Essay Comparing Story Of An Hour And The Birthmark

Death is a dreadful ending to any story that is written. It also brings a different kind of feeling to the end of the thoughts about the character. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” the female characters’ deaths are not always an awful ending to a life that was already suffering. In “The Birthmark,” Georgiana reaches a time in her life where her husband has taken control of her mentally and physically; she didn’t realize that her death would be the best thing for her. Chopin explains in her short story “The Story of an Hour” that death would come to an unexpected person but for good reasons. An article called, “Why Death Is Not Bad for the One Who Died,” by David Suits provides reasons why death can be a good thing to the victim both physically and mentally. Deborah Carr describes in her article “A Good Death for Whom?” that a “good death” is escaping the physical and mental abuse from a spouse. Comparing and contrasting these two stories will give a good indication as to why death is not a bad thing …show more content…
In “The Birthmark,” Georgiana is wanting to please her husband because of the love that she has for him despite the controlling factor he brings upon her. She at one point cries in the middle of the night because her husband was not satisfied by the way she looks on a level that she cannot help because she was born with the birthmark on her face. In “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard in the book’s sense does not care much for her husband at all. Chopin states that, “she would live for herself.” What Chopin means by saying this is that Mrs. Mallard would not have to be living for someone else and to please her husband; she is now free to live on her own time and follow her own rules. Death is not considered to be a haunting process; death can be painful until it is accepted and satisfied that the victim is now approaching pain-free