Story of an Hour

In the Story of An Hour, Mrs. Mallard seemed to me like an old misunderstood woman and as we are told in the very first line, afflicted with a heart trouble. I was surprised later, when it said that she was young. I think that Chopin is showing us a social situation of the times with the woman as a prisoner of her husband. Marriage was not always about mutual love between two people and during that time Chopin was writing, which was during 1804-1904, this was often the case. Marriage was as much about monetary comfort, social status as it was about possible love. There are no children mentioned in the story, which makes me wonder if there was a sexual relationship between the Mallards.

It seems from the description that Mrs. Mallard has been trapped in this marriage for a long time even though we know she is young. How young is she? I would probably guess that she would be in her middle thirties. She probably got married very young, as they usually did at that time. The women would usually stay at home and the men would go to work. Things have changed a lot now a day. I don t think that this marriage is arranged. I think that she has been forced by her society to marry despite what she may want to do in her heart and soul. I believe she does love her husband, but it is possible to love a man and not be married to him. Is her heart condition purely physical or is it psychological and emotional? We know that women can be hysterical, timid, weak and very emotional. When is her first name mentioned and why? That is the interesting part of the story that gave me the idea of my whole conclusion. Her first name is only told to us after she hears of her husband’s death and when she feels the freest. Before her husbands death she is referred to us as Mrs. Mallard or she, and after when her husband returns home, she is referred to as wife.

When Louise marries Brently she becomes Mrs. Mallard; she loses her identity and assumes a new and strange one. While it seems very normal and average for a wife to assume her husband s name in marriage and in that time, become the property of him, it cannot be ignored that a certain part of the self is lost. This woman is very in tune with this loss and even though her love for her husband keeps her from it, the freedom she