Paper Sample. Louise Mallard, The Story of an Hour

Louise Mallard is the main character of The Story of an Hour. She has a heart problem and hence resulting to the newscast of her spouse's she must be carefully informed lest she collapses under a heart attack. There is news that the husband has died in a railroad disaster and her sister Josephine is the one who breaks the news to her. Louise becomes emotional and starts sobbing, she leaves for upstairs to be alone. A feeling develops her as she starts to become sensitive of her surrounding, "She could comprehend in the exposed square before her dynasty the trimmings of saplings that were all agitated with the new spring life" (Chopin 1). She hears of singing and sounds from sparrows. She admires the clouds. She comes to a realization of her young age.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

At some point, Mrs. Mallard feels apprehensive and emotion begins building inside her though she tries to suppress it something she fails and starts to say and repeat the word, "free, free, free!" (Chopin 1). More illustrations make Mrs. Mallard the character mostly known to us. She is the protagonist of the story and through her, the traits and roles of other characters are built. Furthermore, the author uses the character in the development of themes such as family life, mental torture, marriage and especially the evils that are inherent in marriage and love. She is the center of attention and to some extent, it can be concluded she is also used symbolically to represent the many women who, to the outside, they show how happy they are in marriage while they undergo torture within the marriage. Besides her having a heart problem, the narrator depicts her as a person who is not engaged in any type of work or manual labor, "as immobilized as her two snowy meagre hands" (Chopin 2).

Chopin depicts Louse Mallard as a suffering woman. She is not only suffering from her marriage but also suffering due to her heart condition. The story is portrayed as an effort to save Mrs. Mallard from harm. The bulletin of the demise of her mate seemed to have been her preliminary to freedom. She has been suffering in her marriage. The night before the newscast of the passing of her hubby, she had wished her life to be short. This reveals that she had already had enough of her marriage. She was to a point in her life where she would gladly welcome death to get freedom. This reveals that she respects the marriage institution that is supposed only to be ended by death. She has the opportunity to pack and leave but she knew well that in marriage there is no opportunity of leaving.

Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard to communicate what people view marriage from her perception. Mrs. Mallard thought marriage as an institution where two individuals had the right to enforce their rights on each other. But from how her husband treated her, she realized it was not the case. To her, marriage was slavery and that is the reason she finds joy from the broadcast of her spouse's demise. She is used symbolically to represent a lot of marriages today in which people are suffering and undergoing through torture. Mrs. Mallard is a fragile woman. She is frail in body and soul, the narrator indicates that she cries as a child "shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep" (Chopin 1). This reveals the weak nature of Mrs. Mallard. This might be the reason why she dies at the end of the story.

Mrs. Mallard has also been shown to be a modest widow after the death of her husband. After death, Mrs. Mallard develops a new insight into life. She starts to rediscover her surrounding, the trees, fluffy clouds, and the birds. Contrary to when we expected, she receives the news with a peculiar simplicity, unlike any other widow. She slightly cries but later seats in private and enjoys the moment. She can be described as patient, having a high level of tolerance. She had stayed in the marriage despite the fact that she was suffering from it. But her cunning nature is revealed by how she pretends to be shocked only later in her room it is revealed what a joy she finds in the death of her husband. She continues to keep the joy with herself.

However, even though she was required to show and remain in grief, the joy in her heart could not have stayed hidden, "There was a agitated conquest in her senses, and she conceded herself inadvertently like a deity of Conquest" (Chopin 3). Additionally, Mrs. Mallard has been metaphorically used. After her death, the doctors conclude that the cause of her death was joy, "joy that kills" (Chopin 3). It was not expected of her to be happy about the death of her husband but to be in total mourning. The resurrection was supposed to be a source of joy to her which she never wanted at all.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The story of an hour. Jimcin Recordings, 1981. Retrieved from http://k12.kitaboo.com/k12/ebookpdf/english05/chapter1.pdf