Irony behind marriage that overrules the lives of the women in both the genres of literature - Essay Example

? Compare and Contrast two Literary Works Irony behind marriage that overrules the lives of the women in both the genres of literature ‘The Story of an Hour’ is a short story written by Kate Chopin (1850-1904) and ‘The Proposal’ a one act play is written by Anton Chekhov (1860-1904). Both the authors belonged to the early nineteenth century. This period saw lot of social and cultural changes. The Industrial revolution brought a great change in the social status of the people. The pragmatic society largely changed the conservative values of the people of that period. Women’s life in the nineteenth century largely revolved around marriage and home. Education was only available to the upper class women. Life of the working class women was a persistent period of hard work and drudgery. They worked on farms and factories. In marriage, majority women had very little choice of their own. Everything that a woman owned belonged to her husband. In the patriarchal society male members of the family always made the final decision and women had no right to disobey or contradict the man of the family. Women during the Victorian period were considered very inferior to men. They were denied legal rights. Women had to be financially dependent on the male members of the family because they were not allowed to secure a job outside their home. The role of the Victorian women was limited to the home front where marriage was her only profession where she fulfilled her duties even against her will. Kate Chopin in all her works tried to explore female spiritual liberation. She searched for an understanding of personal liberty that questioned conservative demands of both men and women. Her thought process was not only limited to the physical liberation of a woman in the man’s worlds, rather she emphasized on the intellectual freedom of the women of that period of time. Anton Chekhov belonged to Russia and was famous for his plays. Humor played a key role in most of his works. Through his play ‘The Proposal’ Chekhov mocks at the system of marriage that was prevalent at that period of time. Marriage at that time in Russia was a medium of enhancement in the economic life of the people. Women had no right over their property and after the marriage the entire property of the bride’s family belonged to her husband. Marriage is a social institution which rules the entire life and thought process of both Natalia and Mrs. Mallard and reflects their helpless that occurred due to the male dominance of the society. Chopin’s ‘The story of an Hour’, presents a character Mrs. Mallard who considers a life outside the marital bond. Mrs. Mallard is the main protagonist of the story who learns about the accidental death of her husband Mr. Mallard from her sister Louise and her husband’s friend Richards. Initially Mrs. Mallard laments over the death of her husband but later when she realizes her husband’s death has actually opened all the doors of her physical and intellectual freedom, she becomes happy. Mrs. Mallard who was the victim of male oppression is now free to lead a life of her own. Mrs. Mallard becomes happy to realize that now she can lead a life that she never expected to experience. The protagonist of the story is suppressed by the patriarchal society. Mrs. Mallard was denied to do things she wanted and her entire life was dominated by her husband. Chekhov’s play ‘The Proposal’ reflects the same helpless condition of the women where a marriage plays an important role in this one act play. Women were dependent on marriage because marriage provided them with all kind of security especially economic security. Even a woman of a wealthy family had to get married because she had no right over her father’s property. In this one act play, Chekhov describes the intention behind the proposal of marriage between two wealthy families is just to increase their properties which according to the prevalent norm of the society was a good economic sense. Ivan Lomov a rich and long time neighbor of Stepan Chubukov has come with the intention of marrying Chubukov’s daughter Natalia. Natalia’s father approves of her daughter’s marriage with Ivan. After seeking permission from her father Ivan goes to Natalia’s room to propose her. But before Ivan could convey his love for her they both got involved in petty arguments regarding The Oxen Meadow. The Oxen Meadow is a disputed land which is located in between their respective estates and each of them argue over their ownership over that disputed land. After the argument got resolved between Ivan and Natalia over The Oxen Meadow, they again start fighting over the superiority of their dogs. Though by the end of the play both Ivan and Natalia agrees to marry each other but their argument over trivial things continues. Through this farce, Chekhov satirizes the marriage system of Russia that was prevalent in the upper middle class of the society. The author reflects through his play the dilemma between the real desire of the characters and the practice of marriage that the people of that era had to follow. Marriage to gain property and wealth was a big social pressure on the people so they had to compromise with wrong partner throughout their life just to satisfy the social convention of the nineteenth century. Context or Theme Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’ is a short story which consists of colorful and descriptive dialogue. Through the dialogues the helpless and neglected condition of the protagonist is beautifully described. When Mrs. Mallard heard the news of her husband’s accidental death she was shocked and miserable but to the surprise of the readers she later rejoiced the idea of her husband’s death whom she never loved, because she will be able to enjoy the freedom that was denied to her by her husband. She realized that at last she will be able to get what she has craved for a long time, which is her freedom. The idea of liberation from the suffocating life brought immense joy to the mind of Mrs. Mallard. Though Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death provides a great suspicion and complexity about her mental state but it is clear to the readers that her marriage was far away from being a healthy relationship. The author of the story uses different symbols and situations which describes the inner state of the protagonist while she is confined in her room searching for the new meaning of her life. Mrs. Mallard looks outside her room’s window and sees, smells, hears and enjoys every color of nature like listening to the chirping birds, smelling the rain etc. Every activity of nature calms her down from the sudden uproar