Public Domain
Discuss how the theme of the Emily Dickinson poem “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour.” In order to receive credit, you must refer to the totality of the poem, not just the first four lines. Please include direct quotes from the poem to support your points.
Please be sure to include your section number at the end of your response. There are 3 sections of students in our big discussion group!
Also, address comments to others by name so we can all follow along.
124 thoughts on “Week 8 Discussion”
In the poem “The Wife”, Dickinson wanted to describe what its like to go from being a young girl to becoming a wife. The poem voices a young girl before getting married and how her like changes after marriage. In the first part of the poem, it shows that the young girl has left “the playthings in her life” meaning that she is moving on from her own life or enjoyment and is getting married. In the second part, it describes what the young girl, who is now a woman, the things she missed if she were to be an individual versus becoming a married woman. In the last part of the poem, the woman stays silent about it like the ocean and the only one who understands her sacrifice is her husband.
The poem shows a very similar theme to “The Story of an Hour” where both women shows how they cannot tolerate the married life. Naturally, when people find out that their significant other has died, they are usually heartbroken and devastated but in “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard shows otherwise. When she learned about the death of her husband, she felt grief at first but then realized she was happy because she was freed from her husband. Mrs. Mallard has found her independence again and and a promise for a better life but when her husband comes back she is shocked that her hope for a better life was shattered.
Another theme that the poem and story both share that are similar is the loss of freedom. In the poem the young girl needs to give herself up to become a wife and respect her husbands needs and wants. In the story, Mrs. Mallard realizing that she is really not freed, dies from a heart attack.
Section 0503
Hello Angela. The irony brought upon by Copin’s decision to kill off Louise Mallard due to, as you state, the feeling of not being really freed which puts her in the state of a heart attack is a point that you make that is really important to the understanding of the story as it puts the pieces together as to the overall theme of the story. The way in which you interpret “The Wife” is very interesting as I had not interpreted the end with the characteristics of items found in the ocean to her being like the ocean by staying silent about the things in life she now misses. This interpretation opened my eyes to another way of viewing this section of the poem as it is a difficult end to comprehend.
Angela, this is a good post. You’ve covered important themes that link the story and poem. I was hoping, however, to see more direct quotes from the poem in its totality.
Emily Dickinson’s “The Wife” and Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” were both written during the same period of time in which woman oppression was the norm in society. Both topics relate to the oppression of marriage, even going as far as deliberately pointing out the downfalls of married life. This is done by the two writers describing what women’s lives are like after marriage in which they are at that point forward just property to their husband rather than a living being. The hour in which the title of Chopin’s short story states can be depicted as the hour in which Louise is happiest in her life. This is due to the hour consisting of her realization of a life of freedom. A life of not losing their true selves. As Dickinson explains, dropping their past life and individuality to become a wife. Unlike Chopin’s easily understandable way of getting this message of the joy of being free as it relates to not having to confide in another for the rest of their life through the story’s irony, Dickinson describes it within her poem in metaphorical terms. However, they both bring the readers the message in intriguing ways.
Section 0503
Richard, all your comments are well taken and astute. As I noted to Angela, I was looking for direct quotes from the poem that can be applied to the story.
“The Wife” of Emily Dickinson is a salvation poem. Where a woman eagerly awaits the moment to be saved. The poem unfolds in a time count. Where the woman cannot wait for that last night to pass and stop being single. The poem refers to singleness as a curse that heavy and has to be freed from. On the contrary, in “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard is happy to think that her husband died. Mrs. Mallard sees being single as a blessing and can’t wait to be single again. The relationship between “The Wife” and Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state is one of disappointment. While the woman in the poem can’t wait to become a wife, Mrs. Mallard is happy at the idea of being single again. They are totally opposite feelings. Different points of view of things. Perhaps the woman in the poem did not know what married life was like. And perhaps Mrs. Mallard didn’t know what it meant to be a single middle-aged woman. Mrs. Mallard dies suddenly knowing that her desire to be free was nothing more than confusion. The relationship is from the angle from where you look at things.
Section 0534
Raquel, you have a good understanding of the themes of the poem and story. As I’ve mentioned to others, I’d like to hear more direct quotes from the poem in the discussion.
Hi Raquel, I agree that Mrs.Mallard was happy at the idea of her being single again. I too believed that she longed for her independence when it came to her husband. The two woman ignored their self desires and lived their life for their husbands and not for themselves. It’s almost as if they both were not ready for the marriage life
Both the poem “The Wife” and the story “The Story of an Hour” exhibit a theme of womanhood. In “The Wife” Dickinson describes the stages of womanhood when a woman becomes a wife. In the first part “She rose to his requirement, dropped the playthings of her life” this describes when a woman becomes a wife she drops all the things in her life her husband doesn’t approve of or things that do not fit in his life in order “to take the honorable work of woman and of wife.” In the second part of the poem, its speaks about all the things she might miss that are not involved in her new life. These things she doesn’t speak of, they gradually disappear from her mind. In the last part “it lay unmentioned, as the sea develops pearl and weed but only to himself is known the fathoms they abide.” This part describes the things that she may miss that gradually disappeared from her mind she doesn’t talk about, she lets them settle in the deepest part of her mind. This poem relates to “The Story of an Hour” because when Mrs. Mallard hears of her husband’s death she grieves at first but then realizes she is free from him. She is free to do the things she likes to do she doesn’t have some one to live for anymore, “she would live for herself”.
section:0534
Michaela, thank you for this excellent discussion of the poem and its relation to the story, including specific quotes that run throughout the entire poem. For me, the silent suppression of unhappiness, as expressed in the Dickinson lines about the metaphorical pearls and weeds of the sea that bury the woman’s emotions is so strongly felt in the Chopin story.
Hi Michaela,
I enjoyed reading your comment about the poem and the story. I too think that Mrs. Mallard experienced different emotions when she found out about what happened to her husband.
The interesting part about her emotions was that she felt happy and hopeful when she heard that her husband has died, even though she mentions that sometimes she loved her husband.
But she still loved the vision of her freedom more.
I believe the desire to be free and independent is the common point of the story and the poem. This shows that women (like any human being) want to be in charge of their lives, but the pressure on them to act as it is expected from them is so high that they feel that they have to obey the unfair rules of their society. As you mentioned correctly in the poem Dickinson says that she needs to “dropped the playthings of her life” but she sees that as a necessity “to take the honorable work of the woman and of a wife.”
Section 0503
Hey Michelle,
I love the fact of how you mentioned a women basically disregarding things in her life that their husbands don’t approve of or dislike. It really shows just how oppressed women are as people (some not all of course) and just what they have to go through and sacrifice to make others happy. It’s also sad that women in those times had to go through this and in the process had to not only forget the things they enjoyed but also had to in turn forget a little bit about themselves.
Michaela*
Hello Michaela,
The line you highlight from “The Story of an Hour” was so heartfelt, I wanted Mrs. Mallard to have the satisfaction of doing so. It is sad to think that she had hoped her life was shorter before knowing her husband had the accident. She sacrificed her mental health to keep up with the pressure to have to be something she didn’t desire to be. I believe this correlates with the other comparison line in your post by Dickinson, “it lay unmentioned, as the sea develops pearl and weed but only to himself is known the fathoms they abide.” Going through such unhappiness, alone, caused a deep depression.
Hi Michaela, you bring up an excellent point of women dropping the things in life that their husbands don’t approve of. It really speaks to the servitude and oppression that women had to uphold to be considered an “honorable woman and wife” at the time. The fact that women had to essentially forget who they were and forget about things that they miss really shows the lack of autonomy they had at the time which is why they were so unhappy.
