"The Story of an Hour" is a short story written by Kate Chopin on Ap. ... The title of the short story refers to the time elapsed between the moments at which the protagonist, Louise Mallard, hears that her husband, Brently Mallard, is dead, then discovers that he is alive after all.
They say she died of "heart disease--of joy that kills" (11). In one sense they are right: Mrs. Mallard has for the last hour experienced a great joy. ... She "sometimes" (13) loved her husband, but in a way she has been dead, a body subjected to her husband's will.
Answer : The main themes of “The story of an Hour” are — female self discovery and identity and also the repressive nature of marriage. This fear shows her lack of confidence that whether could she be able to hold the freedom for which she was longed. "Free, free, free!"
Carroll Khan, M.A. The "joy that kills" is Louise Mallard's ruined dream of experiencing a free life the moment she discovers that Brently is alive.
It's official - too much happiness can kill you. Well, that's according to new Swiss research, which suggests one in 20 cases of takotsubo cardiomyopathy - a potentially fatal change in the shape of the heart's left ventricle - is caused by joy, rather than stress, anger or fear.
Mallard at first afraid of what she sees "coming to her?" She has lived a constrained life so long that freedom seems frightening to her at first. She has some idea of what the thing is, and she knows she will have to reject the idea. She has no idea what is "coming to her," and she wants to avoid facing the unknown.
We know that Mr. Mallard had "kind, tender hands" (13) and that throughout their married life he "had never looked save with love upon [his wife]" (13). ... Mallard was nothing but nice to his wife, and never did anything to make her feel like his death would be a blessing.
Mallard admits to herself that she had sometimes loved her husband, but "often she had not." After she believes that he is dead, she realizes that love is worth little when compared to independence and self-possession. In short, though she sometimes loves her husband, Mrs. Mallard loves her own independence more.
The irony in “The Story of an Hour” is that other characters mistakenly attribute Mrs. Mallard's death to her shocked elation that her husband Brently is alive. Supposedly killed in a train accident, Brently suddenly appears at the end of the story.
Perhaps, the most salient example of situational irony is in the turn of events in the hour that suggest that Bently Mallard is dead and Mrs. Louise Mallard has fully come alive. For, incongruously the narrative abruptly changes and it is Bently Mallard who yet lives while Mrs.
Irony is a storytelling tool used to create a contrast between how things seem and how they really are beneath the surface. The term comes from the Latin word ironia, which means “feigned ignorance.” The three main types used in literature are dramatic, situational, and verbal, as mentioned above.
the stress of having to manage the entire household. herself.
What is ironic about the death of Mrs. Mallard after she sees her husband is still alive? She wanted a long life but then she dies right after she thinks it.
But the doctors' conclusion that she'd died of overwhelming joy is ironic because it had been the loss of joy that had actually killed her. Indeed, Louise seems to have died of a broken heart, caused by the sudden loss of her much-loved independence.
Julianne Hansen, M.A. In "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard receives news that her husband has died in a tragic "railroad disaster." She immediately accepts the knowledge and weeps immediately "with sudden, wild abandonment." And then a shift occurs.
Gently. Josephine and Richards try to break the news of Mr. Mallard's death as gently as possible to Mrs. Mallard.
The main conflict in "The Story of an Hour" is a combination of person versus self and person versus society. Ultimately, after Louise Mallard is told that her husband has died, she experiences an epiphany amid her turbulent emotions.
In "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard views her love for her husband, Brently, as an emotion she sometimes felt. She did not have a bad marriage. However, whatever love she felt for Brently is insignificant to her in the face of the overwhelming sense of freedom she feels now that he is dead.
Mallard was unhappy in her marriage because she felt frustrated and restricted by the confines marriage and her husband had placed upon her. It is evident that she felt trapped in her marriage, since her principal feeling when reflecting on her husband's death is one of freedom.
She is filled with a new lust for life, and although she usually loved her husband, she cherishes her newfound independence even more. She has a heart attack when her husband, alive after all, comes home. Read an in-depth analysis of Louise Mallard.
Mallard is far beyond her time and place, for she feels the inkling that life must have something else to offer. Therefore, when she is told that her husband is suspected to be dead, she begins to experience these emotions of joy, freedom, and victory... for the very first time.
Mallard is afraid of being alone; but then again who is not? She has lived the life of a willing and able wife for so long and the idea of being alone scares her. When Mrs. Mallard first hears about her husband's death, she weeps not for him, but the fear of the future.
Mallard hears the news about her husbands death, she immediately feels strong grief. "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms.
Mrs Mallard does not hate her husband but in their relationship it seems there is very limited love and trust between the two. As a wife she had never felt complete. There were stronger impulses inside her heart than love which she felt rising to hear of his death.
Mrs. Mallard's reaction to the news of her husband's death is that of a woman freed from a long prison term. She is shocked into silent disbelief, overcome with emotion, struck with a sense of relief at being free from the burden of marriage. ... No more bending to the will of a husband, whom she loved most of the time.
Louise suffers from a heart problem, which indicates the extent to which she feels that marriage has oppressed her. The vague label Chopin gives to Louise's problem—“heart trouble”—suggests that this trouble is both physical and emotional, a problem both within her body and with her relationship to Brently.
Why does Mrs. Mallard eventually lock herself in her room? Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room to mourn the loss of her husband.
Mallard, a woman described as having "heart trouble," learns of her husband's sudden death in a train accident. She weeps, then retires to her room to be alone. While she is in the room, she looks out the window and begins to notice all of the blooming life outside her home.
The phrase "Free! Body and soul free!" indicates that Louise Mallard is not grieving her husband's presumed death. Rather, she feels that his death has liberated her and given her the chance to be truly autonomous outside the criminally oppressive institution of marriage.
When Louise Mallard shuts herself in her room, she sits in front of a window. The window is open, symbolizing a sense of possibility and a reinvigoration of Louise's senses and, therefore, her feeling of being alive. She smells the fresh scent of rain coming in from outside.