Story Of An Hour Critical Analysis

There are two settings in the story one is downstairs and one is up. Down Stairs were learn that Mrs.Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble.The fact that Chopin is very unclear and just says ”heart trouble” suggest that Mrs. Mallard's problems are with in her mind and her relationship with Mr.Mallard indicating that that she feels oppressed in her marriage. When Josephine, Mrs.Mallard's sister revealed with “veiled hints” that Brently Mallard was dead she wept hysterically “with sudden wild abandonment in her sister's arms”, opposed to feeling numb or “paralyzed” as she knows many other

Mallard does not feel guilty about not loving her husband due to the fact that he is already gone. Because of all these new feelings and emotions that she is experiencing she starts to form a identity. She does not have to be this perfect wife anymore, because she is free. She can finally come out of her shell. Kate Chopin creates this for the reader in order for the audience to not view Mrs. Mallard as a weak character, but now as a actual person. The story goes deeper into making Mrs. Mallard a actual person that she stated thinking of her future with a new life she has found. The story does this by saying “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long . It was only yesterday she had though with a shudder that life might be long.” Now that she could live for herself and not her husband it made her want to become healthier. Being forced into playing a boring, timid, obedient wife made her not see the point in life. She was content with the fact of dying young due to her heart problems, rather than live a long life being the woman her husband wanted her to be. The ironic part about it is that she was viewed as a weak character. But everyone thinks she dies because of her heart condition. But actually it was because as soon as she saw her husband alive she did not want to go back to being the ‘weak’ person her husband wants her to be.

Louise Mallard is a very intelligent woman and she knows exactly how a lady should act but everything she feel and think is the complete opposite. When Josephine, Mrs. Mallard sister, told Mrs. Mallard that Brently, her husband, has died she busted out in an intense cry because she knew that was how she was supposed to react. Her reaction shows that she is devastated by the news she just heard. Mrs. Mallard know she should mourn the death of her husband but in some way she feels “free”. “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes” (Chopin lines 30-31). Mrs. Mallard is bothered by the death of her husband but her thoughts that are portrayed says differently. “She did

“Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin, a short story that eliminates the thought that true tragic stories can only be achievable if the protagonist is a man of high estate. This short story exhibits the effects that a superficial marriage can have on a woman and exudes pathos from the audience, an essential quality of a tragic story. Mrs. Louis Mallard, unable to extricate or relieve herself from this relationship, she endures it and this takes a severe toll on her mental and physical wellbeing, this is represents her hamartia as she does not possess the self-confidence required to stand up for herself. Furthermore, the plot of a tragic story must be in close proximity to Aristotle’s ideology and the tragic hero must meet with an untimely demise which is in parallel to the main story line. “Story of an Hour” is a tragic short story with all the qualities and attributes that both Aristotle and Shakespeare write with. It possesses a key aspect of a tragedy, which is having a tragic hero that evokes pity and is burdened with a tragic flaw. Moreover, this story follows many of the other elements of a tragic story such as catharsis and the recognition of potential.

First, Mrs. Mallard is exposed as a weak hearted woman in the beginning of the plot: The scene opens up “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (13). Chopin describes that great care was taken to reveal the news of her husband’s death as she was afflicted with heart disease and she would not be able to accept it at once. Later on when the news of Mr. Mallard’s death is revealed, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms”(13). Mrs. Mallard reacts to this news as other wife would. This clearly explains that she was first scared to have no one follow her in future. Following

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour was first published in 1894 (The Story of An Hour). The main theme of this story is oppression and loss of freedom for people, especially when they are married. In the Era this story was written marriage bound a couple together in a union that could not be undone except through death. The oppression happens to both women and men. This theme is demonstrated many times throughout the story. Chopin keeps us in Mrs. Mallard’s head through the entire duration of the story, letting us listen to her thoughts. Chopin uses character actions and imagery to further illustrate the emotions that Mrs. Mallard is feeling.

Mrs. Mallard is a youthful, independent woman. Chopin points out, “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” When her husband, Brently Mallard, dies, she sees her future reborn. She didn’t react in a way that the other women, baring the same, somber news, reacted. The other women had a “paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She was a woman that wanted to stray from the norm. She was taking her future into her own hands, and planned to use it for herself.

