I'm going to talk through the story of an hour by Kate Chapan. This is in preparation for your Edexcel IGCSE English Language exam paper two. Normally when I cover a poem or an extract I will read through the whole thing. I won't be doing that for this because that would make for a really long video and it would be very boring.
So I'm only going to talk about the parts of this short story that I think are of most use to you walking into the paper two exam. So I will not be mentioning absolutely everything about the short story. Please read through at least twice before you watch this video and make sure that you've really thought about your own interpretations first before exposing yourself to anyone else's thoughts on this short story. So the title, The Story of an Hour. Story refers to the form of the text.
It is a short story, it's fictional, but you could say it also relates to... The story that Mrs Mallard tells herself, that being the story of her life post her husband's death, something to look forward to, this new beginning and what we learn is that it's just a fantasy in the end because actually her husband is still alive. So the story that she tells herself of this wonderful free new life is actually incredibly unlikely.
And in terms of the noun hour, this relates to the amount of time that passes in this short story. Now, it wouldn't take you an hour to read the story, but it is covering the events that would take place over the span of an hour. So what might that link to? Does it represent the brief moment of joy, the brief moment of escape that Mrs. Mallard experiences during her marriage?
Is this the only? moment of joy um the the only time she's ever felt free uh try and link it to Chopin's message which is really about marriage it's not about Mrs Mallard and whether she's a good person and it's certainly not about her husband and whether he's a good person it's really a commentary about marriage what she's trying to say is that marriage in itself regardless of who's being married um is it's very difficult for those within it to enjoy life because actually it forces them to conform to certain expectations. So initially we are presented with an image of a woman who is very fragile as we learn that Mrs Mallard has heart trouble. So she is physically weak, she is in poor health and that foreshadows the end of the short story when she does in fact die.
But you could also further this interpretation you by suggesting that this is a metaphor potentially for her unhappy marriage and again this is not specific to this marriage. Chapan was really trying to criticise marriage in general so it's not just Mrs Mallard and her husband that are unhappy in marriage. Really Chapan is arguing that many people would be.
Look at the phrases highlighted in yellow. These represent the way that Josephine, her sister, and Richard, her husband's friend, look at Mrs Mallard in this fragile way. So they speak to her with great care, they speak to her gently, in broken sentences, in veiled hints. So they're very, very careful breaking the news to her of her husband's death. So they are very protective of her, they're very sensitive to the fact that she's in poor health.
But you could say that actually the way they view Mrs Mallard is in line with the way society viewed women. Women were seen at this point, this is late 1800s, as the weaker gender. And so their expectations is that she won't be able to handle this news. And she's about to surprise them and us. So what we notice actually are some hints quite early on in this short story that she isn't like the stereotypical woman.
It says that she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same. And in contrast to the typical woman who would be paralyzed and unable to accept the fact that their husband had gone. She weeps at once. So what that does show, at least, is that she was upset. And it's really important not to oversimplify this relationship and say, well, she obviously didn't love her husband.
She hated him because she ends up feeling quite happy about the situation. It's not that simple. She does feel upset, as we know, because she weeps at once. But you might argue the fact that she does weep so quickly, in contrast to other women, who find it really difficult to accept the news initially, might suggest that subconsciously there was a willingness to accept that news, even if she hasn't quite realised it herself. Focus on the adjective wild in terms of the way that she reacts to this news.
Wild has connotations of being free-spirited, of being untamed. That's the complete contrast to how a woman of this time should behave. So again, we're continually getting these hints. that she's not quite the woman that people might expect her to be or society would expect her to be.
Her grief is described as a storm. So that's obviously a metaphor. It might suggest it is her grief is short lived, just like a storm will eventually end and we will move past it.
She will move past this grief and get over her husband's death. And also she insists on being alone. And again, this is in contrast. to the expectations of what a woman would be like. A woman was seen as weaker and therefore incredibly dependent on men.
But she seems to take comfort in her own company in this situation. We also have the use of the symbol of the open window and the open square. So as she's facing the open window, she's looking at the open square.
These are symbols of freedom. And again... I'm sure she's not aware of the way she's thinking at the moment, but maybe subconsciously she is looking for signs outside the window that all represent this freedom that actually is what her husband's death means for her. Linking this to context, during this time, a woman would only gain rights to her property through widowhood.
So this is the only way that she would gain. some sort of autonomy in her life is through her husband's death. So again I don't think this is to suggest that Mrs Mallard is a cruel person but she is really a victim of the times because being a woman meant that she wouldn't have had the freedoms that we enjoy now. Also notice that she sits in a comfortable armchair.
It seems to be at odds with the situation. She's expected to feel the opposite to comfort. she's supposed to feel great grief but instead she seems to be quite comfortable however that does contrast with the personification of this physical exhaustion that's taken over her it's described as pressing down on her haunting her body and reaching into her soul so again we must come back to this idea that she is incredibly upset at this moment it shouldn't take away from the fact that she is upset over her husband she's not 100% heartless at but she will get over it and we see the fact that she will get over it it through the use of pathetic fallacy it's almost like the natural world offers signs and hints of what her life will look like beyond her her husband's death the trees are a quiver um there's new spring life she notices the delicious breath of rain she hears the peddler crying his wares and she hears the birds twittering so At this point, her senses seem to be extremely heightened.
