The story of an hour - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Keeping in view the role of women in late 19th century, marriage was considered as a long lasting bond which held more responsibilities on the feminine side to keep the relationship running smoothly. Culture and society didn’t approve the idea of dissatisfaction or change in companionship, as marriage was considered a sacred bond, meant to end with the death.
Mrs. Mallard never shared her discontentment to any one therefore her sister Josephine took her odd behavior into the consideration as grief stricken behavior. She seemed mentally stable and sane after receiving the death news and explored inside to realize her true emotions. Freedom and independence are two key elements which can not mingle up with the idea of marriage. Hence the result is compromise and negating one’s wishes, which can cause a full volcanic eruption of emotions of anonymous kind.
Mrs. Mallard as a woman in society and wife to Mr. Mallard was confined into unseen ties and boundaries. She saw her self as physically and mentally chained woman, who has to fulfill al the expectations. We don’t get a clear picture of Mr. Mallard’s relationship with Mrs. Millard to conclude it as abusive response by her. The dream to enjoy life to its fullest independently can only be a life long wish which turned her emotions completely from grief to joy. Mrs. Mallard doesn’t want to reveal her true feelings to anyone. Family and peers have some expectations and natural behavioral response from us. The pressure and impact their responses can produce are unenviable. Therefore in a close knitted family system one has to pretend according to the norms and customs of society to be considered as reasonable to all. Mrs. Mallard acts as a role model for those women, who do not lead a romantic and contended married life. They can not be called realist but pessimistic due to their sentimental swings. However, we can believe that Mrs. Mallard did not indulge her self into manual labor as the description her of physical attire tells us that she had a youthful look with smooth slender arms. Due to her weak heart she is being taken care by all the other characters, thus we can assess that none of the abuse is being done to her. She lived a financially sound and seemingly peaceful married life however her response to the news suggest that her relief is due to absence of true love for her husband. Mr. Mallard is given a minor role; we don’t get to know his true relationship with his wife how ever we can judge from his wife’s thoughts that he would have been nice to her. His role describes people who are constantly in a circular motion of financial struggle. They are engrossed in their work and striving to achieve aims so hard that they neglect unintentionally their family which leads to broken relationships and need based associations. Heart symbolizes love; Mrs. Mallard having heart troubles not only describes her unhealthy state but contains duel meaning in it. She just not was unhealthy due to weak heart but also had weak love life. Death is a fact of life, which is also a subtheme of the story. Death eventually was meant for Mrs. Mallard. All the characters are aware ...Download file to see next pagesRead More