Kate Chopin's "The Story of An Hour" Mrs. Mallard, the Main Character
"'Free! Body and soul free!' she kept whispering." Mrs. Louise Mallard dealt with the death of her husband in an unusual and ambiguous way. At first she wept, "at once, with sudden, wild abandonment." The narrator of Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" notes that Mrs. Mallard did not react with paralyzed shock as many others would have but rather, with a "storm of grief." Mallard's initial response shows that she is a passionate woman, unafraid of intense emotions or expressing them in public. Moreover, the way Mallard deals with the death of her husband exhibits her inner strength and self-sufficiency. It is precisely her inner strength and self-sufficiency that cause her to feel excited at the prospect of living her life alone. As she notices the "new spring life" outside her bedroom window, Mrs. Mallard anticipates her new life as a single woman, beholden to no one. Mrs. Mallard's choice in dealing with her husband's death in a constructive and proactive manner indicates that she has suppressed her innate strengt
However, Mrs. Mallard is a dualistic, conflicted character. At the beginning of the short story, she seems old. Not only had she been recently widowed, but she is "afflicted with heart trouble." Her heart trouble indicates physical and psychological weakness and her sister Josephine treats her as if she is a fragile person. Yet as the story progresses, Mrs. Mallard emerges as a strong woman capable of transforming her grief into the "self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being." The narrator notes later in the story that Mrs. Mallard was in fact "young, with a fair calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and a certain strength." The narrator's use of the word "repression" indicates that Mallard, while strong and independent, was nevertheless not courageous enough to express herself fully within her marriage. Her repression of her natural instincts conflicts with the "sudden, wild abandonment" with which she initially reacted to the news of her husband's death. Essentially, t
Some common words found in the essay are:
Moreover Mallard, Chopin's Story, Kate Chopin's, Louise Mallard, , death husband, free free, husband's death, inner strength, kate chopin's, dealing husband's death, sudden wild abandonment, kate chopin's story, husband mallard, chopin's story, wild abandonment, heart trouble, inner strength self-sufficiency, notes mallard, free free free,
Approximate Word count = 688
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