She's become very much aware of what's happening outside her window. And that's important as well, because that's the public sphere. And at this time in the late 1800s, the public sphere belonged to the men.
And it's interesting that suddenly she's becoming very much aware of what's happening outside her home. But also those things in the natural world seem to... mirror that nervous excitement that she deep down is feeling about her husband's death. Another bit of symbolism here are the patches of blue sky. So yes, it's cloudy.
You might argue that the cloud... Cloudy sky represents this terrible moment, her husband's death, but there are patches of blue sky, a symbol of hope, the fact that there are sunnier days, clearer skies ahead of her. And she also is facing the west.
I don't think it's an accident that Chopin mentions the fact that her window faces the west. What happens in the west? The sun sets, it's the end of the day.
So that really represents or symbolizes the end of one life for her that being her married life but of course for the day to end comes a new day and so I think this is all representing this the end of this married life and the beginning of a very new exciting life of widowhood for her. Again to support this idea that she is upset you look at the way her emotions take over her her crying is personified a sob came up into her throat and shook her so she's not in control of her emotions at this moment and the simile here really creates this vulnerable image of her as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams so there is something really vulnerable at this moment about her she's really been shaken by this news I found it quite surprising at the beginning of this paragraph to learn that she was young. To begin this short story mentioning her heart trouble, I just assumed that she was much older. So it's interesting to read that she was young.
And for me, that emphasises the physical toll marriage has on women. At least I think that's what Chapan is trying to say. And that's supported with these lines she has that bespoke repression. So again, does that link to this restrictive nature of marriage, especially if you're linking it to women? And if you think about the fact that women were expected to stay in the home, women did not have control over property.
They could not earn their own money. They were expected to be dependent on their husband. All those things suggest that she's really been repressed during her married life.
But again, we've got that. that little hint haven't we that they also show a certain strength and ability for her to get past her husband's death and live a fulfilled life we have repetition here of those patches of blue sky so again it just reminds us that she has a hopeful future future ahead of her um it's interesting that she has some sort of thought but it says here um you A suspension of intelligent thought. It suggests that at this moment, even though there's been all these hints that life is going to be fine, all those kind of signs from nature outside her window, she has this suspension of intelligent thought.
It's almost like she's conditioned to mourn rather than rejoice. So at the moment, she's responding in the way that she knows she's supposed to. Okay, you're supposed to be upset.
if you hear this news about your husband dying. But in the next paragraph, we start to see that changing. She starts to sense some sort of feeling. She doesn't quite know what it is. She doesn't even know how to give it a name.
She refers to it as it. What was it? Okay, so this question here suggests that she's never experienced this kind of feeling. I would argue that feeling is a sense of joy and freedom.
And it's clearly through the use of a question highlights that that feeling is alien to her. She's never felt real joy and she's never felt real freedom in her married life and it's only through widowhood that she's able to experience this sense of excitement and of course that would link to Chopin's message about marriage. Look at the personification of this feeling, it's creeping out of the sky, it's reaching towards her. So it suggests again that she's not really in control of this feeling of joy and excitement.
She can't help it and she's almost overwhelmed by it as well. And then finally in the next paragraph, she finally realises and recognises what she's feeling and what's her reaction. She strives to beat it back with her will. So that's clearly a metaphor, she's not literally beating anything back.
But again, it comes back to this idea that as a woman, she has been conditioned to respond in a certain way. So when feeling excited and feeling joy, she automatically wants to beat it back. because it feels wrong.
It goes against societal expectations of her. And then it's clear at this point that she realises how she feels and what was that sensation. She's excited and she shouts, or she doesn't shout, sorry, she whispers, free, free, free. I would argue this is the moment of epiphany. where this sudden realization of what her husband's death means to her it means that she is free the repetition of free emphasizes the repressive nature of marriage it reminds us of how um oppressive marriage can be for a woman um in the in these times and the exclamation as well shows that excitement um and then notice what happens and how she changes you Her pulses beat fast and the coursing blood warmed her body.
This is a real contrast to the fragile image that we began with in the at the beginning of the short story. She is alive whereas before it sounded like she was an old woman. It's interesting that she doesn't even consider she doesn't even want to consider if this it's right to feel this way. She's extremely dismissive. of even considering whether this is right or wrong.
She has a clear and exalted perception, which enables her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. This is a moment of enlightenment for her. What she has realised is that she's not going to waste her time wondering whether this is a terrible thing, wondering whether this is a monstrous joy. She's realised that her happiness and her freedom is much more important than conforming to societal expectations and... drowning in grief.
I think what Chopin does here in this paragraph is really important. She describes the husband in a really positive way. He's described as kind, tender and he loved her. So I find that really important because what we could do is read this short story and just say yeah the reason why she was happy is because he was horrible to her.
