Theme Of Mrs Mallard

Mallard’s heart trouble, after she goes to her room, “we realize that the problem with her heart is that her marriage has not allowed her to ‘live for herself’.”(Hicks) With the news of her husband’s death Mrs. Mallard has now been reborn. She is now free, free from the shadow of her husband. Although the author gave little details about the marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, the story suggests it had not been unhappy but Mrs. Mallard had felt repressed. “She knew she would cry 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.”(Chopin) She knew her husband loved her and she said she loved him sometimes. However, after his death, “there would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers..."(Chopin) Mrs. Mallard felt it was a crime to impose one person's will on another person. The thoughts of her freedom brought out a joy from within her. This she describes as a "monstrous joy" because it comes from her husband's death but allows her complete happiness to be free. As Berkove says,” The monstrous surge of joy she experiences is both the cause and first sign of a fatal overload to her feeble heart. Physically, her heart is weak, and emotionally, it had no room for anyone else.

However, the story ends with Mrs Mallard’s freedom being ripped away from her as she dies from shock upon seeing her husband walk through the door. When the doctors come to pronounce her dead, they said “she had died of heart disease, … the joy that kills”. This is foreshadowed that the beginning of the story when it is said that Mrs Mallard “was afflicted with heart trouble”. Also this use of irony suggests how the male ideology of the doctors is foolish and misplaced.

Louise went to her room where she tries to process the news. It is clear that she is sad, she knows that her husband was a good loving man. But then she recognized that she finally could be free, and she will be able to make her own life by her own decisions and desires.

Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is symbolic of her broken relationship with her husband, Brently. Of all the possible health issues that Mrs. Mallard could have been battling, it is heart trouble that she if faced with. It is noted that Josephine speaks “in broken sentences; veiled hints” (Chopin, “The Story”), so that the news of Brently’s death is revealed to Mrs. Mallard as carefully as possible. However, the news of her husband’s death actually brings a new life to Mrs. Mallard: “Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin, “The Story”). Mrs. Mallard’s marriage has confined her to her home and has caused the loss of her freedom, which is represented by her heart trouble. Her death is not caused by the joy of seeing her husband like the doctors thought, but rather due to a loss of joy, as she loses her newly found independence upon seeing Brently walk through the front door. Chopin shares: “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills” (“The Story”). The window in Mrs. Mallard’s bedroom also serves as an important symbol in the story, representing Mrs. Mallard’s freedom. Upon seeing the beauty throughout the streets as she looks out her window, Mrs. Mallard is finally able to realize that the rest of her life is full of countless possibilities (Rosenblum,

The story begins with the passage; “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.” The conflict of the story begins here. Mrs.

7. The setting is used as a reflection of the woman's inner emotions. The sun shines and birds sing with no sign of gloom because she is not actually mourning as she thinks to herself. The lack of sorrow from the woman cause the setting to seem even more lovely to her as she realizes she is feeling joy. The details used by the writer portray a sense of well being and positivity. The woman reaches out towards the window as if her joy is tangible, this is a vey important

After realizing her blessing in disguise, Mrs. Mallard emerges from her room with her sister and descends her staircase (Chopin 183). This is symbolizing her coming down from being high up. She was on top of the world with her new freedom and responsibilities and going down this staircase symbolizes her coming down from her spot on top of the world.

Her husband’s friend, Richards, remembering that Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble, tries to block her from the view of the door, in case she sees her husband and tries to make it so Mrs. Mallard doesn’t see him, in case it gave her heart trouble. They wanted to sit her down and explain to her what had happened and that there was a mistake in the telegram and that her husband was in fact, alive. But needless to say, Richards was too late and Mrs. Mallard saw her husband, alive and well and from all the back and forth emotions, she suffered from a heart attack and died.

Mrs. Mallard death is a symbol for all of the women in this day of age, in the sense of treatment and love they have towards their significant others. She loved her husband dearly that when she saw her husband was alive she literally died of being so happy and her heart couldn’t handle it” When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills”, she represents all the other women out there that are going through the same treatment. The women around this time frame, where always

This being said because the author says that Mrs. Mallard had heart problems so her

The use of setting helps make the story more appealing to the reader as well as contribute to the overall climate of the story. Throughout the story it is all told within the hour at the location of Mr. and Mrs. Mallards home due to the fact that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with the heart disease and that she would have troubles going elsewhere. The setting takes a bigger role later on in the story when Mrs. Mallard goes into the room to contemplate her new life without Mr. Mallard. When looking out the window it shows a change in setting "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. "

When she goes in her room alone, she unveils her true emotions. The setting shows comfort and indicates that she feels safe. The "open window" symbolises her new beginning and she fills her mind with fantasies of freedom. "She would have no one follow her" indicates that she had only her room to retreat to and it is from this place that she is able to look out at the world. The metaphor "delicious breath of rain", the "peddler", "a distant song" and the sparrows are all symbolical of spring which represents new hope for a better life for Mrs Mallard.

Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition, which means that if she was to be startled she could have a heart attack and die. So when her husband, Mr. Mallard, arrives into town by the train tracks, the train crashes and people that are nearby call for help. When the news gets out that Mrs. Mallard's husband was “killed” by the debris of the train her sister, Josephine, and her husbands friend, Richard, has to carefully approach Mrs, Mallard by telling her the news without startling her. Josephine was the one to tell her. When she explains what had happened carefully without hurting her heart. Mrs. Mallard goes into her room and closes the door behind her. Even though, Josephine and Richard wants to enter the room to help comfort her and to make sure

While there is much of a setting in this story because the story takes place in just one hour the actions within the story take place in the Mallard home. The home appears to be more than one floor, the doors have locks, and there is comfortable furniture within the home. It also seems to appear that the women are for the most part at home and the men are off working on the railroad. The setting of the story keeps in line with the theme of the longing for being free of a repressive marriage.

From comments made regarding the health of Mrs. Mallard we can predict that somehow her heart condition is going to play a role in the plot at some point. We hear that the main character is in a fragile state with heart trouble, and that great care must be taken to ease her into news of her husbands death. From the beginning, the reader is left with an image of the frail state that Mrs. Mallard is in. At any moment one can expect that Mrs. Mallard will be confronted with some sort of circumstance that will bring her heart condition to the forefront of the story.