The poem “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson is a representation of what it was like to become a wife. The first sentence has the word ‘requirement’ in it, as if a woman is required to take the role of a wife. “If aught she missed in her new day Of amplitude, or awe, Or first prospective, or the gold In using wore away, It lay unmentioned” This quote represents her past and that now as a married woman she is unable to reflect or mention her desires for her own future. Although short in words, “The Wife” represents a norm within our history that woman were raised to become wives of men. This directly corresponds with “The Story of an Hour”. Mrs. Mallard’s life was one devoid of any ambition and opportunity. Both women are refrained by their husbands and want a life that is independent. Mrs. Mallard is filled with joy after hearing of her husbands death, although not true, the reader gets a chance to see the real side of Mrs. Mallard. She finally felt free, “She said it over and over under her breath: free, free, free!” The theme of being a free woman that finds herself trapped within a prison called marriage is common in both readings. It is truly sad to think that not long ago, woman were “groomed” to serve the man and become a good wife. Women like Emily Elizabeth Dickinson might have sparked some feminisms at that time, and her words continue to spread until this day. Emily never married, which is ironic as she writes these poems in such a personal voice.
– Section 0504
David, thanks for the very good comments and specific references to both works. I’m also often struck by how many of Dickinson’s works are about marriage when she herself never married. This, of course, was an unusual choice for women of the mid-19th Century. She is such a quirky writer. I imagine she would have had to find a quite atypical man were she to consider marriage.
Contrary to the 19th century norms of marriage and domesticity, Emily Dickinson and Kate Chopin reflect on expressions of unspoken discontent within a woman’s sense of self. In her poem “The Wife,” Dickinson guides us through a woman’s relinquishing of self that largely mirror the internal discontent of Louise Mallard, the protagonist in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” In rising to the husband’s “requirement,” the reader comes to find irony in Dickinson’s use of “honorable” in articulating misguided ascent in marriage (Wife P1). Consider that Chopin introduces Mrs. Mallard as her with her husband’s last name, a reflection on patriarchal “honor” and also, a sort of informal “requirement” in itself. Within Mallard, Chopin allows for a growing sense of disengagement from what, in another sense, might be “required” of her as the wife of the seemingly deceased Mr. Mallard. Rather than take on a “paralyzed inability to accept its significance,” Mrs. Mallard uses her husband’s death as a means to fantasize of “a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (Hour 1-2). Mallard’s deep engagement with this idea not only suggests that, as Dickinson puts it, her “new day” from marriage has long passed, but that its “prospective” has also long “[worn] away” (Wife P2). Nostalgically, she imagines the “spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that” would come to be hers alone; here, the reader may find from Dickinson, an embodiment of the “amplitude” and “awe” that may have been “missed” from a life without marriage (Hour 3/Wife P2). It makes for a cruel irony that embedded within Mallard’s “heart disease,” the reader finds that it had been her own idea of freedom that ultimately consumes her; a dark example of “the fathoms” by which Dickinson distinguishes as that “only to himself is known” (Hour 3/Wife P3).
– Section 0503
David, this is beautifully and poignantly expressed. I am always struck by the depth and variety of emotion that Chopin is able to convey in just two short pages. The story is literally a rollercoaster of emotion. I love your use of the word “nostalgically” for a reality that never actually happens. You’ve also chosen very significant words from the poem. We do have a sense of irony in Dickinson’s use of the words “honorable work” to describe a married woman’s role. The words “new day” also seemed tinged with a kind of irony. That new day, as you note, becomes very old before very long. Both works express an intense longing, and the poem clarifies that it is longing that is deeply buried and never verbalized.
Professor – I’m glad you caught my use of the word “nostalgic”. It felt strange to use but the passage itself had evoked some sort of similar sense in me reading it. As you’ve pointed out, the reality of those spring and summer days indeed will never happen, but Chopin writes into that fantasy a sense of the past, of longing, the realization that time had slipped – it’s remarkable. I can’t say I come across this warped (? I guess) use of nostalgia too often, but then again, nostalgia is often enough a deeeep sentimentality.
David, I recently read a very negative description of the word “nostalgia” as being the sentimental “rust of memory.” I think it’s true that nostalgic is a very piercing feeling, but it is often idealized and layered over with our own storytelling of our lives (I think).
The “rust of memory” eh? That’s an interesting way to put it. The irony in that description I suppose lies in the way the individual nostalgically looks back – perhaps in reality its rust, but for the individual, it carries a particularly shimmering gloss. Indeed in “Hour”, Mallard’s idealization of these “days” has no place to take into account the natural “wrong” things that can happen in a day – spilling your coffee everywhere, running out of milk, the hot water shutting off! Like you suggest, it very much so is layered over (and over) with the “storytelling of our lives” – very well said. Consider also that memory involves formulating new neuron connections – the brain just unconsciously does this – hence why, in recounting memories, they seem to always “change” or “fluctuate”.
Hi David,
Wow, had I not read your analysis, I would not have considered that the “spring days, and summer days” described by Mrs. Mallard in “the Story of an Hour” may be a reference to the resurgence of youthful days. The Wife in Dickinson’s poem “dropped the playthings of her life” (Wife P1), much like Mrs. Mallard had to have done so when she married. Faced with her husband’s death and her imagined new life as a widow, she would have the days to herself again, as she had when she was younger. Your phrasing was so helpful in giving me new insight!
Ashley
Sec 0504
Hey Lauren! Thank you for the kind comment.
The relationship between Emily Dickinson’s poem “The wife” and Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The story of an Hour” is that of bondage and servitude. The poem and the story give readers a little glimpse to the quest for freedom these women women lack but want.
In Dickinson’s poem, the line “…dropped the playthings of her life to take up the honorable work of woman and wife…,” shows us the dilemma (in this case no choice is even being made on the part of the woman) the woman has to be a wife. She has to “drop the playthings of life,” this refers to the things the woman does to make herself happy, her entertainment, her enjoyment and fun all have to be kept aside so she can submit to the male figure being her husband. The poem goes on to describe the struggles of the woman by saying “… or the gold in using wore away, it lays unmentioned…,” from my understanding this refers to the fact that she can’t even complain about her own personal struggles and wants. If this is not suffering, I don’t know what is.
Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state on the other hand shows readers what joy and freedom can bring to this same troubled woman, even if it was for a short time. When Mrs. Mallards heard the news of her husband’s death, she was sad only for a short while but when the realization dawned on what she had just gained, her adrenaline kicked in and her countenance was exalted. I believe the cause of her death when she saw her husband alive, was not her heart troubles but rather the author telling us Mrs. Mallard would rather die with a taste of freedom than return to bondage.
women*
Section 0504.
Ebube, thank you for this very empathetic post. (“If this is not suffering, I don’t know what is.”) There is a sense of servitude implied, but one for which women were expected to feel grateful and honored. Imagine the loneliness of a woman in these times, who did not feel honored or grateful to be a wife. She could not express to her dearest friend. Mrs. Mallard cannot even verbalize it to herself until she believes her husband is dead!
Hello Ebube,
I enjoyed reading your response, especially the end. What a roller coaster ride of emotions for such a short story. I agree with your statement that “Mrs. Mallard would rather die with a taste of freedom than return to bondage.” Like a caged bird ready to fly Mrs. Mallard was ready for freedom. This does not mean it was going to be easy for her. She was still a woman in the 1800s. These where hard times. She understood that and was ready for the challenge of being a widow. I respect and enjoyed her moment of clarity. It was truly brave and inspirational.
Section:0503
Hi, Ebube
I agree with your theme and thoughts about the poem and the story. It’s true how the women didn’t have their own freedom. They were just full filling the husband’s desires but still, the husband doesn’t get satisfaction with it. As a woman, they feel controlled by their husbands and that controlled made them obey and stop thinking about their own needs.
Hey Ebube! In reading your post, I’m struck by a certain thought that I’m a little surprised nobody has touched on too much – and that is, why can’t “honorable work” also be fun? Or in other words, why don’t we view this sense of “honor” as a “plaything” in itself? You would imagine that if the work was truly “honorable”, perhaps there would be some growth, or some new experience to take on and it would be enjoyable, but obviously Dickinson isn’t actually claiming marriage to be actually “honorable” and as Chopin demonstrates, any new “fun” experience seems to stem from outside the marriage itself. I myself have never been married so I can’t say what being married in this time is like in comparison to the marriage of Dickinson and Chopin’s time but it certainly seems as though marriage always comes with baggage! Maybe this is one “roller coaster” we’ll all be thinking twice of riding!
