Questions
In what ways is this passage significant?
"She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life..." Mrs. Mallard is still trapped within her house, but the new life without her husband just beyond those walls will be expansive and limitless.
What clues reveal the setting is in the late 1800s?
The mode of transportation is railroad. They communicate long distances by telegraph. The use of the term "heart trouble" implies a lack of medical certainty. The concept of a "peddler selling his wares" implies an earlier time in America. The lack of equality within the unhappy marriage.
Is Mrs. Mallard a round or flat character? Is she static or dynamic? How do you know?
A round character is extremely realistic, behaving and speaking in a "real life" manner. Flat characters are two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work. A static character is one who doesn't undergo any significant change in character, personality or perspective over the course of a story. A dynamic character undergoes an important inner change, as a change in personality or attitude. She a round character as well as a dynamic one. She pretends to be upset, but she is really envisioning her life without her husband. The change in her attitude shows her to be round and dynamic.
Why do you think the author mentions in the 1st paragraph that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with "heart trouble"?
Chopin sets up the heart condition to heighten the suspense while the sister and husband's friend gently tell her the news. It foreshadows the ending.
Not until Paragraph 16 does the reader learn the protagonist (Mrs. Mallard's ) first name, Louise. Why does the narrator delay in providing the reader with Mrs. Mallard's first name?
It is not until then that she begins to establish her own identity. She has only been a wife until that point.
What kind of relationship do the Mallards have? Is Brently Mallard unkind to Louise Mallard or is there some other reason for her saying, "free, free, free!" when she hears of her death?
Mr. Mallard seems to be unfazed by his wife's unhappiness. Although he loves her, she finds his love stifling. She does not feel the same love towards him nor is it as intense as his love is. Her freedom is limited in comparison to his life.
Mrs. Mallard is described as descending the stairs "like a goddess of Victory." In what ways does she feel herself victorious?
Mrs. Mallard is putting up a façade as the strong widow because the reader knows that she is actually happy. She has survived her marriage and will now live a comfortable life with the estate that remains of Brently Mallard; she wins because she gets to make a life of her choosing
What are the conflicts?
Mrs. Mallard must deal with the physical aspects of her husband's death (external). Mrs. Mallard feels mixed feelings over her husband's death (Internal). Richards must tell Mrs. Mallard that her husband is dead (external). Richards worries that the news may kill her (internal). Josephine fears her sister's reaction (internal). Josephine knocks on the door to find out what's going on with her sister (external).
Mrs. Mallard considers if she did or did not feel a "monstrous joy." The phrase "monstrous joy" is an oxymoron- two unlike terms which are paired together? Why do you feel the narrator uses this phrase?
She has conflicted emotions over her husband's death. She knows that society will expect her to be grief-stricken, yet she feels freedom for the first time.
Mrs. Mallard closes the door to that her sister Josephine cannot get in, yet she leaves the window open. Why does Chopin make a point of telling the reader this? Consider the significance of the open window.
The door represent her past life with her husband, but Louise is looking out the open window symbolizes the freedom she will have in the next phase of her life.
The setting is very limited; it is confined largely to a room, a staircase, and a front door. How does this limitation help to express the themes or big ideas of the story? In other words, why is the setting so limited?
The setting reflects the confinement that Mrs. Mallard experiences within her marriage to Brently Mallard. The focus is on her reaction to the news but the limited space represents her limited freedoms.
What is the significance of the title?
The title implies that the whole story takes place in an hour's time. It suggests that a person's life can be significantly altered in a very short time, even in an hour.
The last line of the story is this: "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills." In what ways is this an ironic statement? What kind of irony is it?
Verbal irony occurs when a speaker's intention is the opposite of what he or she is saying. For example, a character stepping out into a hurricane and saying, "What nice weather we're having!" Situational irony occurs when the actual result of a situation is totally different from what you'd expect the result to be. Sitcoms often use situational irony. For example, a family spends a lot of time and money planning an elaborate surprise birthday party for their mother to show her how much they care. But it turns out, her birthday is next month, and none of them knew the correct date. She ends up fuming that no one cares enough to remember her birthday. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows a key piece of information that a character in a play, movie or novel does not. This is the type of irony that makes us yell, "DON'T GO IN THERE!!" during a scary movie. The last line is dramatic irony. The characters including the doctor think that Mrs. Mallard was so overcome with happiness/joy that she died when she saw her husband who she thought was dead suddenly alive. The audience knows that she is so overcome with grief of realizing the new life she planned for herself and she is suddenly robbed of all the freedom she can imagined.