Comparing Story Of An Hour And The Yellow Wallpaper

"The Story of an Hour ' ' by Kate Chopin and "The Yellow Wallpaper ' ' by Charlottle Perkins Gilman are short stories about women in the late 1800 's. In "The Story of an Hour" the woman is living in the city, her husband has gone off to work, she has a heart condition, and she has believed he was dead. The husband appears and she dies because her chance at freedom is lost. While "The Yellow Wallpaper" is in a country house on vacation. She is forced to play sick and is told she must rest by her husband and doctor. As a result she moves into madness believing the wallpaper has come alive. Although both of these stories have many literary elements in the story, the three that are the most important are setting, irony, characterization.

In addition irony is also used in these stories. In "The Story of an Hour" situational irony occurs. "When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: 'free, free, free! '"(527) However there is also dramatic irony to the understanding of the story. "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills."(527) She was very happy but didn 't think people would agree with her being happy, so she hid it. Everyone thinks he died of joy. She hid her feelings during the marriage and the ending shows how little her husband and sister really knew about her. Her hiding her feeling might not have been good. Hiding your feeling will only make a person feel worse and it does not benefit anyone. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” John thinks its funny that his wife has problems. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” Obviously she’s being sarcastic. She does not like it when he does that. The narrator does not want John to laugh at her health. She wished he actually cared about her health rather than laugh. John continued to laugh at her health because he drove

Finally characterization comes into place in both stories. In “The Story of an Hour” Mrs.Mallard has a rare reaction to finding out her husband is dead. Mrs.Mallard is happy that her husband is gone so she can be independent. Her reaction is probably not one that most people would have if there husband died. “Free,free,free!” (526) Mrs.Mallard begins to see through as an independent woman rather than one confined by marriage. She can live for herself now and not so much for her husband. After she found out that he passed she was way too excited for freedom. In “The Yellow wallpaper” the narrator was almost normal. “I did not make out a very good cause for myself, for i was crying before he had finished. It is getting to be a great effort for me to think straight. Just this nervous weakness I suppose.” She was very nervous and was to emotional and couldn 't think straight. Then after this she kinda just went beyond crazy. “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane. And i’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can 't put me back.” She wanted the woman in the yellow wallpaper to escape so she helped her out. Because her husband traumatized her she was always nervous and emotional. She couldn’t even think straight it 's was that bad. In conclusion “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” are some of many great short stories written in the 1800’s. In “The Story of an Hour” the wife simply fight the fact that her husband died, and when she really found