Paper Topic:

Symbolism and Foreshadowing in The Story of an Hour by Chopin

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English Literature

8 October 2008

The Story of an Hour : Symbolism and Foreshadowing

Kate Chopin 's short story The Story of an Hour ' illustrates the dichotomy between the roles Victorian women enacted on the social stage and their inner selves confined within the walls of their thought process . Preconceived notions of conventional behavior are contradicted in the atypical conduct and consciousness of Mrs . Mallard . The texture of the story is fraught with symbolism and foreshadowing elements to add to the interplay between the expected and the actuality

p The story revolves around the reaction of the widow to the sudden news of her husband 's death , her sense of loud grief , the subsequent dawn of elation at her unexpected freedom , the return of her husband - travel-worn but alive , and the surprise end with her shocked demise died of heart disease - of joy that kills (Chopin 5 . The other two characters present - the husband 's friend , Roberts and Mrs . Mallard 's sister , Josephine act as foil to the female protagonist of the story their behavior deemed proper to the occasion and age , while the apparently widowed lady presented as deviant to the norm of the Victorian woman . Kate Chopin depicts the psyche of a woman (Mrs . Louise Mallard ) within the walls of relationships . For the protagonist relationships were a burden of obligations , expectations and responsibilities . Death of her husband was in reality a freeing of the social and emotional shackles which chained her soul . The return of her husband , alive , is a shocking disintegration of her dreams of freedom the shards of which pierce her heart fatally

The title at the very outset of the story foreshadows the events to follow - The Story of an Hour ' not only aligns to the classical unities of time , place and action but also anticipates that the turbulent events to unfold will initiate and terminate within the span of an hour - from the news of her husband 's death to the reaction and finally the unexpected death of Mrs . Mallard . Within the frame of an hour , the story of a lifetime (literally ) is packed and presented Again , the opening line foreshadows the conclusion - Knowing that Mrs Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble , great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband 's death (Chopin 3 . The weak heart condition of the protagonist makes her death at the sudden shock of seeing her husband alive seem plausible , and rounds up the story conclusively

The widowed woman 's reaction predicts her unusual temperament - unlike the typical dumbfounded reception of the news of her husband 's accidental death , she breaks down into noisy grief , loud cries which exhaust her physically , causing her to retreat into the privacy of her own room . The room itself houses many of the symbols the authoress uses to manifest Mrs . Mallard 's inner self and consciousness . The door shut to the outside world indicates her seclusion from the expectations of social behavior , walling...

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