted with a heart problem” (1). She is unwell but she is still pretending as a lady and been treated like a lady. This can prove with the sentence “two white slender hands” (10) which means that she does not work or involve in manual labor. It looks like people in her life like Richards and Josephine, are trying to take care of her from behind. She is not only suffering from her medical condition, but she is also suffering

     After a while, Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine becomes concerned and inquires of her to make sure that she is well. It is at this point in the story that her name is revealed. From the beginning of the story, it was peculiar that everyone had first names, Brently, her sister Josephine, and her friend Richards, everyone that is except Mrs. Mallard. It is not until after Mrs. Mallard is “free'; that we find out that her name is Louise. She was forever referred as Mrs. Mallard a mere appendage of Brently Mallard. She is now Louise because without Brently she has her own identity. In this sense, the author is trying to say that marriages repress women and it was not until after her husband’s death that she can truly be Louise. For Louise, being Mrs. Brently Mallard was a burden. During this time, she felt oppressed and lived in her husband’s shadow, as the title Mrs. Mallard indicated. Then suddenly, her storm of grief turned calm and “her fancy was running riot along all those days that would be her own.'; This was an awakening of the sort, where in fact Mrs. Mallard thought that these feelings once suppressed by marriage could finally prolong her life.

Mrs. Mallard is sad that her husband is gone and "She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death;" (Chopin 14). However, she looked forward to her new and independent life. "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself." (Chopin 14). Mrs. Mallard gleefully embraces the fact that she was no longer: attached, married, and even better she was no longer Mrs. Mallard or Brently's wife. Louise was no longer defined by her husband. People would now see Louise not Brently's wife. She was now Louise who was "free, free, free!" (Chopin 11). Louise would dictate her own life and the course she wanted her life to take. Louise's character was not content with her marriage or her life. Being in an unequal marriage, where her spouse controlled her was something Louise did not agree with. She seemed to have an

Women around the time of Mrs. Mallard were oppressed and did not have the same rights as men. They were stay at home moms who raised children and cleaned the house all day every day. They could not vote, get a job, or live on their own. They were restrained to the confines of their husband. Their lives were oppressive and almost servitude. This is demonstrated in the story in a major way that really puts into perspective how women at the time felt. In the story, Mrs. Mallard is informed of her husband’s death. Her initial reaction would be what most people would consider normal. She cried when she heard the news but that did not last long. She would soon feel a totally different emotion. She felt this new freedom that

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. Finally, she recognizes the freedom she has desired for a long time and it overcomes her sorrow: "Free! Body and soul free! She kept whispering." In her soul, the dark clouds are disappearing because she is illuminated. All the memories of her husband are now of the past. She is living in the present. At this point, she is no longer "Mrs.Mallard." She is Louise and is ready to welcome a new horizon of freedom : "Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own." Overwhelmed with a new sense of herself, she feels as if she