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

At the beginning of Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” the young, yet physically frail protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, is tactfully informed of her husband’s recent demise. Immediately after receiving the grim news, she makes it perfectly clear how she feels about the circumstances. Mrs. Mallard “…wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” and subsequently isolated herself inside of the privacy of her bedroom. Reflecting on the events alone, she displays a welling of despair; however Mrs. Mallard notices that, unlike her husband, the world outside of her bedroom window appears vivid and alive. When cogitating about her external observations, and dissolving her finite trepidation, Mrs. Mallard comes an epiphany:

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.

In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author depicts how someone can be trapped in an unproductive and unsatisfying reality because of other’s thoughtlessness, exploitation, and domination. When combined with the contemporary society’s belief, presumably the later half of the 19th century, a further understanding of Chopin’s thoughts and feelings can be realized. Mrs. Louise Mallard, the victim and messenger of this story, is the image of such a person. Her relationship with her husband is so oppressive and limiting that even death is considered a reasonable means of escape. The condition of life for Mrs. Mallard is terrible, yet for some reason she doesn’t seem to come to the full

Anyone who receives notice of a loved ones death is never expected to take it lightly. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard is informed of her husbands “death” as gently as possible, and immediately she understands the enormous significance this loss will have on her life. Unlike many widow’s, her feelings of utter devastation do not last. Mrs. Mallard’s sobs of loss turn to cries of joy after she reflects upon her own character and discovers truths about her marriage.

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.

Mallard being a bad husband, the author makes no implications to such a thing. In fact, we are told that he “had never looked save with love upon her,” (CITE) which would imply she had no real ill feelings toward Mr. Mallard. That is, she had no real grounds for her negativity towards him. She even tried to appeal to her own emotions by pointing this reasoning out to herself, but in the end, she put up a poor defense of how she deserved to feel elated over her husband’s death. “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion…” (CITE) Mrs. Mallard allowed her selfish emotions to take over, “her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her.” (CITE) This possibly even ruined a good thing between her and her husband. Then again, the love in the relationship seemed very one sided as Mrs. Mallard admitted that her love for her husband was not complete. The way she tosses aside a relationship like she did makes it challenging for one to sympathize with Mrs. Mallard's character.

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.”

The Differences in Josephine and Mrs. Mallard of Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour

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.

In "The story of an Hour," Kate Chopin reveals the complex character, Mrs. Mallard, In a most unusual manner. THe reader is led to believe that her husband has been killed in a railway accident. The other characters in the story are worried about how to break the news to her; they know whe suffers from a heart condition, and they fear for her health. On the surface, the story appears to be about how Mrs. Mallard deals with the news of the death of her husband. On a deeper level, however, the story is about the feeling of intense joy that Mrs. Mallard experiences when she realizes that she is free from the influences of her husband and the consequences of

Kate Chopin's `The Story of an Hour' is a short yet complex piece describing the feelings of Mrs Mallard. This story is overflowing with symbolism and imagery. The most prominent theme here is the longing for freedom. Chopin focuses on unfolding the emotional state of Mrs Mallard which can be separated into three stages: quickly moving to grief, through a sense of newfound freedom, and finally into the despair of the loss of that freedom.

Mrs. Mallard lived her life for her husband instead of herself. A moment in the short story that indicates Mrs. Mallard was living for her husband instead of herself in indirectly expressed when she was so eager to start a new life and when she shouts “free, free, free” (11). When individuals are not living for themselves it is not a joyous feeling, they are not free, and they are tied to their lover. The wife and husband becomes one which forms a union. Once they become a union they do things for each other and often the wife loses herself and lives under the commands of her husband. Finally, Mrs. Mallard realizes her “self-assertion” (15) to the world. Mrs. Mallard self-assertion was her feeling confident in finally receiving freedom from

Mallard is free to do whatever she wishes, and can live for herself. We also see how Mrs. Mallard hates being controlled by her husband or anyone else, as the story states, “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.556). This quote shows that many women might have been oppressed during that time period, especially Mrs. Mallard. In the marriage between Mr. Mallard and Mrs. Mallard, it seems that Mr. Mallard had all the power in the relationship and wasn’t able to have her own thoughts and opinions. We can also see that even her name “Mrs. Mallard” is just a title put there by the marriage between her and her husband, she goes by no other name therefore she has no real identity as an individual person. Just like putting the name of the owner on a piece of property! Which during this time period was very common at the time, and if you spoke out of your role you were deemed as an uncontrollable

The first few lines of Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of An Hour” are deceiving because of the natural assumptions the reader makes based on societal ideals. As the story goes on, it becomes more apparent that Mrs. Mallard is not so heart broken about the death of her husband. Why would a woman in 1894 be happy about news of her husband passing away? He was her source of income and the community would pity her for losing her husband. However, Mrs. Mallard saw her husband’s death as a away out from a marriage she didn’t really like, so she took the opportunity.

In short, Mrs. Mallard was in an unhappy marriage which broadcasted their imperfections in their relationship. Being in an unhappy marriage can show the imperfections in your relationship you may begin to live your life for your spouse rather than yourself. This can often lead to separation and unhappiness in your marriage as well as your life. An unhappy marriage can also can prevent you from having freedom. Nevertheless, an unhappy marriage can lead to separation if one of the spouse or both spouse is unhappy and wants to move on with their life. In closing, Mrs. Mallard was living her life for Brently Mallard instead of herself. After her husband’s death, she then discovers freedom and after discovering freedom she then became eager to