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Story Of An Hour Marriage Essay

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Problems in Marriage in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Kiss”
In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin reports that marriage is the first punishment for women in 1894, and Mrs. Mallard has feelings for her husband. In “The Kiss,” Chopin describes that Miss Nathalie has no passion in love. Relationships will last if there is true love between each other. The two stories are about women trapped in unhappy marriages. Mrs. Mallard and Nathalie have marriage problems, but they feel freedom for a moment, but no emotional attachment in relationships.

In “the Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard feels a sense of freedom when she hears her husband is died in a disaster. She is so excited about her new life because she does not have to feel loneliness. Chopin writes that, “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of victory” (464). She is satisfied with her life, and she feels like a free bird because she loves her husband sometimes, but often she does not. Mrs. Mallard freedom is does not last long because her husband’s suddenly arrives home alive, and at that time she feels pain. Mrs. …show more content…

Harvy is the guest at Brantain’s and Nathalie’s wedding. Chopin reports, “Your husband,” he said, smiling, “has sent me over to kiss you” (187). She does not get angry with Harvy because she has an emotional relationship with him. She has freedom to choose true love, but instead she wants Brantain’s money. According to Chopin, we see the image of a miserable marriage: “Well, she had Brantain and his million left, but a person can’t have everything in this world; and it was a little unreasonable of her to expect it” (187). Nathalie lost an important part of her life which is the passion of a kiss. She does not have an emotional attachment with Brantain, and she is trapped in a miserable marriage for her entire

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Mallard, and the girlfriend want to communicate how they feel and do not want to be constrained. Chopin was a feminist which encouraged her to write The Story of an Hour. Women do not want to feel possessed and want to be self-asserted (Chopin, 2004). Women are told to respect their marriages and must abide to society. Mrs. Mallard feels free of duties when she understands that her husband has deceased.

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In Kate Chopin short story, “The Story of an Hour,” she explain how marriage can be obligation. In “The Story of An Hour,” Kate Chopin uses irony and imagery to demonstrate how Mrs. Mallard views your marriage. Chopin demonstrates Mrs. Mallard and her husband relationship with negative connation. When Mrs. Mallard hears about Brent’s death, she becomes “paralyzed” with grief (1). Chopin uses paralyzed to show Mrs. Mallard is powerless.

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“The Story of an Hour”: Imperfect Marriage Marriages are not always perfect. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” it talks about what Mrs. Mallard is going through in just one hour. Throughout the story, it tells the reader about how how she feels after the death of her wealthy husband .When she found out that Mr. Mallard died, she was actually happy instead of being sad.

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Mrs. Mallard’s conflict reflect the situation of many women in that era because women in that time that was married lived under the husband identity, didn’t have much freedom, and were trap in marriage. Women in that era stayed in marriage even if they were unhappy. Even though Mrs. Mallard loved her husband it seems as she no longer cared to be in her marriage any longer. “But she saw beyond the 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.”

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Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the readers to contemplate a hidden meaning woven into the story line. Mr. Mallard is assumed to die in a railroad accident, leaving Mrs. Mallard devastated. Instead of feeling sadness or grief, Mrs. Mallard actually feels free. "There would be no one to live for her 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" (Page 499).

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She even “breathed a quick prayer” for a long life in which to enjoy this joy (Chopin 181.) However, the sudden return of her husband has taken away her freedom. The theme suggests the forbidden joy of freedom as Mrs. Mallard’s

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Once seeing her now alive husband, Mrs. Mallard’s heart problems drop made her dead down to the floor. In this story Mrs. Mallard is a dynamic character who Chopin uses to show how MARRIAGE OFTEN OPPRESSES PEOPLE INTO RESTRICTIVE THOUGHTS ABOUT BEING A SELF SUFFICIENT, INDIVIDUAL AND FREQUENTLY STOPS THE CURIOSITY OF WHAT ELSE THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER. At the beginning of the short story Mrs. Mallard is taken by the news of her husband’s death, since their whole lives seem to revolve around each other. The childish weeping in her room portrays her as a weak and fragile wife, but nonetheless loving toward her spouse.