The fact that he wasn't turns our attention to marriage itself rather than this particular relationship and I think Chopin through that encourages us to really question the nature of marriage and how it can be oppressive for both man and woman and we'll come back to that in a moment. So even though she does think about the fact that she will weep again and she does think about how wonderful her husband was so again comes back to this idea that she did love him that's Very quickly contrasted with these monosyllables, this really blunt tone, the fact that he's going to be fixed and grey and dead. And there's something really quite blunt and harsh, really, about the kind of harsh truth of his death.
And then she really very quickly turns from reflecting on how her husband was to thinking about the future. So she's very much more focused on that and that's what brings her joy and excitement. She's going to have a long procession of years to come and notice the repetition of there would be, there would be no.
So there's going to be no one to live for during those coming years. She would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature. That's really important because what she's saying here is she's looking forward to only living for herself and not be manipulated by anyone else. Chopin's really important to mention that this happens for men and women so this becomes a commentary much more on marriage itself rather than marriage and its effects on women she's saying that men and women are both victims of marriage and of course the personification here highlights the overpowering nature of marriage on an individual look how reflective she is again and yet she had loved him you sometimes so the dash really reflects a pause and I'd say in that pause she's re-evaluating the way she felt about her husband she's been reflective and she realizes that they didn't have this romanticized marriage which is which would have been encouraged that time maybe an unrealistic portrayal of marriage and of a relationship but she she loved him sometimes but look at the short sentence the blunt truth is that she often she had not you So she's really facing the realities of her relationship.
And what she really focuses on instead is this excitement that she possesses self-assertion. And she realizes that it's the strongest impulse of her. being the exclamation here shows her excitement in realizing her independence and realizing that it's way more important to her than being in a loving relationship and again we have this rejoiceful tone when she whispers free body and soul free the nouns body and soul indicate marriage has a physical emotional mental impact it takes over a person completely And now she is free of it.
This is quite interesting. There's definitely dramatic irony in this next part when we see the sister begging for her sister, Mrs Mallard, who we now learn is called Louise, to open the door. And she assumes that she must be making herself ill. So again, this is dramatic irony because we know that she's actually really excited and thinking about her future.
So again we see Josephine viewing her sister in the way that society would expect a woman to behave. She assumes that she's making herself ill but we know that actually she's getting extremely excited. Interestingly we learn that Mrs Mallard's first name is Louise.
It's not an accident that Chopin mentions her first name at this point. I think it's at this point just as she's been whispering free body and soul free. She's free of her husband, she's free of marriage, and Mrs Mallard is obviously a representation of her being a married woman and belonging to her husband.
So there's no accident there that we learn that her name is Louise and she's gaining her own identity at this point in the short story. And in contrast to how her sister expects her to feel ill, in contrast, she's drinking in a very elixir of life. So...
This is not just a contrast to her sister's expectations but to societal expectations of women and how they should react to their husband's death. The metaphor here suggests that she is taking on this magical transformation. This is unbelievable how much she has changed already within this hour. And then look again at her focusing on the future. She talks of spring days and summer days, these being seasons that represent new life.
and happiness. This for me, I find extremely exposing of her life and what it was like before. She starts to pray that life might be long.
And it was only yesterday that she shuddered life might be long. And so we've got a real antithesis. She has changed completely. The day before, she wanted life to end. And now she's praying that life lasts for a very long time so she's got this completely new outlook on life but I think this encourages the reader to really feel sympathy for Mrs Mallard how unhappy must she have been to have wished life to end just the day before and I think that reiterates Chopin's message that marriage was not something that brought joy to individuals And then I love the image that's created when she finally leaves the room and she walks down the stairs with her sister.
And she's described with a simile like a goddess of victory. It's almost like widowhood gives her this power. Widowhood has made her a winner in life. And we've got this powerful female image, her clasping her sister's waist.
descending the stairs together and symbolically Richard's the man being at the bottom. So it's almost like she as a woman has been elevated through widowhood. But of course we have the plot twist.
Because her husband comes home, it ends up being a mistake. He has not been killed in an accident. And this very ordinary image contrasts with that melodramatic play. goddess image that we've just read and so she is very quickly brought back to reality he's there travel stained carrying his grip sack and an umbrella and we've got this ambiguous piercing cry it's not that ambiguous to us we know that piercing cry is the disappointing cry a shock whereas the characters in this scene would assume that maybe she's extremely happy and we that's supported by the fact that the doctors believe that she has died of the joy that kills and this is dramatic irony because we know that she's died not of the joy that kills but of the disappointment instead. So my advice is just make sure that you're linking this to the wider message.
Don't focus so much on how cruel it seems that Mrs Mallard is happy about her husband's death. It's much more a case of Chopin trying to reinforce how terrible marriage can be for individuals, especially of this time, so much so that they would find happiness in a terrible situation like someone's death. As always, please share your comments. I love reading through them.
I love seeing other people's interpretations. So feel free to share.