of emotion and helps her to realize and enjoy her freedom. Mrs. Mallard kept on repeating in her mind that she is now free and can lead a liberated life from the dominance of her husband. She believes that she is free from within and rejoices that she is a liberated woman from her body and soul. When Mrs. Mallard stepped out from her room, she was completely transformed into a new liberated woman both mentally and spiritually. At the end of the story when Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband is alive and was not killed in the accident, she dies of heart failure, “of joy that kills” (Chopin, n.d,p.3) It was a tragic end of not only the life of Mrs. Mallard but also her dreams, hopes and aspirations of leading a liberated life. Marriage in this story plays an important role which overrules the entire life of Mrs. Mallard robbing her off from all the happiness and joy related to freedom from her life. Chekhov, a Russian writer mocks at the system of marriage in his one act play ‘The Proposal’ that was prevalent in Russia at that period of time. Marriage in this play also leads a major role. Marriage for women was a necessity in those days because it provided them with economic security. The true desire of a woman about her life partner was overruled by financial security. A woman had to get married to a man of sound economic background without having a high regard for him. Natalia the main protagonist of the play hardly had any respect for Ivan but still she had agreed in marriage with him, “Yes, yes, I’m willing” (Chekhov,1916) because Ivan would provide a permanent economic security to her and marriage was a rule and social pressure for a women at that era. There are many themes around which the characters of the play revolved. The author creates misunderstanding between Ivan and Natalia related to the real ownership of The Oxen Meadow and the superiority in the breed of both of their dogs which leads to their heated argument. The author satirizes the prudence of the people who belonged to the existing upper middle class and upper class of the society regarding the tradition of marriage. Marriage among the people of the upper class was just performed to increase their property and estates as was the conventional norm of the society. Here in this play Ivan proposes to Natalia for marriage in spite of several differences in their emotional and intellectual compatibility because both of them belonged to the wealthy family and marriage with Natalia meant inheritance and ownership of her entire properties by Ivan. A strong sense of fakeness revolves around the plot of the play. Both Ivan and Natalia pretends to like each other and at the beginning of the play they both behave very politely and cordially with the intention of impressing each other but the reality behind their actually feelings gets revealed through their argument. All the characters of the play were well aware of their true feelings for each other but they were forced to pretend just to live up to the traditional marriage norm that was practiced in then society. Form and Style ‘The Story of an Hour’ written by Chopin includes different form and style. This short story is very short in length written in less than thousand words. This story involves a philosophical message which can be recognized universally by the readers. Ideas play a primary role which dominates the protagonist and the place. Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death was not influenced by the social and cultural conditioning. Chopin portrays marriage as an institution which has the strength to squeeze an individual identity and a social right to the men to devastate the life of their wives. Mrs. Mallard’s life and freedom was squeezed by her husband. The knowledge about the suffering of women in the patriarchal society is not only acquired by reading this story rather readers can also acquire this knowledge by observing directly to the similar incidents that are taking place in the entire world. (Walker, 2001, p.146) Chopin blends the sense of self recognition and realization through the depiction of the character of Mrs. Mallard. Chopin carefully points out that self realization is a general issue and is not only restricted to the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard transformed into a new women when she understands that her individuality was distorted due to her marriage with Mr. Mallard. (Oatley, 2011, p. 171) Chekhov always searched for new forms and styles to incorporate in his works. He was mainly influenced by art and socio economic background of Russia and provided entertainment to his readers through his literary works. He used strong elements of caricature through the usage of his characters, language, theme and situations. He humanized his characters as realistic intricate individuals who portrayed the social scenario of his times. His main focus was the theme of his works and the message that his works will reveal to the readers and the audiences. He broke all the conventional methods and established entertainment in different direction by using meaningful comedy which comprises of a social message and awareness. His vaudevilles were a reflection of realism. Chekhov used the elements of exaggeration and bizarre in his one act plays through his comic characterization. As a form of the play he provided subtitle to all his plays. All these forms and styles have been incorporated in Chekhov’s one act play ‘The Proposal’. (Gottlieb, 2010, pp. 44 – 47) Both the genre of literature reflects the importance of marriage in the life of women and the way marriage controls and squeezes out the individuality of the women. Mrs. Mallard was the victim of male dominance in the society where as Natalia also suppresses her true image of her husband and agrees to marry Ivan due to social pressure with whom she has no compatibility. The characters of both the play and the short story are ruled by the social norm and their lives revolve around the rigid social and marriage structure of the society. Chekhov and Chopin both represent the same generation and the same theme in both their works. They both have introduced new forms and styles in their works and opened new scope for other literary scholars References Chekhov, A. (1916). The Proposal. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons Chopin, K. The Story of an Hour, Short stories, Retrieved on August 1, 2011 from: URL http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/StorHour.shtml#top Gottlieb, V. (2010). Chekhov and the Vaudeville. Cambridge University Press Oatley, K. (2011). Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons Walker, K. (2001). Kate Chopin. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Read More