Hi Ebube,
It is interesting how you compared the emotions of both women and how they differ from each other even though the themes are common. In Emily Dickinson’s poem, the tone is as if her life is over. She needs to give herself up to become a wife and live in bondage but she accepts it as her duty. In the story when Mrs. Mallard realizes that her husband’s death means her freedom, she feels a sense of happiness, joy and hope. I agree that in the end of the story, I believe the author give readers the message that “Mrs. Mallard would rather die with a taste of freedom”
Section 0503
Hello Ebube,
Both women indeed seemed to be trapped in the role of wives and suffered in silence. In some cultures this is still a relevant issue. Emily Dickinson, as you posted, mentioned the woman having to set aside her goals and dreams to be married. In her poem you saw how a woman settled for a life she didn’t really want for society’s norm. Mrs. Mallard certainly died to escape her reality.
Hello Ebube,
Reading your response was a very enjoyable experience. I can whole heartedly agree with your statement,“Mrs. Mallard would rather die with a taste of freedom than return to bondage.” When I read this I can also agree to this feeling. I would rather be free than have to throw away my sense of freedom, freedom is that one thing that we all want and crave to have because we rarely get to have or experience try freedom.
Hello,
One relationship between the “Story of an Hour” and the poem of Emily Dickinson is the intensity of the feeling involved in these texts. As it is obvious from the title, Chopin’s whole story happens in one hour. Yet in this story, Mrs. Mallard experiences love, loss, hope, freedom, grief, fear, and more.
I believe we can see a similar intensity in feelings in the poem as well.
For example, in the quote: “It lay unmentioned, as the sea Develops pearl and weed.” the poet is expressing a range of feelings and emotions vividly. (I think she meant she is hiding them like what it is below the surface of the ocean.)
Overall, I believe quotes such as “To take the honorable work” are clear signs of the social pressure on women to act as expected from them. My personal feeling after reading these two texts was as these women wanted to be free as any human being would, but the social pressure is so intense that creates the internal battle between their desire and what is expected from them to be “honorable” and accepted in their societies.
Section 0503
Hi Afsaneh, I agree with your opinion. When I finished reading these two stories and poems, I got the same feeling as in the story. Since I am also a girl, I can understand that one day I will marry someone else. Even if I marry someone in the future, I still want to have my own life and work. But it is really difficult to get real “freedom” because of too many concerns. People around you will also blame when you do something wrong, especially women. It’s really not easy to be a woman right now.
Section 0503
Hey Afsaneh,
I enjoyed reading your post. The intensity you mentioned in both stories is something that stood out to me as well. I find it so absurd that women were raised to become wives in the past. Kate Chopin and Emily Dickinson obviously gave us a close look into the life and feelings that a woman – wife – had at the time. The sad truth is that woman in present times have similar feelings and this is still a problem not fully dealt with.
Hello Afsaneh, I, too, agree with your post. Both the story and poem had a bunch of intense feelings throughout. Mrs. Mallard almost instantly feels hopeful after learning about her husband’s death. The relief of no longer having to be a wife, she expresses being “free.” In “The Wife,” we learn about the woman giving up the things she enjoys and secretly being unhappy to satisfy her husband. I say, both burying true feelings to conform to society’s picture of a wife.
Afsaneh, yes, I too am struck by the range of emotions Chopin is able to convey in such a very short story. You aptly identify some of these intense feelings. The line from the poem you choose is also a very intense expression that describes repression and the burying of feelings. Imagine how many women of this time suffered in silence, voiceless. When I read this story, I think of how many women in various parts of the world are still forced into roles for which they are not suited and do not want to be in.
The theme of the Emily Dickinson poem “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” which is the forbidden pleasures of solitude. In both the story and poem, they are talking about the women who devote all their lives to their husbands, and at the same time they feel the inner oppression brought to them by marriage. In the poem line seven to line eleven it said: “In using wore away, It lay unmentioned, as the sea develops pearl and weed, But only to himself is known. The fathoms they abide”. At home, only they know what women have given because their husbands never ask about these things. Whether happy or not, only women can experience this loneliness. In the story of “The Story of an Hour”, it said: “Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry; at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife”. In this quote, it shows Mrs. Mallard felt lonely because his husband was dead and left her alone to survive. Mrs. Mallard missed him very much. Women are worthy of admiration, because they have never complained about the hard work at home.
Section 0503
Mei Yan, you make some comments here that I find very insightful. One of these is about the idea of “forbidden solitude.” This is such a powerful phrasing to me. Women were denied the right to be alone. The other very interesting observation you make is about the loneliness of being with another person with whom you do not want to be. I suspect that some students in this group have experienced this. It can feel less lonely sometimes to be by oneself than to be with someone with whom we really do not want to be.
Hello Mai Yan, I enjoyed your assessment of the readings. I liked what you said about the “forbidden pleasures of solitude” i feel like that is something we can all relate to, man and women alike. It is almost a sinful feeling to want to be alone when you’re surrounded by love and other people. At the end of your assessment you say Mrs. Mallard missed her husband very much, and i didnt feel like she did miss him very much until I read what you said after about the admiration of women and how hard they worked alone at home. Though he was dead (only for a moment) she still needed his validation for the life she had led and ultimately lost.
Course – 0534
Hello Mei Yan,
I agree, women are worthy of admiration. I read a book by Virginia Woolfe called, “A Room of One’s Own,” which had a similar theme to both Dickinson and O’Conor’s literary work. I really loved this weeks reading assignment. Your statement, “the forbidden pleasure of solitude,” was a great description. Wives were taught to submit to their husbands in this way and bottle in any discontent. The lines you highlighted in Dickinson’s poem are my favorite. It is a descriptive metaphor of how deep a woman must bury this unhappiness.
The “if” Emily Dickinson addresses in the final lines of her poem, “The Wife” is heard in the whispers of Ms. Mallard, “Free! Body and soul free!” The feeling of joy, Louise hid from her sister with the news of her husband being dead, “laid unmentioned, as the sea develops pearls and weeds, but only to himself is known.” This statement is powerful and timeless.
Mrs. Mallard fulfilled her obligation as a wife, half-heartedly and discontent. Both women seemed to share this sentiment and fantasized of being relinquished. A vivid picture of Louise’s unhappiness is drastically emphasized in her statement, “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” Emily Dickinson and Mrs. Mallard speak for most women, still at this time.
Section 0504
Arlene, yes, it is so striking that Mrs. Mallard thinks with “a shudder” that she might live a long life, only to wish, once she believes her husband is dead, to live a very long life. In an instant she has a vision of the blissful solitude and self-determination she imagines as a widow. And yes again, Mrs. Mallard whispers at first the recognition of her freedom. It is too rare and delicious to speak aloud.
The theme of “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” by both displaying selfless women who conceal their misery of being a wife. In the poem, the first stanza speaks on turning away from the enjoyment of “playthings.” This means straying from the things she would enjoy to conform to society’s role as a wife. The second stanza lists all the beloved stuff she loses out on “perspective and gold.” Finally, the third stanza, “it lay unmentioned,” gives off complacency as she does not confess to her husband how she feels. Mrs. Mallard was ecstatic to learn about the death of her husband. Without hesitation, all she could think about is her newfound freedom. The emotional outburst solely aligns with private thoughts of the new life and opportunities that await her. “The wife” and Mrs. Mallards both buried their unhappiness in secrecy.
Section 0534
Faith, these all good observations. I’m glad you mention the words “the play things of her life.” Yes, I think this can refer to those activities that brought pleasure in her unmarried days. I think it’s also true that unmarried women were looked upon as incomplete human beings in the way children might also have been regarded. Marriage bestowed adulthood, respectability, and seriousness to a woman’s life.
