Story Of An Hour Patriarchal Marriage
The Patriarchal Concept of Marriage
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” narrates the story of Mrs. Mallard, who unexpectedly dies when she has just started to live. Mrs. Mallard is broken the news of her husband’s passing and her thought process evolves from feeling “wild abandonment” to feeling free in her “body and soul.” Her acceptance of her circumstance comes to an end when she dies at the sight of seeing him, alive, walking through the door. Through the use of irony and symbolism the story critiques marriage and draws attention to the repression of women bound to the constructs of it.
One of the most vital things to notice in the story is the repetition in how everyone in the story perceives Mrs. Mallard. When viewing the story through a feminist criticism lens, her weakness and inferiority stems from the societal view that women are powerless in the marriage structure without the help of the patriarch. Mrs. Mallard is viewed by everyone as delicate …show more content…
One symbol used in “Story of an Hour” is Mrs. Mallard’s heart. The very first sentence informs the reader that she was “afflicted with heart trouble” and Chopin reminds the reader again of her “heart disease” in the last sentence of the story when the doctor diagnoses her death. The heart is central to Chopin’s critique of marriage because the heart and love represent the societal driven view that marriage and love are of the utmost importance in the time period’s culture. Her unhealthy heart symbolizes her emotional disconnection she feels inside her marriage and that “love” only represses and worsens her emotional and physical condition. Her heart troubles represent the vulnerability she feels not only with her heart, but also her vulnerability in marriage and how she is unable to shield herself from the injustices that the institution of marriage in the 19th century upholds where women are inferior to
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” narrates the story of Mrs. Mallard, who unexpectedly dies when she has just started to live. Mrs. Mallard is broken the news of her husband’s passing and her thought process evolves from feeling “wild abandonment” to feeling free in her “body and soul.” Her acceptance of her circumstance comes to an end when she dies at the sight of seeing him, alive, walking through the door. Through the use of irony and symbolism the story critiques marriage and draws attention to the repression of women bound to the constructs of it.
One of the most vital things to notice in the story is the repetition in how everyone in the story perceives Mrs. Mallard. When viewing the story through a feminist criticism lens, her weakness and inferiority stems from the societal view that women are powerless in the marriage structure without the help of the patriarch. Mrs. Mallard is viewed by everyone as delicate …show more content…
One symbol used in “Story of an Hour” is Mrs. Mallard’s heart. The very first sentence informs the reader that she was “afflicted with heart trouble” and Chopin reminds the reader again of her “heart disease” in the last sentence of the story when the doctor diagnoses her death. The heart is central to Chopin’s critique of marriage because the heart and love represent the societal driven view that marriage and love are of the utmost importance in the time period’s culture. Her unhealthy heart symbolizes her emotional disconnection she feels inside her marriage and that “love” only represses and worsens her emotional and physical condition. Her heart troubles represent the vulnerability she feels not only with her heart, but also her vulnerability in marriage and how she is unable to shield herself from the injustices that the institution of marriage in the 19th century upholds where women are inferior to