Women Breaking Free From Their Traditional Expectations
All throughout the early part of history women were portrayed as the inferior sex, because at that point in time, women were seen as beings only born to have children. Men didn't think that women were capable of being anything other than a typical housewife. It was unthinkable that women would actually need an education, let alone earn a living, or become a leader. These ideas are revealed all throughout classical literature. Rarely was a woman seen as doing anything but being dominated by males in some form, whether she was a man's submissive devoted wife, a sexual object, or a woman being punished for wanting her freedom. We finally begin to see women trying to break free
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Her short story,
"The Story of an Hour" is about a woman, Mrs. Louise Mallard, who is being oppressed by her husband, Brently. Although it appears that she loves Brently, she admits that some of the times she does not. This is not to say that he was a bad husband or she was not a good wife, but they were not as in love as everyone else thought they were.
The story begins with telling us that Louise Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble; this is why they had to break the news of her husband's death to her very gently. This is also why her husband's friend and her sister, people very close to her, wanted to break the news to her. As soon as Mrs. Mallard found out about the incident, she wanted to be alone in her room to grieve. The longer she was alone to think about it, the more she realized that this might be for the better. As she realized what had really happened, she noticed more and more the beauty and freedom outside of her window. She thought to herself, "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 in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (306).
Louise was no longer grieving, now that she had figured out that being free and unbound was the best thing
The Story of an Hour: The audience is keyed into the time period by mention of how popular newsstands are, the lack of cell phones, and the social restrictions within marriages that Mrs. Millard, the main character, describes. When Mrs. Millard’s manic episode begins, she retires to an armchair by an open window, symbolic of her newfound inner-freedom. This creates imagery for the audience and helps to
Mallard’s marriage has extinguished her freedom. Her visage “spoke repression”(paragraph 7). This quote elucidates that Louis has been restrained from her true emotions towards her marriage. Furthermore, when Louis receives the news of her husband’s death, she is aware that “there would be no powerful will bending hers”(paragraph 11). She knows that, because her husband has died, there will be no one to believe that they have any “right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature”(paragraph 11). In paragraph 10, Choplin declares “the face that had never looked save with love upon her.” This quote illuminates that Mr. Mallard did, in fact, love Louise. This paints the picture that Mr. Mallard was not a bad husband, he simply felt it was his obligation, as a husband, to direct Louise in everything that she takes part in. This role of a “controlling” husband and the role of a “dutiful’ wife is not a matter of choice, but rather put in effect by
The title of the story, “The story of the Hour” refers to the short time that elapsed between the moments at which the Mrs. Louse Mallard heard the story of the death of Brently, her husband
Women have been treated and portrayed similarly throughout history-- Made to be housewives and handmaidens to men of all ages and expected to be the “perfect woman”, a standard image created by--shocker--men. In fifth-century Greece, the “perfect” woman was expected to obey her husbands at all times. The “perfect” English Renaissance women was meant to be seen, not heard. The “perfect” woman of the eighteen hundreds was given novels to read. Novels that held lighter topics than the newspapers of the day, such as intemperance, nothing too heavy because “once a woman starts reading, she starts getting ideas” (indirect quote from Beauty and the Beast). The tables began to turn in 1848, when the first women’s suffrage movement convention was held in Seneca Falls, when women began to realize what Emma Goldman voiced years later in 1915. The “perfect woman” image began to crumble. Skirts became shorter, topics became heavier, women started thinking, forming ideas, becoming more outspoken, creating their own image, without the aid of men. Slowly, they climbed their way up, proving to be more independent and more than what men thought them to be. How women were viewed as by a society, and their evolution of independence, has bled through in literature, especially through female deities in ancient mythologies. Over time, goddesses of different mythologies have grown bolder and more powerful as the world finally noticed that women were actually people, not pretty trophies. Greek,