Hello Faith,
I love how you articulated this message so simply with one line: “The theme of ‘The Wife’ relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in ‘The Story of an Hour’ by both displaying selfless women who conceal their misery of being a wife.” I love your use of the term “misery” here, and your distinction between women and “selfless” women. You also mention that both women (Mrs. Mallard and the unnamed woman who is a reference to all women in “The Wife”) are deeply dissatisfied with their status in marriage and, as a result, “[bury] their unhappiness in secrecy.” All in all, I think you reflected on the theme perfectly. Your contribution was well put and I think your use of vocabulary is a significant and very intentional aspect of your contribution.
Section #: 0503
Hi Faith,
I agree completely with your comments and the way you compared both writing. I too believe both woman conceal their misery of being a wife burring their happiness in secrecy from their husbands. I believe the poem “The Wife” describes how Mrs. Mallard felt all those years being married to her husband. She was so excited when she realized the news of his passing in result would give her the freedom she may have always wished for.
Faith, I enjoyed the way you described both of these women. That they concealed misery of being wives. Of course she did not confess to her husband how she felt. At that time, women were to be seen, not heard. Thats all a wife was. I think Mrs. Mallard was sad to hear about her husbands death, but she unconsciously was overjoyed about the freedom from being a wife.
Faith, I really enjoy your perspective here. I have a similar analysis in my own. Ultimately, similar to the poem, Ms Mallard’s hopes and dreams and desires have been buried so that she can form her entire personality around her husband. No one asks her what she wants in life, what she looks forward to. We also know that during this time, women were not allowed to be financially independent. Her freedom, her “playthings”, had finally come back. No longer were they insignificant like pearls and weeds at the bottom of the sea, no longer was her self worth tied to her husband’s standing. She wanted this freedom, and the denial of that freedom led to her demise.
Hello Faith!
I also agree with you on the fact that these two works of literature connect with each other through the emphasis on womanhood and being a wife. I like how you said they are “concealing” their misery of being in marriage. I think that in a way you can say the poem is a summary of how Ms. Mallard feels in “The Story of an Hour.” In the end we can see that Ms. Mallard was obviously upset with the death of her husband but also almost as if a burden has been lifted off of her shoulders in a way. Let me know what you think!
David
0534
In the poem “The Wife” the author tried to explain what was it to let being a little girl and become a real women, who was going to have a husband. She was also explaining how was it to become a wife and how was it to have a marriage and how life could change. Where it says “the playthings in her life” for me it means thats she was letting all that childhood behind like shes leaving behind her joy ,to start being a real wife. And then at the end she talks about how the girl only had her husband to help her or understand her.
The poem “The Story of an Hour” is kind of similar to the other one because they both talk about marriage or how the life of a married woman would be. In this poem the woman was kind of like sad but finally she was told her husband died. She thought her husband died and at the beginning she was sad but then she realized she was happy and she found her freedom. Her freedom did not last for too long , she was so shocked when she found out her husband wasn’t death and she felt sad because she knew her freedom was done by that.
Sec 0503
Jeidy, be careful about reading the poem. The husband is not the entity in the poem that understands the suffering of the wife. There is a rich metaphor embedded in these lines.
Both the poem “The Wife” and the story “The Story of an Hour” reveal a theme of adulthood. Dickison describes the phases of adulthood to a point when women become a wife with full responsibility and appearance towards her husband. Assays, “she rose to his requirement dropped the playthings of her life, to take the honorable work of the woman and of a wife”. This means that to just make her husband happy she scarifies her own happiness and follows all the needs that the husband wants from her. But still, it doesn’t fully fill the husband’s desires towards her. In addition, when she misses things that now in her married life that doesn’t exist. Those kinds of stuff she doesn’t talk about it. It vanished from her feelings. As well said, it lay unmentioned as the sea, develops pear and weed, but only to himself is known the fathom they abide”. This shows that she accepted the rules of requirements the way her husband wants. She set her mind fully on it and let her old memories go away from her deep inside. Poem and the story” The Story an of an Hour” related to each other because Mrs. mallard lets things go away when her husband died. She started doing things in her own way freely. There was no one for her to stop her freedoms. She lived happily without depending on some else.
SECTION: 0534
Hello Forida Aktar,
Hello Forida Aktar,
I agreed that in both stories it is about those women in their adulthood, in becoming a wife as they are both in that situation with a husband that they are ot happy with and kind of regrette the transition from their life before marriage. Moreover, as you said those women are missing things they used to do but unfortunately do not exist in their lives since they are married. similar stories of loneliness and suffering
0503
Hi Forida, you bring an interesting view to these works. I never thought about a theme of adulthood, but I understand where you are coming from. Despite that, would you say it is responsibility of the wife to suffer in discomfort and unhappiness? The poem says “she rose to his requirement” but was it willingly or did she have to put herself through some struggle by “dropping the playthings of life” ?
“The Story of an Hour” is a story about a woman Ms.Mallard, a young woman who apparently is in an unhappy marriage. She is told that her husband is dead, and her family and friend were consoling her at home. However her grief did not last long before she realised the death of her husband would give her freedom and joy from that mariage she was trapped in. Also that did not last long as her sister worried about her being alone in her room just after learning her husband’s death brought her down stairs to stay with the family. With a big surprise the door opens and it’s the husband who was supposed to be dead that are walking in the house. Mr. Mallard being so choked by what she is seeing realizes that she is not free from her husband who has not finally died.
However, the poem “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson is a description of the changes while transitioning from a young girl until becoming a married woman. It looks like the girl was happy and joyful as she just getting married, “The heaven unexpected came,
To lives that thought their worshipping, A too presumptuous psalm.”
but as we read the poem it looks like her happiness vanished, and was desperate.
This both stories talked about freedom, joy, and death, from the reading we can see both women were in kind of loneliness and suffering.
0503
Souadou, thanks for the good comments about the story. However, you are looking at the wrong poem.
In both works we see the theme of womanhood and the realization of oppression. Very much like a soldier reporting for duty Mrs. Mallard “rose to his requirement, dropped the playthings of her life to take the honorable work of woman and of wife.” This is the role she has been in for most of her life. We know she has heart troubles, but we do not know what caused them. Could the root problem be the husband? We do not know. Mrs. Mallard much like other women of her time felt stuck in a thankless role. Beauty, duty, and motherhood was the only things they had to look forward to. After time takes its tole and the children grow, its only duty for the old. “It lay unmentioned, as the sea Develops pearl and weed, But only to himself is known The fathoms they abide.” After being told of his death she is heartbroken and sad. After crying in front of the window, she has a moment of clarity. Mrs. Mallard realizes the freedom she has inherited from the death of her husband. The Freedom to make her own choices made her feel powerful. She was now the man of the house. Soon after epiphany her husband shows up unharmed and she dies. The doctor says she died of heart disease “of the joy that kills.” The Situational irony used in the end leaves the reader to make his or her own conclusion. I think Mrs. Mallard Died because her heart could not take the freedom ripped away from her.
Section: 0503
Kevin, what an interesting observation about the woman’s marriage as being like the “call to duty” of a soldier!
In Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour we meet Mrs. Mallard shortly after learning of her husbands apparent death. She is overcome with emotion, and it takes her some time to realize where this emotion is stemming from. After a moment of reflection the clarity of the situation begins to arrive, noted well with the lines “Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will” and what it was she was beginning to recognize is the fact that she was, as she puts it “free, free, free!” with the passing of her husband. This ties in well to Emily Dickinson’s poem The Wife. In this poem we hear the words of a woman whos freedom has been stripped, to be controlled by a man much like Mrs. Mallard. I think this control is well stated in the poem within these lines. “The sea develops pearl and weed, but only to himself is known the fathoms they abide.” the sea is powerful and controls and oversees the micro changes and elements within it all consuming power. It is only when this power is lost that these actions can have a true and personal development. For Mrs. Mallard her husband was the large and mysterious sea, and with his supposed death the tide retracted showing the beautiful pearl once again of her life, only to be washed away again with the crashing of his waves as he stepped through the door once more.
Course – 0534
James, your comments are very well taken. However, the metaphor about the sea does not refer to the husband. It refers to the depths of the woman’s unspoken longings and unhappiness. They are buried as deeply as pearl in the deepest sea.
