Story Of An Hour Marriage Analysis

The views of marriage shown in “The Story of an Hour” is based on the marital roles from the 1900’s when women had very limited rights. Kate Chopin’s attitude in the story shows that marriage seems to deny women the right to practice their own independence or have a voice. Throughout the story the readers are frequently informed that Louise’s husband, Bentley Mallard, wasn’t an appalling man, but was the classic man of that time era. Therefore, readers can assume he loved his wife, however, superior to Louise in their relationship. This is apparent in several instances, all through “The Story of an Hour”. Kate uses the likely social norm of how one would react to a death of a loved one, but with Louise, her reaction was anything but what was expected of a grieving wife. In this story we see a woman who seems to be happily married, but when her husband passes, she feels “free” and can finally “live for herself”. In the beginning, Kate’s tone for Louise seems to be more hopeful when she discoveries her husband has passed, as the story draws to an unexpected end it turns to be more ironic.

“The Story of an Hour” opens the story with a woman by the name of Josephine, Louise’s sister, gently breaking the …show more content…
Of course she was saddened by her husband’s passing, but then again, Louise wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life grieving. Within one of the passages Kate states “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.” Kate’s tone for Louise in the opening of “The story of an Hour” is more optimistic, despite the fact we’re to assume the social norm for the feeling of grief and despair for the loss of a beloved and her sister’s tone is typical for a woman’s reaction to this nature of