Comparing Story Of An Hour 'And An Act Of Vengeance'

In both The Story of an Hour and An Act of Vengeance, the female protagonists realize they’re trapped in a male dominated environment. Both Mrs. Mallard and Dulce Rosa are stuck in certain roles and are expected to fulfill specific expectations from males in their lives. It is important to notice the setting of these two stories. It was a time period in which women were not treated equally as men; the society the characters lived in expected them to be a certain way. In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard at some point had felt somewhat free when she was told her husband died. However, she then realized it was false when she saw him. The reader can clearly see that she was trapped, at least to some extent due to having to fit the typical wife
Mallard came to a realization after contemplating her husband's death "But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. " (Chopin 90). She noticed how she was free from her husband and would have been able to live her life more independently. She knew that she was somewhat being controlled or censored to some extent due to her husband. Notice that at the beginning of the story the readers are informed that Mrs. Mallard had heart problems. Her heart was quite symbolic of the central message in the piece. At first we learn that her heart is weak, which tells us she may be emotionally unstable. Later in the story when she reflects on her newfound freedom her heart is racing, now the heart was being described as very lively. “They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” (Chopin 90) It was clear that Mrs. Mallard was trapped in her situation of her having to fulfill a role, as a typical wife in order to serve her husband's desires she became overwhelmed and died from a heart
"Senator Anselmo Orellano looked into his daughter’s fifteen-year-old face and imagined what Tadeo Céspedes would do to her, but he saw great strength in Dulce Rosa’s transparent eyes, and he knew that she would survive to punish his executioner." (Allende 98) Dulce may not have noticed but from that moment she was cursed. Her father’s ghost, constantly reminding her she would surely avenge them both, would now haunt her. It is important to note that this was her father's expectation, perhaps even perceived as his dying wish. Later Dulce ends up falling in love with Tadeo, and it is clear that Tadeo wants to get married to her. "He wanted a party with fanfare, extravagance, and noise, one in which the entire town would participate...." He wanted to surround Dulce Rosa with affection and beauty, to give her everything that money could buy, to see if he could compensate in his later years for the evil he had done as a young man". (Allende 102) However Dulce finds herself stuck in a situation in which no matter what she chooses to do, she would be fulfilling a need of a man in her life. It would either be to get married to Tadeo as he desires, but she knew that her father would have never approved of such a thing. She chooses to commit suicide; it was the only way to end the fact that she was trapped in a world dominated by men's desires instead of