A big factor between these two texts, “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Wife” written by Emily Dickinson is the emotion and feeling behind the text. These tales are both similar and different at the same time. You can tell from the title, the first story takes place in just one hour but, in that hour so much happens, Mrs. Mallard gets to go through so many emotions. Let’s take this quote for example, “ To take the honorable work Of woman and of wife.” From this quote we can see that she will be leaving everything behind to take on this, almost a job, of being a wife. All in all, quotes such as these really show me, ( a man) how some woman are really almost forced into marriage and things of that nature and that is not okay. I believe if a woman wants to be free and independent she has every right to do so with out a mans support. I do however also understand the pressure of wanting to be married as it is the most common thing to do, but just because it is common, does not mean that it is right at the end of the day.
sec 0534
Hi David,
I agree with you that “these tales are both similar and different at the same time” because both poems have different titles and themes. I think that they are very similar in many ways, but also different in some aspects. I liked how you mentioned “women want to b free and independent. She has every right to do so without a man’s support” because women don’t need men’s support or anything like that. In this poem, it is about women who want to be free from men, and they want to be able to live their life as they wish without any men’s influence. This poem also talks about how women should not be dependent on men for everything.
Hello David,
I agree with you that the big factor between the two text are the emotion and feelings behind the text. Both text describe that women both dread the job they have as wife. They no longer see the joy that they once had before they became wives. These women have lost their sense of freedom since they believe that they have to complete their roles as wives.
“The Wife” by Emily Dickinson and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin are two literature works about strong women, who experience their relationship with themselves and others differently. The works explore their interaction within the society, womanhood and represent various emotional and mental states. Both works show how women were treated back then, how they felt lonely in their relationship, and how they gave up about their hobbies for their husbands.
“The Wife” by Emily Dickinson explores the journey of a young woman seeking love and relationship. During the reading of the poem, we are experiencing different phases, from being an elderly unmarried woman, util getting married, and being a wife. During the beginning of the poem, she is seeking love and comfort which she believes she can only achieve by getting married. Her belief that spouse love is better than personal love, is what made her give up her hobbies in order to get married. Only after she got married, she realized how different it is from what she had imagined. She knows the life of marriage is more comfortable for her, but she starts to feel lonely
“This being comfort – then
That other kind – was pain – But why compare?
I’m “Wife”! Stop there!”
I think this part represents her second thoughts about marriage, how lonely she feels, and at the same time, how she still chooses to stay in the comfort zone. She prohibited herself from thinking about the “the other kind” which is the time she was single, because “she’s a Wife” now, and that’s what she was praying for.
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin describes the thoughts and feelings of a married woman as well. In this short story, Louise Mallard is a wise woman who acts “as a woman should”. From the outside, she presents herself as a polite woman and a lovely and carrying wife. While inside she feels lonely and miserable and can’t wait for the day, she will be free again, which means being single. After hearing her husband passed away, she cries and grief in a very dramatic way which is the exact opposite of what she really feels inside. When she is alone, she allows herself to really feel, and she feels relieved. After his death, she feels free and independent. She feels like there is more for her and that new opportunities are waiting, “Body and soul free!” she is saying while spreading her arms, welcoming the freedom she’s been waiting for.
Section 0504
Shai, your points about the story are well taken; however, you are referring to the wrong poem.
The theme of the Emily Dickinson poem “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” because both main characters have devoted their lives to their husband. The first line of the poem “She rose to his requirement, dropped the playthings of her life”, describes a woman having to leave her life of focusing on herself to play the role of a wife for her husband. She’s doesn’t feel restrained but it’s brought about a great change in her life. Similarly, Mrs. Mallard does not recognize how much of her own desires and happiness she had to put aside to please her husband until she explored the idea of life without him around. The rest of the poem talks about the woman’s sacrifice as a wife and how it can go unrecognized because it is expected by her. In this quote, Mrs. Mallard feels this realization coming, “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive4 to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.” Both characters had never been displeased by the responsibilities as a wife but do carry the very heavyweight of it around. Mrs. Mallard may have never come to this realization if she had never been convinced her husband died.
Section 0504
Zubaida, your comments are good. I was hoping, however, for reference to the poem beyond the first few lines.
In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard is extremely excited when she hears that her husband is dead. For the first time in long time, Mrs. Mallard felt free and because of that new found freedom she was able to become truly happy. For all of that to change the moment that she saw her very much alive husband and have a heart attack must mean that she hated the idea of being a wife. The very idea of being a wife and not being free killed her. In the poem “The Wife”, the theme of the poem is that the role of wife is not as glamorous as it seems when you are young. The poem is essentially about a woman taking her place as wife and not liking it. Mrs. Mallard would most likey relate to women in “The Wife”. It seems like Mrs. Mallard dreaded her marriage as much as the woman in the poem. Over time the woman in grew to understand that being a wife isn’t all sparkles and sunshine.
Sec 0504
The theme of Emily Dickinson’s poem, “The Wife” is how one must give up certain aspects of their life upon becoming a wife as described in the first stanza.
” If aught she missed in her new day
Of amplitude, or awe,
Or first prospective, or the gold
In using wore away,
It lay unmentioned, as the sea
Develops pearl and weed,
But only to himself is known
The fathoms they abide.”
The second and third stanza describes how anything that a wife misses out on, whether it’s something splendid or dreadful, isn’t acknowledged. It is only recognized by the ones who’ve missed out. This is similar to how the sister and friend in “The Story of an Hour” take good care to break the news to Mrs. Mallard as gently as possible. But rather than becoming filled with grief, Mrs. Mallard solely realizes that the death of her husband means that she is free to live for herself. That all of the days ahead of her would be for her and not her husband. “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself… Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.”
The “pearl” can represent the dreams and possibilities Mrs. Mallard may have had. However they would be buried within the “sea” which symbolizes the husband and/or the duties of being a wife.
-Section 0504
Sec. 0504
This comparison of “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin seems simple enough, though I’m sure I will in fact oversimplify it with my perspective. I see it like this; on one side we have “The Wife”, describing the general point of view that a women in this era would have, if she was ambitious beyond the commonality of the time. That point of view being repressed in life after marriage, “dropped the playthings of her life, To take the honorable work”. In this period for women after marriage there was little new adventures or growth of individual opportunity described by “first prospective”. My perspective is that that last four lines describe how a feminist of that era would see married life as a whole; wilting away all possibility over time “Develops pearl and weed”. On the other side we have “The Story of an Hour”, where I see scope of what I just described manifested in this more particular and intimate occasion. Mrs. Mallard may have viewed her life this way, as I think we are led to believe through the text. Her excitement at the end is a result of the lifting of those repressed states of life, those bonds of marriage, and new hope and freedom.
Hello Patrick,
I was thinking how using the word “honorable” to describe the work/duties of a wife/woman could add on to what you said about feminists’ viewpoints from that era. In my opinion, using the word “honorable” is just a feeble way to soften the blow. Like how people say it’s honorable/respectable to work hard in a good stable job, meanwhile those who are born into wealthy families don’t have to work a day in their life and still have more money/security than those who do work hard. In Hong Kong, there are people who are working themselves to the bone just to afford tiny studio apartments. While their hard work is respectable, they are literally stuck in a financial rut. They have no way out, just like traditional housewives who are stuck with their duties.
Patrick, I think that not only feminists of that era think that way, but a lot of woman now also think that way about marriage. I think Mrs. Mallard did view her life and marriage in the way that Dickinson was describing, and the thought of finally being free from that was exciting! And in the end she was freed from that life, just not in the way she had expected.
“The story of an hour” by Kate Chopin is a powerful story that tells the true meaning of freedom. This story is told from the point of view of the narrator, Mrs. Mallard, she is a woman who has been trapped in her marriage for so long that she cannot escape it. When the news of her husband’s death comes to town she is shocked and saddened. She feels like there is no way out of this situation. She does not want to be alone with her husband because he will never understand what she is going through. After reading this story I felt as if I was watching my own life unfold. I could see how much freedom she wanted when she said “Free! Body and soul free!”to herself. The “wife” by Emily Dickinson about the young girl becoming a wife how her life was before getting married how she become a woman and what it meant to be wife “But only to himself is known the fathoms they abide” this line shows that she was pointing out to her husband when she said “abide”. Both poems about feminists (womanhood) that need freedom are very similar in their views on marriage. The first two lines of each poem show that women need freedom, which is shown through their actions. Both poems have a strong theme of women’s rights.