Kate Chopin’s prompt has many different points of views of one character. Mrs. Mallard is the main character of this short story and goes through a tragedy that doesn't affect her as it would most people today. The story is based off of older times, where men were strictly in charge of their wives. Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition, and those around her are unsure how to break the bad news to her. The author Kate Chopin wrote this short story of the main character. Chopin spoke of the internal and external conflicts of Mrs. Mallard. The internal conflicts Mrs. Mallard faced were the feelings of being oppressed through her marriage, or her desire for freedom.

She has to be very careful because Mallard has heart problems, and this can have a really big impact in her life. When Mrs. Mallard get informed about the incident and about her husband being involved Josephine tells her that he has sadly died. Mrs. Mallard goes upstairs to her room to be alone, little did we know that she would actually be happy about what she just heard. Chopin later describes Mrs. Mallard being happy she begins repeating the word "free" to herself over and over. This really influences the way she feels about her husband's death, and it impacted the reader because we believe that she would be sad after her husband's death. Even though she's happy and feels great about being free, she realises that she'll cry again when she sees the corps. Mrs. Mallard starts describing Mr. Mallard's " his hands were tender and he always looked at me lovingly.” Mrs. Mallard feels that all men and women oppress each other, and she feels that now that she is free she won't be oppressed again. A little after, Josephine knocks on her door and begs Mrs. Mallard to come out warning her that if

Countless pieces of literature create context clues so readers can establish where the story is taken place. Literatures can give away great pieces of information where readers are able to connect the past time periods to the current time period. The nineteenth- century is all about the controversial standards for women. Author Kate Chopin writes literatures about women during the nineteenth century. One of her stories show a glimpse of the modern-day standards for women. “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is about a woman name Ms. Mallard, who found out her husband passed away. While mourning for her husband, she realizes that she wasn’t living for herself. Louise is now feeling free. But it all came to an end when she found out her

Mrs. Mallard is first seen as a woman who is gentle and fragile. She accepts the tragic events of her husbands death. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the dame, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with a sudden wild abandonment, in her sisters arms,” (467). Even though the notification of her husband’s death is told by Richard and Josephine, Mrs. Mallard crumbles into her sisters arms. Chopin is implying that this is the first moment when Mrs. Mallard changes her attention to a

"The Story of an Hour" is a short story in which Kate Chopin, the author, presents

Chopin writes the story in the third person limited point of view which indicates that only Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts are available to the reader. The story is told by a separate narrator, which has a hidden meaning to it. During the 1890s, women, just like Mrs. Mallard, did not speak their minds. Mrs. Mallard is portrayed as a delicate woman suffering from a heart problem to the other characters while the reader finds out that she is in an unhappy marriage. Chopin wrote this short story in limited third person to emphasize on the problem that women had to deal with - the fear of being judged by the society. Mrs. Mallard could not even freely express that

At the end of the 19th century, American society presented an ideology of patriarchy. Feminists struggled for equality and against discrimination against women. As the feminist movement started, lots of female writers were explored. One of the most famous writers is Kate Chopin. Her works mostly present a theme of women pursuing freedom and equality. “The Story Of An Hour” is one of her representative works. In this short story, Kate Chopin reveals how women lived under the oppression of male-dominated society, especially for women who got married. They were not financially independent and their freedom and rights were deprived. Therefore female were forced to be an “angle in the home”. The literature piece challenges the preconception that women can only be a housekeeper and marriage is the only way out.

Mallard made Mrs. Mallard feel held down and stifled. This shifts in her outlook on life emphasizes the benefits of living as an individual, encouraging women to consider empowering themselves by breaking free of their husband’s expectations and commands and choosing how to live for themselves. Chopin’s success as an author shortly after divorcing her husband may have influenced her expression of these ideas (Harris 461). Moreover, Chopin describes the Mrs. Mallard that existed before her husband's alleged death as “besp[eaking] repression,” but after she learns of his demise, she is in “possession of self-assertion” in a “moment of illumination.” These descriptions show that a significant change took place in Mrs. Mallard’s mind and body as she was set free by the death of her repressor. Chopin creates this image of a formerly helpless, pinned down woman releasing her strength to live on her own in order to empower women reading the story and convince them that they have the ability to set themselves free from oppressive husbands if they only allow themselves to do so without worrying about societal shame. Through this scenario, Chopin encourages women to “discover and affirm their strengths” while “claim[ing] power and build[ing] self-confidence,” major goals of the feminist theory (Turner and Tina 157, 155).