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Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis Essay

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Women of the 19th century were treated unfairly, not given the chance to speak their minds, were neglected of independence, and were unhappy with their marriage. The way women were treated during this time, is the primary focus of Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour.” Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist of this story, was unhappy living with her husband, Brently Mallard. After Mrs. Mallard’s sister, Josephine, attempts to forestall the news, she finds out that her husband had died; Her complicated feelings for her husband are depicted in her reaction to the news. Throughout the course of the story, Chopin uses imagery, symbolism, and irony to display the torture that women endured in the time the story was written. The use of …show more content…

In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is mentioned not only to politely describe her condition, but to emphasize the “trouble” that her “heart” experiences through her unhappiness and lack of freedom in her marriage. Additionally, anyone with heart trouble would only be expected to take the news of their life partner’s death quite harshly. In contrast, Mrs. Mallard’s cheerful response makes it evident that she was delighted to hear the news. Soon after Mrs. Mallard receives the sudden realization that she can finally settle without the worry of her husband and live the rest of life as a free, independent woman, her husband enters into the house. This incredible shock and disappointment she experiences the moment she lays an eye on him, is what leads her heart to failure. The doctors that assist Mrs. Mallard reply to this unexpected moment with, “she had died of heart disease—of the joy that kills.” (Chopin 2) During this scene, Mrs. Mallard is said to have died from the joy of seeing her husband that killed her. In contrast, on Mrs. Mallard and the reader’s know that it is the death of her joy that kills her. Also, viewing a person that was thought to be dead, alive is surely enough shock to kill someone, especially one with a weak heart. Indeed, the death of Mrs. Mallard was affected by the immediate loss of her much appreciated

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is a representation of how she felt in the moment of hearing the news about her husband. Mrs. Mallard felt physically and emotionally depressed.

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Mallard was so shocked of her marriage to her husband that she died from the excitement of knowing he was still alive. Obviously, Chopin is engaging in some irony. Mrs. Mallard, the young stressed woman. She died from a “heart problem.” If you read the story it is misleading by thinking that Mrs. Mallard is sad by her husband death, but really she is freed from the depression and the repression, and how strict he was on her.

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Mrs. Mallard is a frail woman that has to rely on her husband, who was supposedly killed in a train accident. At first, Mrs. Mallard is sad that her husband that she loved was now dead. After thinking about, however, Mrs. Mallard see that now that she doesn’t have to stand behind a man anymore and now could have her freedom to do what she never had before. As she begins to walk downs stairs from where she was, Mr. Mallard walks in the front door surprising everyone, especially Mrs. Mallard who died when she saw him. Chopin ends the story with: “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills” (Chopin 3), the people around her had thought that she had died of happiness of seeing her husband.

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In the beginning of the text it stated mrs. mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble and at the end it says, “when the doctors came they said she died of a heart disease.” (Chopin 16). Both of these moments mention problems with her heart which makes one question what that affliction or problem pertained to. It is through that moment of revelation that one could understand her affliction of the heart (freedom) out weighing her grief for her husband causing her death emphasising the opposing theme of despair and

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Mrs. Mallard upon seeing her husband collapses and dies. No one knows Mrs. Mallard's true feelings so they believe she dies from the “joy that kills” (Chopin, 280). When the truth is she dies because she no longer has her freedom. Mrs. Mallard had become attached to the idea of freedom and a new way of living. Now that she knows her husband is alive her life has to go back to the way it was before.

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Mallard’s loss of innocence is revealed in the euphoric moment when she recognizes she is happy to hear of her husband’s death and evidenced in the following two sentences. “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.” Phrases and sentence structure are repeated to further highlight this theme. Chopin writes, “ she breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.

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In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Louise Mallard moves from hearing the word of her husband Brently’s alleged and mistaken death, to her own premature death. A literal and symbolic demise of a woman with a troubled heart. Amid both incidents, Louise contemplates and embraces the rewarding opportunities of a husband-free life. Primarily, the story’s emphasis is on Louise’s reactions, alone. An apt choice for a character portrayed as egocentric or self-centered.

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Finally, at the end of the story, Chopin kills Mrs. Mallard and was killed by the heart disease, while we all knew that she died from her freedom being taken from her as soon as she just got it. The very last sentence of the story Chopin says, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills” (41); and I took that as she did not die of her heart trouble but of disappointment and how her freedom was gone in a blink of an

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Mrs.Mallard dies shortly after his

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With the news of her husband’s death, the character, Mrs. Mallard is surrounded by the darkness and sadness of the people around her because of the tragedy. Later on in the story, Chopin reveals an attribute of the main character. In the writing, Mrs. Mallard’s expressed emotion is the reverse of what it predicted by the reader. Irony occurs not only through the wife’s actions, but through events that happen when the tale takes an unexpected turn at the conclusion. Overall, the tone of the story transforms from being depressing, to a sense of freedom, with an ironic element; Chopin uses the literary elements of descriptive details, imagery, and narration to reflect the shift in tone throughout the text.

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Mrs. Mallard’s husband was actually alive at the door and apparently “had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one” (Chopin 238). The false news of his death stripped Mrs. Mallard’s freedom and independence from her. Mrs. Mallard’s hopes and dreams were shattered, and she is once again a wife (Rosenblum). When Mrs. Mallard encounters her husband, who is actually alive right in front of her, it quite literally kills her; as soon as her husband arrives, she dies of a heart attack. This short story finishes with an ironic turn of events.

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In “The Story of an Hour,” the author, Kate Chopin, tackles a complex issue that involves the need of a woman for independence from a marriage that may have been retraining her or holding her back. Chopin suggests that Louise Mallard’s marriage, even with the kindest and love her husband provided, was inherently oppressive. Louise provides this understanding when she starts to feel a sense of joy when she believes that her husband had died and she could now live for herself. The story is written as from the eyes of an observer.

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(Chopin, p.128) Brently Mallard entered his home. He was nowhere near the site; he had not even heard of the accident. He stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry; at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife. (Chopin, p.128) Mrs. Mallard had died of joy that kills.

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She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her” (Chopin 762). Chopin created situational irony since it was expected that Mrs. Mallard would continue weeping over her husband’s death alone in her room. What was unexpected was how she actually felt happy

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"The story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a story that show an hour in the life of Mrs. Louse Mallard a woman who has a dream to be free, but she is worried about the happiness that can have when her husband dies, more that trying to be happy by herself. It a stories that shows us the importance of freedom. In this brief history is present the lack of freedom of Mrs. Mallard, there we can read how she experienced true freedom through the erroneous news of the death of her husband. We

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