Interpreting Kate Chopin's "Story On An Hour"
Interpreting Kate Chopin’s “The Story on an Hour”
The constitution of marriage and male dominance is anent in “The Story of an Hour.” It takes place in the 19th century where women suffered from social, political, and cultural inequality. In addition, the short story observes three key elements of dramatic structure in which it takes place in a day, one location, and a singles story line without any subplots. Along with the theme of women’s suffrage Kate Chopin probes psychological ambiguity in “The Story of an Hour” through numerous figures of speech and symbolism.
There are four main characters. Brently Mallard is the husband of Mrs. Mallard and is the supposed victim of the train accident. Mrs. Mallard is the protagonist of the story. In Paragraph 16, states the following:
“Josephine was kneeling her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. “Louise, open the door”. It is in that instant her sister Josephine reveals Mrs. Mallard’s first name: Louise. In Michael J. Cummings, Cummings Study Guides, he suggests that the author delayed revealing her given name because she lacked individuality and identity until her husband’s reported death that liberated her. The irony n Mrs. Mallard’s own name is that Louise is a feminine form of the masculine Louis. So even though Mrs. Mallard takes back her identity it is in part a male identity introducing its theme of male dominance. Mr. Richards is a supporting character and is Mr. Mallard’s friend. He reports Mr. Mallard’s death to Josephine and Mrs. Mallard. Mr. Richards in addition, attempts to block Mrs. Mallard from seeing the sight of her live husband at the climax of the story which in my opinion is unrealistic and irrelevant. Mrs. Mallard is bound to discover her husband alive, causing heart attack even so.
“The Story an Hour”, manifests on women’s suffrage in society. Their place was in the home and given little rights socially and politically, making it a male-dominated society....
View Full Essay