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The Contrast of The Story of an Hour While Mrs. Mallard is just starting a new life, so to say, for herself, her life she has known comes to an end. She is just able to become “free, free, free!” (57) when she loses her life. Kate Chopin uses contrast with the news Richard’s gave, the way Mrs. Mallard felt in the room and the doctor’s news to show how women perceived marriage in the 19th century in her story The Story of an Hour.

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Chopin also describes Mrs. Mallard as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength”. At the beginning Mrs. Mallard is thought of as being controlled, and weak. In the 19th Century, when this story was written, husbands controlled their wives. Perhaps Mrs. Mallard wasn’t like most women of her time. After she hears of her husband’s death she morns for what feels like only a moment.

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Mallard reaches a sense of exuberant liberation. She is overwhelmed with feelings of a newfound freedom. Chopin illustrates this burst of hope once again through nature imagery when she writes, “But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air”(Chopin 237). Though Mrs. Mallard tries, she cannot fight the growing sense of freedom that overtakes her. Chopin writes this change as a powerful realization that Mrs. Mallard cannot help but accept.

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Nonetheless, although the writer does not cite the contemporary situation of women in the story, the protagonist exclamations of ?free! Body and Soul!? are strongly suggestive of the historical context ("The Story of An Hour" 1). The writer depicts the sorrow of women in marriage and the feeling of oppression by men in marriage. The feeling of celebration and happiness in Mrs. Mallard, after learning the demise of her husband, demonstrates how women felt about marriage. The happiness of independence gained after becoming widowed outweighs the sadness of being left by their

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Kate Chopin wrote a story about Mrs. Mallard, a married woman who suffers from heart problems and also has to cope with her husband recent passing. Mrs.Mallard, she showed sincere grief about her husband passing. However, looking back at how controlling her husband Mr.Mallard were in their marriage, Mrs.Mallard felt a sudden joy when processing her husband death After her sudden emotional change, Mrs Mallard felt liberated when she started thinking about what her life would be like without Mr.Mallard, but regardless of the happiness she feels, she knows that once she sees her husband in corpse that sadness will return. Through her writing, author Chopin readers/ audience would be women who feel trapped and controlled in their marriage. Anger, loneliness and heartbroken are feelings that women who're coping with the death of their loved one feel.

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The character of Brantain is a rich man, that is visually displeasing and has an uninteresting nature. That juxtaposed with Harvy’s charming, dashing nature and levels of intelligence make it appear to the reader as a clear choice as to which man would preferred by Nathalie. In the very beginning of the short story Chopin tells the reader “It was still quite light out of doors, but inside with the curtains drawn and the smouldering fire sending out a dim, uncertain glow, the room was full of deep shadows”(lines 1-3), in many ways this line acts as foreshadowing to later in the story and mirrors Brantain and Nathalie’s relationship. Just as the room has been darkened by the drawn curtains, Brantain also remains in the dark when it comes to Nathalie’s affair with Harvy. The fact that Chopin describes the glow from the fire as being “uncertain” also appears to mirror the uncertainty that Brantain has when it comes to Nathalie’s relationship with Harvy.

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Kate Chopin introduces her main character as “Mrs. Mallard” to signify her being married. However, within her marriage, she loses herself. Being married, she took her husband’s last name and became a wife. In a way it changed her personality. She was no longer her own self, she was someone else’s “property”.

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Chopin clearly states that women felt that they lost their freedom and that they were just mere prisoners of marriage. Mrs. Mallard’s tragedy is a good example to understand that women were unhappy and depressed, since society forced them to play a secondary role, where happiness and independence cannot be achieved. Kate Chopin, in reality, lost her husband, and perhaps she wrote ‘The Story of an Hour’ to tell that she could not find freedom with her husband’s death, and that the character’s fate was the only possible way to find it, not only for herself but for most women as

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