The Character of Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

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

Images of confinement and escape in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. Is shown all throughout the story, Mrs. Mallard felt trapped she did not seem happy at all. The feeling of freedom seemed to take over Mrs. Mallard body. Her exhaustion seems to confine her so when Mrs. Mallard heard the news about her husband. All she could think of is being alone and confining herself in a room where she can express how she truly feels. Mrs. Mallard felt tied down and exhausted from being trapped. Instead of her

     The background of the story gives us the idea of what Mrs. Mallard’s marriage meant to her. We see a picture of a young well-to-do wife who seems to be very pleased with her life. We also get the impression that she was deeply in love with her husband.

The reader might question as to why Mrs. Mallard’s feelings towards her husband’s death change so quickly. Was she previously unaware of the “subtle and elusive” (227) thoughts that made her believe that this death might be a blessing in disguise? Mrs. Mallard, before her husband’s death, had a romanticized view of her marriage. While she believed she loved Brently and was happy, after his death she became aware of the freedom she would now experience without a controlling husband. The “powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence” (228) would no longer be present. Mrs. Mallard was aware of her yearnings of independence and joy, but would never voice them while locked into her marriage with Brantley. While at first, it may seem as Mrs. Mallard was unaware of these feelings, the death of her husband was just the catalyst that allowed her deepest feelings to be revealed and her dreams of independence to finally

Mallard is unsatisfied with the limitations of her marriage, however, like Desiree, she is submissive and believes that the end of her duties as a wife will come at the death of her husband and her freedom will be given to her. Also, she experiences little or no feelings because of her marriage. This is shown when Mrs. Mallard, after hearing of her husband’s death, cries, but ironically she senses a moment of euphoric pleasure at the awaiting freedom in her remaining life. “She saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.” Mrs. Millard is now aware of things that were not noticeable before such as: the beginning of spring, patches of blue sky through clouds, the twittering of sparrows and the smelling of the pending rain, which may signify the nature of her freedom. Mrs. Mallard would now be able to live her life outside the home and find her identity.

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”

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 differences in Josephine and Mrs. Mallard are evident in their reactions to the news of Mr. Mallard's death. Josephine cannot find a ray of hope in Mr. Mallard's death. She is overwhelmed with sadness. She is very careful how she tells Mrs. Mallard of her husband's death. Josephine uses broken sentences and veiled hints when telling Mrs. Mallard of Mr. Mallard's death. Josephine knows that Mrs. Mallard depends on her husband for everything. However, Mrs. Mallard's reaction to the news is very different. Mrs. Mallard loves her husband. She is saddened by the news, but she is able to see into the future. She is able to see a future with color and brightness. Mrs. Mallard feels set free from bondage. She no longer sees a world of restrictions but a world of opportunity and adventure. Her husband's death brings revival to her soul. Chopin says, Mrs. Mallard is "drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window." The news of Mr. Mallard's death is tragic but brings very different reactions from Josephine and Mrs. Mallard.

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 never explains in details on why she feels as though she is trapped in her marriage. After she finds out about her husband’s death she is heartbroken realizing she would never see him again in this life. Though she had loved him, she felt as though he oppressed her either by meaning to or not out of care for

In “The Story of An Hour” Mrs. Mallard is told of her husbands “demise” and she had that of a considerably odd reaction. One that seemed unprecedented by her sister, who had delivered the news, who is obviously severely worried by this reaction. She, no doubt, thought Mrs. Mallard had gone mad with the news of her husband’s death. Proclaiming about how free and liberated she felt after hearing this “oh so devastating” news. This was all due to the fact that Mrs. Mallard did not all together love her husband. Instead of feeling dread and sorrow at the news she was overcome with a sense of immense liberation. She could finally live for herself. She could make her own decisions in her own best interest instead of what her husband would like. She had finally been

While Mrs. Mallard remembers Mr. Mallard as a kind and tender man who loved her, she also viewed him as the oppression that marriage put upon women and men. While Mr. Mallard was kind and loving to his wife, he was also controlling and overbearing. Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister and Richards, Mr. Mallard’s friend is there to break the news of Mr. Mallard’s death. Richards has learned of Mr. Mallard’s death at the newspaper office, not wanting to believe the information that was received, Richards waited for the new to be delivered for a second time before enlisting the help of Josephine. They are both there to support Mrs. Mallard and their support shows that they care for Mr. and Mrs. Mallard.

In Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard hears news from her sister Josephine that her husband, Brently Mallard, is dead. Mrs. Mallard seems to show a sense of immediate shock; she quickly flees to her room to be alone to take in this news. After embracing and accepting the death of her husband, she is ready and willing to continue living her life. She opens the door of her bedroom and walks down the stairs approaching her late husband’s friend, Richard. Suddenly, the door opens and Mrs. Mallard has to accept what stands in front of her. Her husband is still alert and alive. She is no longer free, and Mrs. Mallard dies immediately after she sees her spouse she was accepting was gone forever.

Mallard hears the news of her husband’s death she weeps and feels abandoned while she falls into her sister’s arms. She wants to be alone so she goes to her room and grieves by herself. While sitting there in her chair with a dull stare in her eyes looking out the window in her armchair she starts to think how life will be by herself. “There would be no one to live for in those coming years; she would live for herself.” (p. 547) She feels the joy of what her husband’s death can bring to her. Mrs. Mallard who has a heart condition could have her days to herself. She would be able to have her own identity. Even though she does not seem to be abused by Mr. Mallard she did at some point love her husband, but over the years had stopped. “She knew she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.” (p. 548) She was ready to live for herself. “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” (p. 548) She can know be herself and be

Mallard thinks to herself about all of the possible opportunities she comes to a point of insight about her life to come. She is given the news about her husband and in response causes her to analyze what on Earth is going on and eventually causing herself to rejoice on her newfound freedom (Deneau 211). She goes through a metamorphosis and he finds herself to beaming with emotions she would not have expected to feel in such a situation (Jamil 215). Suddenly she can see things more clearly than she had before about life. Before, she was an empty vessel, that has to conform to how the social norm is, having her emotions subdued, and had no excitement for the next day. Now, instead of living a life filled with emptiness she finds her life to be more valuable with her this freedom. She has a sense of independence that blossoms from within, as she thinks for her own and not for anyone else (Jamil