Mrs Mallard's New Life example essay topic

Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" represents the roles of women in their Victorian marriages during the nineteenth century. Women. ".. were not allowed to be part of the man's world. They were responsible for housework, feeding the family, shopping, cooking, psychologically and materially sustaining the children, and their husband" (Porter 113). At a very young age, women were taught that a woman would get married and have children; they were born and raised to become wives and mothers.

Women were alive to marry, reproduce, and tend to their husband's needs. "There was a rigid hierarchy with the wife always being subordinate to the husband, and daughters being subordinate to everyone. The women were always under the control of the men. Women mostly kept to themselves and to their homes" (Puz 1997). Women were often put into a domestic sphere without being allowed to have an opinion on the matter. Chopin's tone throughout the story realistically looks at the assertive mind of a young women in the nineteenth century, who prays for her life to be short because she is being oppressed by her Victorian marriage.

Most of the women who marry have little choice mainly because they have no control over their education, and many were only taught domestic skills needed in a marriage. A woman was not expected to work unless she was among the lower class, and therefore did not have a choice. If a woman did not work she was expected to look pretty. Many women were married off to a man who was wealthy, and had a title, so the parents of the woman could advance their social status.

If a woman did receive a divorce, provided that 2 the law would allow such a thing, the woman would be forced to live the rest of her life in solitude. Kate Chopin's story uses a wide variety of symbols as well as irony to show how a young woman, Louise Mallard, in a typical Victorian marriage deals with the news of her "late" husbands' death, which is very different from the traditional expected response. Despite Louise Mallard's young womanhood, she has a serious ailment with her heart. Tremendous care has to be taken when breaking the news of Brently's death to Mrs. Mallard, for her sister, Josephine, did not want the news to cause Louise's ailment any stress. "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms.

When the storm or grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone" (Chopin 76). Mrs. Mallard's awkward attitude after learning about her husband's death is ironic. Both Richards, a family friend, and Josephine were expecting much more emotion from Louise. Instead of feeling painful grief, Mrs. Mallard gives a shallow cry and suddenly dashes upstairs to her room, making sure no one follows her.

Mrs. Mallard's initial reaction is not one that many would expect during the late 1890's. A woman was expected to have intense feelings of grief, and overwhelming sorrow if the man she loved suddenly died. If a woman did not have any children, then the only person in her life was her husband. Many women who lose their husbands go into a state of depression, and feel alone in the world. 3 With Richards and Josephine believing that Mrs. Mallard is up in her room overcome with melancholy, Mrs. Mallard is actually beginning to see her new life take form.

"She could see the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain [ is ] in the air" (Chopin 76). The open window, the tree tops with new spring life, and the delicious rain that fills the air all symbolize Mrs. Mallard's new life to come". There [ are ] patches of blue sky showing here and there...

(Chopin 76)". She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength" ( Chopin 76). Mrs. Mallard is described as a very pretty women, but her face shows signs of old age due to her repressive marriage, and her heart condition. .".. free, free, free! The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright.

Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her being" (Chopin 77). Mrs. Mallard has a sudden epiphany, and realizes that she is free from her repressive marriage. She feels so much exhilaration that the expression in her eyes changes from a. ".. dull stare... ".

(Chopin 76), to. ".. keen and bright... ". (Chopin 77). A woman in a Victorian marriage was expected to be very fearful and apprehensive about the days to come once their spouse died. Most women did not have skills which were useful in the workforce.

Therefore a woman had no source of income, no skills to obtain a job, and no way to care for the children without any earnings. Women who lose their husbands do not see it as freedom, but rather a burden even deeper than an oppressive marriage. 4 After Louise realizes the significance of her husbands' death, she feels liberation, and feels that she now has control over her own life. "What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self assertion which she suddenly recognizes as the strongest impulse of her being" (Chopin 77). Mrs. Mallard confessions that she does not hate her husband, but that she often. ".. [ thinks ] with a shudder that life might be long" (Chopin 77). However, she claims her newfound liberation by claiming her own self assertion as her strongest quality in life.

Mrs. Mallard began whispering over and over " Free! Body and soul free!" (Chopin 77). While Mrs. Mallard's sister is outside Louise's bedroom door begging for her to come out, Louises'. ".. fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that her life might be long" (Chopin 77).

Mrs. Mallard was psyching herself toward her transition, while Josephine was thinking that Louise is making herself ill. The irony is that Mrs. Mallard is not making herself ill, but she is celebrating her upcoming rebirth. A woman in a Victorian marriage would not have celebrated her own self assertion so readily after the death of her husband. It was expected that a woman who has lost her husband so suddenly would feel impotent. The woman had no control over her husbands' death, and the woman was not given a chance to say good-bye to her husband.

If children were involved in the marriage, then the woman had to explain the tragic event to her children, who might have been incapable of comprehending the dissolution. The woman would fell incompetent as a mother because she can not relieve her offsprings' 5 anguish, and therefore led the woman to feel helpless. Louise Mallard is in a repressive Victorian marriage and does not realize her own positive energy until she gains knowledge of her husband's death. Mrs. Mallard realizes that she is not living the type of life that makes her happy, and now that the one entity, her marriage, that is keeping her from living a long and wonderful life is coming to an end. Although Louise does not hate her husband, she is accepting his death with immense pleasure. Mrs. Mallard does not allow Richards or Josephine to know her genuine feelings towards the news of Brently's haphazard misfortune, for she worries of the consequences.

Victorian women of the nineteenth century would have been more concerned with the death of their husband over themselves. The women would express tremendous grief, fear, and helplessness in such a situation. Mrs. Mallard's reaction is far from the expected norm. She barely shows any grief in the presence of Josephine and Richards, and when she ascends to her room alone she shows even less grief. Louise has feelings of joy, and excitement due to her newfound freedom.

Bibliography

Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour". The Harb race Anthology of Short Fiction. 3rd ed. Stott et al Ed. Toronto: Nelson Thomas, 2002.
76-78.6 Dyer, W. Wayne. "What is Freedom?" Pulling Your Own Strings. New York: Harper Collins, 1994.
3-7. Gorham, Deborah. The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal. London: Croom Helm Ltd., 1982.
Porter, Marilyn. Home, Work and Class Consciousness. Great Britain: Manchester University Press, 1983.
Puz, K. Susan. U.S. Women's Her story (1865-1920).
August 26, 1997.
January 22, 2003.