Section:0503
I definitely agree. both story shows a fulfillment of happiness and freedom after feeling oppressed for such a longtime, they can finally take control and be more independent. because the lives they had lived before was very depressing and not fully lived to their extent.
Taheed, we don’t know you are responding to. Also, it is not enough to just agree with another student; you must also add to the conversation, and your post must meet length requirements.
Humayra, be careful when reading poems to keep metaphor in mind. The sea in the poem is used as a metaphor for the depth of the wife’s buried, never spoken unhappiness.
“The wife” by Emily Dickson and Mrs. Mallard’s character in “The story of an hour” both are relatable because both characters in the story and poem expressed the life of being married and being devoted to such a moderate and limited role. In the “ story of an hour” line 10 it states that Mr mallards, “ she was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will – as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lip.” This line expressed how tied Mrs Mallards was after her husband’s death. She was tied to marriage with little less privy information of independence. It’s similar to “ The wife” because in Emily Dickson’s poem “ The wife it states “ The murmur of a bee a witchcraft yieldeth me. If any ask me why ‘T were easier to die than tell. The red upon the hill taketh away my will, if anybody sneer, Take care, for god is here, that’s all.” Both poems share a devoted will of hope. With the little less amount of grief both characters from the poem and story gave them a look ahead for happiness because their loved ones that oppressed them are gone .
Section -0503
Taheed, you are referring to the wrong poem. This was not the poem assigned in Week 8.
Both Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” present the readers with clear themes of repression, lack of volition, and the societal expectation of dependancy within the female narrative of nineteenth-century women. In “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard experiences a newfound sensation of relief and liberation, despite the repeated reassurance that her husband was kind in every sense of the word. She’s filled with such joy and a feeling of euphoria that she herself is unable to identify, and she thinks of the future and it’s infinite possibilities with an indescribable happiness. It’s even affirmed that Mrs. Mallory is unsure if she even loved her husband– maybe she did, maybe she didn’t, but nevertheless, it no longer mattered. Even the imagery of spring, birds chirping outside, and beautiful blue, bright skies reflects the bright future she is now able to envision due to her independance. It is clear to us, as the readers, that these feelings have been repressed for the duration of her marraige. Paragraph thirteen expresses this best: “And yet she had loved him — sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!” Furthermore, “The Wife” sums up every instinct experienced by Mrs. Mallory in a neat, concise little package. Emily Dickinson states, “It lay unmentioned, as the sea, Develops pearl and weed, But only to himself is known,The fathoms they abide.” Though this is the last stanza, it encapsulates the collective message of the entire poem in a way that is perfectly articulated: a woman’s job is ultimately to become a wife, to live a life of servitude, and when the romance inevitably wears off, it is repressed within, as was Mrs. Mallory’s true desire for independence– a common feminine experience.
Section #: 0503
*Note*
I noticed that I misused the term “Mrs. Mallory”– my apologies! The correct term is “Mrs. Mallard.”
I think ultimately, The Wife perfectly encapsulates the realization that Ms Mallard had in Story of An Hour. The first stanza says: “She rose to his requirement, dropped the playthings of her life to take the honorable work of woman and of wife”. In Story of An Hour, while Ms Mallard immediately grieves at first, she eventually is overcome with joy. Similar to Dickinson’s poem, she realizes that she put her entire life on pause to give all of her time and energy to her husband, Brently Mallard. She had a life before her husband, she was able to enjoy the pleasures and the luxuries of life. Once she had gotten married, however, all of those dreams and goals were cast aside and considered worthless, like pearls and weeds developing in the sea. As Dickinson says later on: “If aught she missed in her new day of amplitude, or awe”, Ms Mallard might not have fully known. what she had gotten herself into, which might be why she’s so excited to regain her old life. It was something priceless, and eventually, when that dream is taken away, her body refuses to return to its old life.
Section 0504
The theme for “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” is about the delightful feeling of privilege (freedom), or liberty. Within the story and the poem, the women are both talked about as women who dedicated their lives to their significant others, and during that same time have also felt internal abuse that their marriage bestowed upon themselves. When reading you can see these two feelings they want.
In the poem “The Wife”, the line that makes this connection states “…dropped the playthings of her life to take up the honorable work of woman and wife…,” through this we can see the problem of becoming a wife because she says that she has to let go of all the things that make her happy.
The emotional state that Mrs. Mallard shows those who are reading just what the emotion of freedom brings to someone who is going through a hard time. After she hears that her husband has sadly passed she is only sad for a little while (which may seem very unusual considering she was his wife), but then she realizes that “oh I’m basically free now to do what I please,” (this wasn’t said this is just my interpretation) she gets happy. She yet again found her happiness and independence and saw way for a basically better life, however, this is just another fleeting moment because her husband comes back.
Section: 0503
Hello Zakiyah
I like it when you say “women who dedicated their lives to their significant others”. Basically meaning to her husband and children. She has heart trouble and she didn’t become sick with the big news that her husband has died. It is because she, later on, realizes that now she is independent so, she changes her state (feelings) and became happy. But her feelings change when she saw her husband and realizes that she is not independent and died.
section 0504
Zakiyah, your analysis here is good. However, the thread for this week asks students to go beyond the first four lines in the discussion of the poem.
The theme in both “The Wife” and in “The Story of an Hour” relate to the oppression of a man in a women’s live. In the “Story of an Hour” it states, “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” paragraph 12. Although Mrs. Mallard broke down into tears about the death of her husband, she later came into realization that she was becoming “free.” Mrs. Mallard was a sad wife with a heart trouble that was being stepped on by her husband. “No go away I’m not making myself ill. ” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window” The open window represented the freedom she has been unconsciously waiting for. In the poem “The Wife” it states “She rose to his requirement, dropped the plaything of her life to take the honorable work of woman and of wife, lines 1-4. The job of a woman and a wife was to stay at home and honor his husband. Women in a married life are in a constant cycle of missing out on things like their happiness to please others.
Section 0504
Hello Mariana
It is a great analysis of both stories. As we can see in the past women had no authority at home. This is why Mrs. Mallards realize that she is free and stop crying. When she discovered that her husband is still alive she dies otherwise if she would be missed him she would be happy that her husband is alive.
section 0504
Mariana, your remarks are valid; however, I did ask students to address the poem beyond the first four lines in their discussion.
The poem “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson explained to the life of an average 19th-century wife. And “Story of an Hour” By Kate Chopin which told the emotionally driven story of a woman by the name of a Mrs. Mallard who finds out the “death” of her husband and her reaction towards it. Both the story and the poem were written in the 19th century, an era in which women were seen as inferior and weren’t in control of their own lives.
Women in the 19th century married young; they went from young girls to now young women. This is seen in the story, “She was young, with a fair, calm face…” (Story of an Hour, line 8).
These young women now had this new sense of responsibility, taking care of their family, cooking, and cleaning. Any amount of social life that they had before getting married was now stripped.
This is expressed in the first line of the poem “She rose to his requirement, dropped The playthings of her life to take honorable work of the woman and wife.” (The wife).
In the story, Mrs. Mallard finds out about the death of her husband and instead of showing signs of sadness, she seems to be Joy because she is now “free” of all the burden that she faced with being married.
“But 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.” (Story of an Hour line 11). Mrs. Mallard, just like many women at that time were actually miserable. They never had time for themselves, their lives revolved around being the caregiver. Because of this she was questioning her true love for her husband and is now welcoming this new life with open arms. “If aught she missed her new day of amplitude or awe, Or first prospective, or the gold In using wore away.” (The Wife, Line 2) This quote in a way can correlate with the quote just given from the story because it is talking about the large responsibility she is now having to deal with and the “ gold in using wore away” is talking about the love in the marriage has now faded.
