Story of an Hour

Marriage. One word means so much. To truly understand the word you have to look at it in the context to the time period and setting in which it is used. In todays society it is used so loosely that the meaning of the word has becomed skewed. In the society we live in marriage has become non-committal in some aspects as divorce rates soar. I myself am on my second marriage all before the age of thirty. In the time of this story, however, marriage meant something totally different. Vows were taken differently- honor and obey- till death do us part. Marriage was about committment, duty, and obedience.
In the beginning Chopin refers to Mrs. Mallard as being ' afflicted with a heart trouble'. The use of 'a' before 'heart trouble' is interesting because it infers that there it is so much more than just heart disease. She was trapped in a marriage that probably started when she was really young and was most likely a marriage of convenience. It states that she didn't always love him. Love was not an important component of marriage at this time. When she learned of his alleged death, she retreated to her room because she was happy, felt free, and probably felt guilty for feeling this way. It is clear she was not happy, and perhaps that contributed to her illness. I think that when you are in an unhappy marriage, sometimes you don't feel that there is an escape. It doesn't say if they had children, but in my first marriage I stayed a lot longer than was necessary because of my children.
"Free, Free, Free" is the phrase that she muttered over and over again to herself once she was alone. I think that the use of the word free three times is important- free of a loveless marriage, free of the illness afflicting her, and free to live a life-HER life.
Discovering Brently was alive killed her not out of shock. It seems that through death, she accomplished the freedom she sought.