In addition, Louise will mourn her husband’s death, but she is now joyed that she doesn’t have to go through anymore pain from Mr. Mallard. After she realizes that she’s free, she starts planning her new future. Ms. Mallard loved her husband, but she believed that independence
The Story of an Hour is about a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who suffers with a heart problem. Her husband’s friend, Richards, and her sister Josephine have to tell Mrs. Mallard that her husband has died in a train accident. They are both concerned that this news might danger Mrs. Mallard’s health. However, when Mrs. Mallard hears about the news, she feels excitement
Louise questioned if she loved her husband and judging by the time period this story was written I’d say many women didn’t love their husbands and felt oppressed. I didn’t think Louise would die from seeing her husband alive instead I thought she would be sad knowing nothing was going to change for her. After discussing the story in class I was reassured that Louise hadn’t died out of happiness but that her husband killed her happiness when he walked through the front
Mrs. Mallard struggle with the news of her husband passing as any other ladies would of. She cried in her sister arms and then left into a room where she would realize that what she thought was terrible would then turn out into a dreamy thought…of being independent, quote “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself”. No more needing to answer to anyone but yourself and just being
The Story of an Hour, where it mostly talks about Mrs. Mallard. A clever, free lady, Louise Mallard comprehends the right route for ladies to carry on. However, her inward contemplations and sentiments are anything besides right. When her sister announces the news that Brently, “Mrs. Mallard husband”, has died, Louise shouts drastically as opposed to feeling numb, as she knows numerous other ladies who would feel hopelessly sad. Her fierce response promptly demonstrates that she is an enthusiastic, decisive lady. She realizes that she would cry for Brently and anticipate future without him. Yet, when she is out of others ' sight, her private musings are of her own life. Louise experienced a heart issue, which shows the degree to which she feels that marriage has persecuted her. Mrs. Mallard has this issue because her enthusiastic mentality was trapped in her marriage with Bently. In the hour amid which Louise accepts Brently’s death, “her heart thumps unequivocally without a doubt, Louise feels her new freedom physically. “Alone in her room, her heart races, and her entire body feels warm. She spreads her arms open, typically respecting her new life”, (last name, year p,82). “Free! Body and soul free!", (last name 82) she kept whispering to herself, an announcement that demonstrates the excutment of her new autonomy. Nevertheless, her
The story of an Hour follows a pretty traditional method. In the story, Chopin acts as a widowed Louise Mallard who overcomes issues with marriage, female independence, and love. Mrs. Mallard is presented as a strong but compassionate character. When she finds out that her husband died in a train accident she deals with inconsistent emotions of her husband’s death. Louise knows that she will grieve her husband's death, but she also looked forward to many
In the beginning of the story, Louise Mallard faces what should be one of the most difficult situations during her lifetime—the death of her husband. You can only imagine how incredibly heartbroken she was, but that does not turn
“The Story of an Hour” is all about a sickly wife who briefly believe that her husband is dead, and imagines a whole life of freedom to do whatever she want when ever she want to.
The news of his death brought her first grief, then joy of the freedom that she gained. This only showcases extremes of oppression in the 1800s. Mrs. Mallard felt grief when she first came to know about her husband’s death. It is shown in Line 10, with the sentence “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.” However, as the story progresses, Louise recognizes a more enhanced beauty of the world and the freedom she has gained, and welcomes it. It is shown in Line 56-57, “No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.” This change raises the thought that Mrs. Mallard must have felt oppressed to feel this joyful for something that is obviously anguishing in most situations. The portrayal of this character’s feelings most certainly reflects on how women felt in these times.
In "The Story of an Hour" a woman named Louise Mallard learns that her husband has been killed in a horrific train accident. Her loved ones are immediately concerned that this news will be too much for poor Louise to bear. Louise suffers from a heart ailment, which in the Victorian period made her only more attractive as a society wife because she was fragile and physically impaired and no woman should strive to be strong or healthy. Unexpectedly, the news of her husband's demise is not upsetting to Louise but instead she
Unfortunately, Louise couldn’t tolerate the returning of her husband, and she collapsed with a heart attack. As doctors said afterwards, it was the joy that killed her. Unlike his wife, Brently