0534
in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. The author narrates a story where Mrs. Mallards suffer from heart trouble. Her sister very gently tells Mrs. Mallards that her husband died. But, Mr. Mallards was not death so, when Mrs. Mallards discover that he is still alive she die from her heart disease. This story is related to the poem “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson. In this poem, the author states in the second paragraph.
“If aught she missed in her new day
Of amplitude, or awe,
Or first prospective, or the gold
In using wore away,”
In this poem, the author is talking about how women’s lives change when they become wives. As we can see in this paragraph, the author is talking about days of amplitude, awe, or prospective. And Mrs. Mallards. had a day of awe when her sister told her that her husband has died. It was a day of awe because she thought that nobody is going to stay with her for the rest of her life.
Section 0504
Miguel, I’m not clear on your wording here. The “amplitude and awe” relate to the loss of intense emotions and a world of possible experience, which are now curtailed for the wife. I do not know from your last two sentences if you understand that Mrs. Mallard feels euphoric about the idea of being alone for the rest of her life.
section 0503
Emily Dickinsons’ “The Wife” and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” have themes that relate to one another. Both stories written by women, about women, they show the struggles that women often faced in that time period when they married. To marry was to give up your freedom, to “[drop] the playthings of her life” (Dickinson). A woman was only what her husband was. When a womans’ husband passed, they were not expected to re-marry and so they were, as Kate Chopin put it, “free, free, free”. Being a wife was hard and baring. In “The Wife”, Emily Dickinson referred to it as “gold in using wore away”. Being a woman is being gold, being a wife was watching that gold ware away, like she said in the poem.
Hello Claire, I really liked the way you summed it all up especially how you changed the part of the poem,
Or first prospective, or the gold
In using wore away,
into “Being a woman is being gold, being a wife was watching that gold ware away.” It really gives that image of the what the poem is describing.
Hey Claire, I loved how you tied it altogether with the gold. It took me a couple of tries and a little research of analysis to understand what that meant exactly. Reading it in this perspective, I can fully agree that back then women were in loveless marriages and were held to certain expectations for society which lead them to let their freedom run free, ironically. Being a wife is a lot of pressure alone so the transition of young girl to “woman” in the poem can easily lead to being in a marriage like that of Mrs. Mallard’s.
Despite having a love for her husband, Mrs. Mallard felt shackled to the mundane grip of marriage Mrs. Mallard feels as though she has sacrificed her freedom for marriage, much like Dickinson’s poem describes a woman marital sacrifice; Dickinson writes ¨If aught she missed in her new day…or first prospective, or the gold in using wore away, It lay unmentioned, as the sea…¨, indicating that the wife misses her freedom (gold) that now lies dormant.
section 0504
Hello Syndoll,
You pointed out this idea of women martial sacrifice. This plays a huge role in the theme based on both authors work it is natural for “woman” to stop at “wife” because as a wife the women must go along with her husband. It is not as freedom as they are a woman that can do everything without interference of others. Basically a women life was dominated by a man. Section 0504
Emily Dickinson’s “The Wife” speaks to the emotional state of Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. In Chopin’s work, Mrs. Mallard believes herself to be a widow after hearing the news that her husband has died in a train wreck. Initially, for a few moments, she is distraught by the passing of her husband until she suddenly has a revelation. As her chest rose and fell she started whispering, “free, free, free!” under her breath. Instead of being saddened by her loss, she became excited. Not because she was mistreated by her husband, but because she was free from being his wife. Dickenson’s poem talks about this liberty women have before they become wives when she writes, “If aught she missed in her new day Of amplitude, or awe, Or first prospective, or the gold In using wore away,”. Dickenson is referring to the time before a woman is a wife or a mother when she was young and had the potential to do whatever she wanted, but due to the domesticity that was going on in society, the lives of women were stunted once they became parents and partners. As a result of this, the time of liberation “lay unmentioned, as the sea Develops pearl and weed,” and was left to die. Once these women were married and pregnant, their potential, and in most cases their youth, are gone and they’re left to serve their husbands and children. I would say that their lives essentially ends, which is why Ms. Mallard is joyful to be free because this her chance to be young and get her potential back. She won’t have to serve anyone and will dictate her own life. When she realizes her husband is alive and dies on the spot, the doctor said, “she had died of heart disease — of the joy that kills”. Professor Conway mentions that it’s an ironic line, which is true considering that she wasn’t happy to see her husband. When she saw him, she realized that the freedom she had been dwelling on in the last hour is gone and her life is back to serving someone else. She died on the spot the moment she realized her chance at being free was dead too. Section 0503
The theme of the Emily Dickinson poem “The Wife” and how it relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” is about how women feel in the state of marriage. In the poem “The Wife” it talks about how a young girl enters into marriage, this relates to how Mrs. Mallard was feeling in the story and is seen after hearing what happened to her husband saying to herself she was “free”. This can show how she had gone through what the poem stated,
“If aught she missed in her new day
Of amplitude, or awe,
Or first prospective, or the gold
In using wore away,
To conclude the totality of the two story’s is how a women can enter into marriage and realize everything she is surrendering for the betterment of her family or husband.
Section 0503
Hello Michael,
Thank you for pointing out this idea of feeling free. Emily points at this emotional state in her poems a lot which related to the story because women have been bonded to their husband. Women fail to have their own freedom and voice where they can live the life they want. Not the life a man chooses for them.
Section 0504
“Smoothly my Future Climbs the Ladder” this quote reflects the emotional state of Mrs. Mallard but in the opposite sense. While in the poem the woman waits for her husband to climb the stairs. Mrs. Mallard receives the news of her freedom. It is his sister who breaks the news to him. so this is a kind of savior. Mrs. Mallard savors the sweet news of her freedom believing that her husband has died.
Section 0534
Raquel, I don’t know what you are referring to her. You are looking at the wrong poem.
The theme of Emily Dickinson poem “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” because of the feminist aspect. Once you are married, you became like a property to your husband and your life became restricted. This totally reflects the feminist views on marriage. In the poem, we can see that Emily Dickinson is comparing the confusing thought of a woman on marriage. To be married or not to be married. Back in those years, women get married because of the norms of society, they were pressured to be married instead of following their own will. To conclude, this poem wants women to know that they are independently better on their own but being married is the safer option. In the first stanza she writes, “ she rose to his requirement, dropped the playthings off her life.” This quote reveals how women put they life on pause to please men which is a restriction of their own life. Similar to the idea of the poem, Mrs. Mallard knows that she will mourn her loving husband’s death, but she also predicts many years of freedom, which she welcomes. She begins planning her future, in which she will live without the burden of other people. She loved her husband, more or less, but love is nothing to her when compared to independence, she decides, as she murmurs, “Free! Body and soul free!”
Section 0504
Hi Isis, I completely agree with your idea of the overall theme of the poem. I love how you used such a modern word such as a feminist to describe the message Dickson was trying to convey in 1816. I think that her husband’s death will bring her freedom in the end. I might also add that it took her a bit of time to process that she was truly free, this may be from the many years of suppression. Great insight and connections to the story about Mrs. Mallard. Thanks for sharing!
Isis, you observations are good, but please note that the prompt specifically asks students to go beyond the first four lines of the poem.
In the poem “The Wife”, Dickinson wanted to express herself and her thoughts on being anti-marriage during a time of domesticity.
“She rose to his requirement, dropped
The playthings of her life
To take the honorable work
Of woman and of wife.” (P1)
The young girl Dickinson speaks about is someone who has taken on the roll of being someone’s wife. Right off the bat, Dickinson says this girl is about lose herself in order to become a woman and a wife. At the time, feminism was very subtle and just flourishing considering it was the late 1800’s and feminist literature had just sparked around the 1860’s. Dickinson’s poem can be directly connected to “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin through the lines quoted before. Mrs. Mallard has just discovered that there had been an accident in which she believes her husband has died. Though most women would be devastated, she insisted she was finally free. She was free of being in a marriage she was content in but not fully in love. “And yet she had loved him — sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! ” (Chopin, 11) Dickinson’s poem expresses how a woman can be someone’s wife but it doesn’t mean that they have to lose themselves or be happy all of the time. Perhaps, some women don’t necessarily need to be married. Mrs. Mallard was in a sense relieved that her husband was dead. When she realized her husband was actually not dead, she dies of a heart attack. She definitely wasn’t ready to continue the “honorable work of woman and wife.”
Section 0504
Hi Nathaly,
I think you points about Mrs. Mallards whispers of freedom has a lot to unpack. It makes us think on what exactly is she free from, what did she feel constrained by, and further yet why was it so difficult to come to terms with this subconscious feeling. All these things provide us with a great deal of critical thinking on what it means to be a wife and assists us on the path to understanding more about the role.
Nathaly, your observations are good but be aware that directions explicity ask students to do beyond the first four lines of the poem.
The theme of “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson, focuses on the nature of femininity and independence. Unfortunately, it begins by discussing how a woman is obligated to focus to live for the needs of a woman’s husband. Dickson writes, “To take the honorable work of a woman and of a wife”. She describes the role of a woman as one who puts her own ambitions aside in order to do her obligations as a wife. Almost alluring to the fact that a woman is born to do the “honorable work” of wifehood. This idea of wifehood relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotions in “The Story of an Hour”. When her husband first passed away she felt dull and empty, almost as if her life’s work vanished. The poem also touches on the suppression a woman must endure as a wife. It reads, “Or first prospective, or the gold in using wore away”, as if everything a woman once found important slowly starts to fail throughout marriage including perhaps the golden ring one might receive at the time of engagement. Mrs. Mallard too seems as though she does not know how to process her emotions at the time of her husband’s death, perhaps from the many years of suppression. The end of the poem focuses on the exclusivity of a marriage that a woman must hide from the rest of the world. Dickson writes, “It lay unmentioned, like the sea”, which we know that the sea is something that is deep and has never been fully discovered. This relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotions because she too decided to process them alone, behind closed doors. Overall, as much as this poem shows how women can be obligated to society’s expectation of a role one must play to a man, it also offers insight on the true strength one possesses. When Mrs. Mallard realized she was no longer a wife she felt free and empowered. No matter what she went through in the marriage she still came out strong and resilient.
Section 0504
I found the most stark similarity between Emily Dickenson’s poem, “The Wife” and Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” to be the deep inner worlds of both women and how spiritless and secondary they became in married life.
Both works show the women as not belonging to themselves, being referred to as the “Wife” and “Mrs. Mallard” rather than by their first or full names. As Mrs. Mallard begins to fully comprehend her new reality of an unmarried life, she is finally called by her given name, Louise, by her sister in the text.
I also find the use of the words “gold” in “The Wife” and “victory” in “The Story of an Hour” to link the two works. In “The Wife,” “The gold, In using wore away” describes the way that what made the wife who she was as an individual was worn down through the years. Conversely in the short story, Louise Mallard “carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.” It may be a reach, but it feels the correlation lies in the gold of the Wife wearing away as she moves further into her marriage and that Louise Mallard rises back to victory as she learns she will live for herself when she believes her husband has passed.
I wonder if the husband of Emily Dickenson’s character in “The Wife” were to disappear if the wife would experience the same freedom that Louise Mallard feels rushing back into her mind and body and whether or not she would flood back into herself.
Ashley
Section 0504
Hello Lauren.
I think you made a great observation being that the women in the story and poem were only referred to as “the wife” and “Mrs. Mallard” instead of their first names. This further proves how women were viewed during this time period. They were only as good as their societal role as a wife. I also think that the wife in the the poem would feel the same as Mrs. Mallard if her husband were to pass away suddenly as well. Both the poem and the story convey the message of women being restricted. This is proven by Mrs. Mallard finally saying that she is “free”. These women felt bound to their marriages and had no freedom. Mrs. Mallard started to think of all the great days ahead of her once she found out that her husband was dead. Unlike the very day before where she unhappily contemplated how long life would be for her. She was finally called by her first name and this, I think, was indicative of her being given her own identity.
The theme of “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” by both painting a picture of women who are confined to their marriages. In the second and third stanzas of “The Wife” it states “…or the gold In using wore away, It lay unmentioned, as the sea Develops pearl and weed.” These lines can be compared to Mrs. Mallards emotional state when she finally looks out the window and proclaims that she is free. Her feelings had been lying dormant and unmentioned, and building up inside of her, (develops pearl and weed). Mrs. Mallard finally realizes that without the confines of marriage she is free to now experience her life in a renewed way. The first stanza of “The Wife” states “She rose to his requirement, dropped The playthings of her life To take the honorable work Of woman and of wife.” This can be compared to Mrs. Mallards obligations as a wife. She finally felt freed of these obligations once she realized her husband had passed as stated in “The Story of an Hour”, “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely”. Mrs. Mallard felt a forbidden joy and renewed sense of self once she realized that the years to come would belong to her completely.
Sec. 0534
The theme in Emily Dickenson’s poem “The wife” is that of a young girl transitioned into womanhood through marriage. With this new status, she has lost her independence and with it “the playthings of her life.” This suggests that her plans and dreams had to be placed on a shelfin the back of her mind. Even worst, she had to keep quiet about these thoughts and just simply perform her role as the dutiful wife to serve her husband with honor. It however appears as if sheis now trapped into a new life that robs her of a certain level of freedom. This is relatable to the emotional state of Mrs. Mallard in the “Story of An Hour” in that, she too is married and it is revealed that on hearing of her husband’s accident she experiences a sense of relief, as she now be able to live for herself rather than be the honorable wife. She felt as though her sense of independence which was lost, has now been regained. Both women felt a sense of duty to their husbands. They denied self to satisfy their husband and be good wives. They have been silent on the issue of their desires and pleasures. This is evident with the Wife who let her plans be “unmentioned, as the sea develops pearls and weeds and Mrs. Mallard who was now in a different emotional state and no longer prepared to hide her desires, but rather her “fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her.”
– Sec. 0503
After reading both the poem “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson, and the story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, to me it seems like both works relate to the change women have to go through when becoming a wife. The first part from the poem states the following, ” She rose to his requirement, dropped. The playthings of her life. To take the honorable work Of woman and of wife”. In this part of the poem it is explaining the transition that a women goes through when becoming a wife. As for the rest of the poem, it explains the things that women will be missing out on and opportunities that they won’t have after becoming a wife. That relates to “The Story of an Hour”, because when the main character Mrs. Mallard finds out that her husband had died in an accident she felt free. This was clear in the lines, ” She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin, paragraph 10). After she found out her husband died she felt like she can start living for herself and be able to do the things that she wasn’t able to do as a married women.
Section 0503
Hello Brandon.
I agreed with your point that both the story and poem relate to the change women go through when becoming a wife. Many women during that time had to adjust their personal lives to accommodate being a good wife and homemaker. There weren’t many options for women to have lives outside of their marriages, thus many became confined to them. Like Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour”. This is why she also felt so free as you mentioned, because she was finally rid of the shackles of her marriage when her husband died. Also women did miss out on many opportunities after becoming a wife. I’m sure many women had larger dreams they aspired to which they never got a chance to fulfill because of the need to fit into the mold of society.
Hello Brandon, In both of the poems show dhow unhappy the ladies were. When your a young woman most of us dream of being marry and living a happy married life but little do we know there’s a lot of cons and pros that comes with marriage. Both women lost their freedom.
In the poem ” The wife” the author was describing how a young girl became a wife but later on she was miserable being a wife.in the beginning of the poem the young girl left her happy lively life to get married. In the middle of the poem the author started to voice how the young girls life transformed to a marry woman and how she’s not enjoying her new life she reminisces her old life. At the end of the poem she stopped complaining about her life as was married woman and just accepts what she haves and spends her life with her husband.
In ” story of an hour” both and ” the wife” didn’t enjoy their married life. In the ” story of an hour” Mrs. Mallard found her new life when her husband has past. She began to live her life again.
section 0534
Tamaris, we need some direct quotes from the poem for this discussion.